The Pixel People are quirky little woven wonderfuls that I designed for the Lily Doll Project.
They began as doodles on graph paper and were so delightful that I had to weave them right away! They are very small, so they are quick to weave and are great little stash busters. (they’re 1 1/2 inch or 3.75 cm square). I always put a ‘Lucky Penny’ and a paper heart inside to make them even more good natured.
They should probably come with a warning that they are so much fun to weave that it becomes quite addictive to weave them. This is really okay, as people love them so much that the Pixel People jump merrily into other people’s hands and hearts and pockets, too.
I find simple little things to be endearing. That’s how I feel about the woven Pixel People that are part of the Lily Doll Project.
I was inspired to design and weave the whimsical little Pixel People when I was sketching on graph paper (one of my most favorite design tools). I was doodling ‘inside the squares’ and started drawing cheerful little faces in the squares. I was captivated by their sweetness so one thing lead to another.
I warped up my Chloe loom and these quirky little darlings evolved from those simple sketches. I love them with their little circle hands and feet, but you can also play with other options, too. They have lucky pennies and good wishes hearts inside, so they have very good energy.
They are fun to carry in your pocket or attach jewelry findings and click them onto a zipper, bag or as a charm on a pouch, phone or other device.
Stitch a pin back on them to wear them as a pin. Glue a magnet to the back and they can live on the fridge or a lamp or other metal surface. These quirky little Pixel People are fun, easy and a delight to make!
Panda bears…. so sweet! I can’t resist…. so I wove a tiny Panda, using scraps of yarn left over from the Lily Doll kit (using the instructions from the Tiny Teddy Bear in the Lily Doll Project)
He felt like having a little nap so I tucked him into the teeny tiny crib. Two of the Tiny Bears raced over to see who was this new little friend in the studio.
Panda said that he was a little chilly all alone in the crib, so the Little Bears invited him to hop into their cozy bed and tell them all about himself….
They are so happy being together in the studio that they are hoping that there will be more bears coming along, soon to join them! They posed for a few photos…
And went back to bed to tell each other winter stories and to nap and dream of Springtime….
It’ s the festive season, so I designed a party dress for Lily Doll:
And, then I discovered that there is enough yarn in the Party Doll kit to be able to weave the Pinafore Dress (with a pocket!), so, I asked Elena and Claudia at Mirrix if we could add the Pinafore Dress to the Party Dress kit. They thought that that was a great idea. 😀
It struck me that people might want to weave the Lily Doll in a way that is unique to them. I love exploring creative and imaginative options, so I decided to weave a doll using the Lily Doll Pattern, but to change things up a little.
Well, LOL…. I ended up having to weave her arms twice, because I managed to (HUH?!?!) mess them up on the first go. Okay, so I un-picked them and wove them again. Got it right this time. Whew.
Then, I was weaving too late at night, when, thanks to Long Covid, my cognitive function isn’t always at the top of the loop- oops… and I wove the body in plain white, which I hadn’t meant to do. Went to bed shaking my head. Got up the next morning and wove the body using Herringbone technique. (I’ll do another post about weaving Herringbone on the Chloe loom). YAY! Got it right!
Next, I merrily wove her legs using pick and pick in tapestry technique which mysteriously gave her very out of proportion legs. Sigh. Un-wove them and wove them in pick and pick, but THIS time, I used the tabby technique. AND YAY! The legs are totally tickety boo…. whew…..
And, luckily, her dear little head (using the pink and purple yarn and hand dyed silk left over from the Party and Pinafore Dresses kit) turned out perfect the first time round…. so…. here she is!
Lily Doll would like to introduce her cousin, Lally Doll!
and here they are, wearing the Party Dress and the Pinafore with a Pocket Dress:
Ooh, I am so delighted with them! Even though I seemed to get so much wrong on the way to getting Lally Doll right, she was totally worth the effort.
The Herringbone technique is explained in step by step photos in my book: Innovative Weaving on the Frame loom. It, and the kits and patterns for the Lily doll project are all available at: LINK
Lily Doll says that it is chilly, and even though she likes her upcycled lace dress, some woven dresses would be nice….. so she even offered to help with the weaving…..
Be patient, Lilly Doll! Dresses are on the way…. soon, Little One! Soon…..
I am a dyed in the wool Teddy Bear fanatic. I especially like very very small bears.
So, of course, when I was designing for the Lily Doll Project, the first friend I designed for her is an absolutely tiny Teddy Bear.
These tiny Teddy Bears have my ‘signature’ hugging arms so they can hug back and also hold onto things.
Because they are so little, they are fairly quick and easy to make, so they are a great choice as Pocket Bears, and as Comfort Bears to give to other people.
I have been meaning to write a review of Rebecca Mezoff’s awesome Tapestry Book since it came out. Sorry that it’s taken me this long to finally write a note about it.
Anyone who weaves tapestry already knows that this is the most wonderful, comprehensive, beautifully written, excellently photographed book and that it’s simply the best.
If you haven’t begun tapestry weaving, and you want to start, then I HIGHLY recommend this book.
And, I plunked my beloved little Chloe loom from Mirrix on the book because it’s such a joyful little loom to weave tapestry, and tabby and beads on.
The Chloe loom is just completely wonderful. The Mirrix team have hit it out of the ballpark with this sturdy incredibly versatile little loom.
What a winning combination- perfection.
I saw a woman on the news who said that if a reviewer was too enthusiastic about the product that they are talking about, don’t trust the review. Ummm…. that made me think that I should write a sedate and somehow un-enthusiastic review of these two things I love.
And, then I thought, awww phooey, if I don’t like something, I don’t talk about it.
BUT- I love Rebecca’s book and I love the Chloe loom. And, that’s the truth.
And, don’t we all need things that make us happy? I do.
Weaving on a little loom that I adore and being able to refer to the absolute Bee’s Knees of a ‘How to Do This Thing Really Well’ book is totally happiness inducing.
I am designing a whole lot of really fun projects using the Mirrix Chloe Loom and they all are woven using Tabby weaving.
There are a few things that I do when weaving tabby on the Chloe loom that I wanted to share with people, so I have made a video about these tips.
Here’s the link to the video. Oh my…. I had a whalloping huge learning curve to build the video, as the program that I was using is no longer in existence…. sigh…. challenges!
I hope that these hints and tips and hacks are helpful!
Tottie Talks Crafts Blog 