This month, I designed a Shoulder Bag to weave on the Mirrix Chloe Loom for the Lily Doll as part of the Lily Doll Project- a co-creation with Mirrix Looms.
It’s a VERY tiny purse, just perfect for a 6 inch tall woven doll to carry her wee Teddy Bear and other little treasures!
Here are the links to order the kit and the PDF- Happy Weaving!
People have asked me how to weave a Boy or a Gender Neutral Doll using the Lily Doll Kit.
They also asked for gender neutral doll clothing, so I have been focusing on designing clothes that work for girl, boy and gender neutral dolls. (Jeans earlier in the summer, this month’s shirt and shorts and Overalls for September’s project).
I also show how to make glasses for the dolls in the Shirt and Shorts pdf and kit. All the kits are available from Mirrix Looms. LINK
I have just uploaded a video to YouTube that shows how to customize the Lily Doll kit and pdf to make your dolls be exactly the way you want them to be.
Happy Weaving! ❤
The Lily Doll Project that I am designing for the Mirrix Chloe loom is all about imagination.
So to celebrate imagination, I designed a Mermaid costume to be woven on the Chloe loom for the Lily Doll.
The Mermaid Tail slips onto Lily Doll’s legs so she can have adventures in a Mermaidly way.
But it struck me this morning that the Mermaid Tail and the Lily Doll pattern could be ‘mashed up’ to weave a doll that is a Mermaid and not a little doll with legs, dressed as a Mermaid.
There are always so many options, aren’t there?
Here are the links for the Lily Doll kit and pdf pattern:
I hope that your day is full of Mermaid musings and imagining all manner of sweet things!
Happy Weaving! ❤
Once upon this time there is a darling 3 year old, (named Lily) who inspired me to create the Lily Doll Project- a year long celebration of delight, joy and creativity.
When Lily’s Mamma, Elena Kawachi, posted pics of little Miss Lily taking her first steps into the world of ballet, I couldn’t resist designing a tutu for Lily Doll, woven on the Mirrix Chloe loom.
And because ballerinas need to stay warm after class, I designed a wee shrug for Lily Doll, too. The kit for the shrug and tutu are available at LINK
The Shrug also looks great with the Pinafore Pocket Dress (kit also available on the Lily Doll page LINK)
Here’s to the joy of woven dolls and imagination! Hope you’ll join us in the delightful, healing art of dollmaking and make your own, unique version of Lily Doll and her friends! <3
Happy weaving! ❤
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.
The kits are available at: https://mirrixlooms.com/lily
I have been weaving a lot of butterflies lately, as a metaphor of hope, transformation, healing, creativity, community, and so much more.
These butterflies are ones that I designed to weave on the Mirrix Saffron loom.
I love the way that I can set up the Saffron to the exact size that I want….
The pink butterfly is made by weaving a full size triangle on the Saffron (see instructions in my book: Innovative Weaving on the Frame Loom).
And, the blue butterflies are made by weaving half size triangles.
Because the smaller butterflies are woven using a variation on the technique that I developed for the book,
I have made a video showing how to weave them.
The bodies are made on the loom, using the same setup as the wings, so you can weave away without having to re-set the loom. Yay!
Here’s the link to the Video How to Tutorial:
Mirrix looms are selling a wonderful kit that includes my book: Innovative Weaving on the Frame Loom, as well as the Saffron Loom and the Sandy Stand for it. It’s a great kit! Here’s the link for it:
In the video, I mentioned that I carved a chopstick to make the weaving hook for weaving the triangles.
Here’s the link to that video:
To see all the links for the ‘How To’ posts for the “Imagine” Banner Weave along, please go to L I N K S
To order the loom, book and extras kit for the Weave Along from Mirrix, please go to K I T
HOW TO WEAVE THE TRIANGLES:
Make 2.
1: SET UP THE LOOM so it is 2 1/2 inches (approximately 6.25 cm) from the lower set of pegs to the upper set. Lock it into the ‘Sandy Stand’.
2: WARP THE LOOM: Following the instructions for warping the Triangle on page 82 of ‘Innovative Weaving on the Frame Loom’, leave 6 sets of pegs at both sides open so just the center 10 pegs are used: Begin at the right hand side.
With 2 strands of white yarn held together as if it is one strand, and 2 strands of pale blue yarn as if it is a single strand, put on 5 loops of white warp strands and then, 5 loops of blue yarn. Cut and tie a knot in the middle.
Diagonal:
Take the blue yarn around the lower left hand peg beside the warp strands up to and around the peg that is adjacent to the warp strands at the top right hand peg
Weave the end of the blue yarn around the lower left hand pegs, back and forth to secure it, then snip the end off.
3: WEAVE:
Follow the instructions in the book to weave the triangle, using a crochet hook. Repeat for the second triangle.
4: FINISHING THE TRIANGLES:
If necessary, pull up on the diagonal yarn end to pull the triangle into shape.
Steam the triangles on the wrong side with a steam iron, being sure to not touch the iron to the weaving.
Finger press the triangles to shape them into pleasing triangles.
Weave in the ends.
Trim any ends.
To see all the links for the ‘How To’ posts for the “Imagine” Banner Weave along, please go to L I N K S
To order the loom, book and extras kit for the Weave Along from Mirrix, please go to K I T
HOW TO EMBROIDER
THE WORD ‘IMAGINE’ ON THE NARROW BAND:
NOTE: The embroidery is done while the weaving is still on the loom and under tension.
1: Print out a copy of the ‘Imagine’ letters so they are approximately 1 inch/2.5 cm high by 7 in/17.5 cm or use 1/4 inch graph paper to draw them out.
2: Fold the paper so the edge of the letters can be placed right against the 1 inch/2.5 cm high white center section of the weaving.
3: Place the straight pins at the upright lines of the letters, ‘I’, ‘m’, ‘n’, and at the outside edges of the chubby ‘a’, ‘g’ and ‘e’.
4: Use the pins as guides to draw the letters onto the narrow band using a permanent felt tip marker.
5: Following the instructions on page 27 of “Innovative Weaving on the Frame Loom”, embroider the letters with dark blue embroidery floss.
FRINGE:
6: Lift the weaving off the loom and remove the 2 pieces of cardboard.
7: Cut the ends of the loops at the right hand side of the narrow band (it was at the top of the loom) open.
8: Trim the ends that were at the lower edge of the loom, now the left hand side of the band, to the same length as the warp ends at the other end of the narrow band.
9: Tie a knot (left over right and under, right over left and under) with each set of 4 strands of yarn across both ends of the narrow band.
10: FINISHING THE NARROW BAND:
Steam the narrow band on the wrong side with a steam iron, being sure to not touch the iron to the weaving.
Finger press the narrow band to make sure that the fringes behave themselves and line up politely.
Trim them again if necessary.
Three sisters of the heart- tapestry/mixed media pieces that I wove and fabricated this summer:
copyright Noreen Crone-Findlay http://www.tottietalkscrafts.com
On the left: Woven Women- Asking for Miracles 36 inches tall
Center: Woven Women- Edith’s Song (no regrets) 31 inches tall
On the right: Woven Women- Small Bird Sang and All Was Forgiven 36 inches tall
Woven on my Mirrix tapestry looms (16 inch wide loom and 8 inch wide loom).
Yesterday, I took a tapestry off my 16 inch Mirrix loom- it’s nowhere near being finished as I am going to be doing embroidery on it.
I thought that I would give an update on the tapestries that I am weaving for my solo show next summer.
So, even though NONE of these pieces are anywhere close to being done, here’s a quick little glimpse at the works in progress:
copyright Noreen Crone-Findlay
And yes, I did plaster copyright notices all over them, as I have found that images have a way of getting away from you, so I want people to be able to follow them home!
The large tapestry is about a meter long – when you use extenders on the 16 inch loom, you can weave very long pieces.
On the music stand are 2 tapestries that I am just getting started on.
The 12 inch tapestry has gobbled up all my ‘s’ hooks, so I need to go buy some more.
I warped up my 5 inch Mini in a totally outside the box way….. totally outside the Scrabble box, that is!
I bought a couple of extra Scrabble games from the thrift shop so I could use the letters for my titles of my video tutorials.
I plunked the tile holders into a drawer and occasionally, I wonder what I will do with them.
Well… the other day, when I was puzzling over how I could warp the Mini when all my ‘s’ hooks are in use elsewhere, I had a flash of inspiration-
copyright Noreen Crone-Findlay
I duct taped 2 of them together to make a cap to go over the Mini’s knobs at the top of the loom!
copyright Noreen Crone-Findlay
This is the back of the loom, showing how I warped it continuously, going over the ‘Scrabble Cap’.
It works brilliantly!
I don’t like showing a piece before I have made some progress on it.
In November, I’ll do another update, and hopefully, I’ll have lots more to show you! 🙂
Noreen Crone-Findlay, designer and author
Tottie Talks Crafts Blog 