Even the simplest present is made a little bit spectacular with a fantastic tag!

These are so simple to make, and use up all those tiny scraps of paper you have been stashing away for a project like this (you do have a stash of tiny scraps, don’t you?)

In any case, printed paper (old books work so well and tear beautifully!), old maps, even pretty fabric with a small pattern are what you need here.

Cut or tear three circles, each one bigger than the next (don’t be too particular- slightly wonky shapes look best) I usually lightly glue them with a dab from a glue stick especially if the fabric is very light and liable to float away with any breeze.

Lying one or two buttons on top, thread a needle with some string (I used linen string, you could also use embroidery floss) and sew from the front through the buttons to the back and out to the front again, leaving enough string to tie into a bow.

On a tag (I made these easily by coffee-dying a few sheets of card, cutting into rectangular shapes, then punching a hole in the centre of one end; you could also buy them ) glue the rosette on centrally. I scribed the word “Love” in a nice script along the bottom. You could print out whatever sentiment you want and stick it on either.

And there you have it! Be warned though, these could become seriously addictive…!

The first is Vanilla Sugar- (you can also make lavender sugar)

In a large jar (I used a kilner jar), fill it with sugar, and into this put a vanilla pod (or stalks of lavender) and leave for a couple of weeks to infuse. That simple!!

The flavoured oils are as simple: decide on what flavour you want: herbs, chillies, peppercorns are all a good choice. I chose organic rosemary and peppercorns in olive oil. In a glass bottle, you put your herbs or whatever you have chosen into the oil to infuse for a couple of weeks.

Made now, these, decorated with beautiful fabric tied around the lids with handmade tags, are a simple, beautiful and useful present for a loved one in your life!

]]> http://blog.thenest.ie/2011/12/03/craftadvent-day-3-flavoured-oils-sugars/feed/ 6 http://blog.thenest.ie/2011/09/14/necessity-the-mother-of-invention/ http://blog.thenest.ie/2011/09/14/necessity-the-mother-of-invention/#comments Tue, 13 Sep 2011 23:27:24 +0000 Emily http://blog.thenest.ie/?p=2894

(In the mornings, my son, Michael, makes me tea while I nurse our little one beside the stove. What a sweetie!! Edited to add: the funny little face in the background was made after our little girl dunked a biscuit in my tea, forgot as she was mid-dunk, and just as the photo was taken the biscuit melted into the tea… after all my warnings to her!!!!!)

A few days before our Little Man was born I ended up in hospital with a rotten infection- I spent the days in isolation (with my own TV!! We don’t have a television at home, but the novelty wore off after about ten minutes when I realised there was nothing on any of the nine channels; didn’t stop our children’s channel-surfing every time they came in though) After four days of IV antibiotics fluids and stuff to take down my temperature (they weren’t sure what was wrong with me and my temperature went completely mad for three days before it came down to normal) I ended up having a C-section… 

Thanks to all that, my insides were in flitters and both Baby and I ended up with candida :-(   …

(and I with several other mad, crazy things)

I’ve been using homeopathy with great success, and have been using cloth nappies (diapers) to help clear the nappy/diaper rash (coconut oil on his skin also- anti bacterial and anti-viral; gosh how I love that oil!!)

 I had hoped to use cloth from day one, but what with having the C-section that was put on hold until I could organise myself properly. When Baby developed the diaper rash, I promptly began using cloth, but came up with a problem: I had no wraps small enough for him. Hence, Necessity being the Mother of Invention. 

My good friend, Bernadette, mentioned making wool wraps, (also anti-bacterial and super-breathable) and so today I went looking for my stash of felted jumpers. I found two arms of a jumper (thanks Terri, that jumper has had many lives since!!) and whilst changing our little sweetpea I cut out and fit this wool wrap. It was very easy, and once I had it cut out only took a couple of minutes to sew up on the machine. 

A quick tutorial!

My plan was to make a pair of wool “shorts” (I know as my beloved mother reads this she is having palpitations at the thought of wool next to her skin… but truly, it is soft and completely non-itchy!) so I cut the arms to approximately 10 inches long 

(Measure? What? Me?!) 

There was a bit of a seam which I cut out and made a slit to the top of the cuff.

I turned one leg right-side out and lined up the other leg inside it. 

With the machine I sewed from where the waistband would be, to the other side. 

As the body looked a bit wide, I re-sewed a centimetre or two in to make a snugger fit.

Thankfully I still had the neck band of the jumper, and so measured how wide the waistband needed to be, and sewed it on, stretching the ribbed neckband as I sewed

I think the wool shorts look hilarious, but most importantly they do the job perfectly.

(look at those skinny little legs!!!)

Tomorrow I am going to make another wrap based on a triangle of wool fabric (Even easier than this one, typically I only found the pattern online after I made this one) 

Oh, who can resist a fluffy cloth bottom?!

I am finally getting around to posting this tutorial… I am going to post the Waldorf Doll Head Tutorial afterwards, but bearing in mind that it takes hours and hours to upload photos and write the instructions clearly enough to understand… it might be more “tomorrow” than “today” that I post it.

So let us begin: 

all the drawings are drawn on A4 paper if you want to print them out, and this will also give you an idea of size. The final doll measures 10 inches in total, but of course, my dolls are never standard, and the dimensions vary every time I make them.

Not sure if you can read the measurements: the head is 2 and a half inches, and the rest of the body is 7 and a half inches. There is an outer body made of velour, and an inner secure body made of cotton (the weighting pellets are in here) The head and hands are made from dollskin. 

I used pure new carded wool to stuff the doll.

I made a head to start with, measuring 2 and a half inches in diameter (Remember, with Waldorf dolls the head is usually one fourth or a quarter of the final body size)

Cut 2 of the body and 2 of the inner bag.

All measurements DO NOT INCLUDE seam allowances, I draw onto the fabric, sew around the lines drawn and then cut out.

Lay your pieces onto the WRONG SIDE of your fabric, and draw around them (I use a gel pen which works well) I made my neck about twice as wide as shown here (see below):

I pinned, then sewed around the lines, leaving a gap where the neck is and where the cuffs on the arms are.

I sewed the hands and stuffed them firmly, then stuffed the arms, also stuffed firmly, but not so stiff that they can’t be bended.

Push the hands into the gap at the arm cuffs, and sew them firmly on, using small secure stiches. (make sure there is the same amount of “hand” showing before you stitch them)

Lightly stuff the velour body, pushing the wool to the bottom, where it peters off into a point.

Push the inner cotton bag into the body, and pour your weighting pellets in here (I have read of dolls being weighted with beans or millet, but our climate is so damp (in Ireland) that I was a bit worried about putting in anything that could potentially grow, so I used plastic weighting pellets. I poured enough in to give it a pleasant weight -I never weighed, but I have a feeling it was around 100gms. It all depends on how heavy you want your doll to be)

I stuffed some wool into the inner body after the pellets to make the upper body of the doll firm, then pull out the inner cotton bag and sew back and forward firmly to securely close the neck completely:

What wonderful neat sewing!! All that matters is that it is SECURE, especially important if a child who likes to chew gets a hold of this doll.

Sew through the velour and the inner bag so that the inner bag doesn’t end up “slipping down” into the body with use.

Tuck the sewn part back into the body then into that pocket created, insert your head.

Tuck the arms in besde the head on either side of the head:

In order to sew the body and arms to the head, lift the arms up like this:

Insert a doll needle (mine is 5″) through the underarm-body-velour, arm (make sure it goes through the arms tucked into the body), head, arm and underarm-body-velour before coming out the other side. I used doubled up very strong (I’m pretty sure it was upholstery) cotton thread.

Then when it was quite securely attached together (I sewed back and forth 3 or 4 times), I sewed around the neck, making sure to catch the fabric from the head. It is really worth sewing very securely here, making sure you are catching the fabric as you go, because you don’t want it to all fall apart at first toddler-hug!!

There are no diagrams for the hat, simply because I didn’t make any (!)… I stretched the velour around the head (wrong side out) then made a running stitch into a trianglar shape to create the hat shape (it is basically a triangle folded over), then stitched it on the machine, turned it the right way out, pulled it down over the head, and sewed it securely all around the brim with small stitches.

And then the face! I’m still not completely happy with my faces… I need a lot more practice I think!

As always, I find Maricristan Sealys book: Making Waldorf Dolls my doll-making bible, it is such a simple, easy to follow book, and has all the basics covered with clear, well written instructions.

I would LOVE to see pictures of any finished dolls inspired by this tutorial; you could post your link here in this blogpost in the comments, or/and post a photo on The Nest Facebook page here.

I welcome any comments/ querys / suggestions, and trust that any doll you may make, and/ or the using of this tutorial will be solely for personal use only.

You may not reproduce this pattern in print or claim it as your work, do not copy and paste pattern to another website, please use a link.
 Thank you!

(I’m linking up with Lovely Crafty Home, Making The World Cuter Follow Along, 

Making the World Cuter Monday & Singing Three Little Birds, 

and Hope Tuesday: Tutorial Tuesday

check out all the crafty ideas there!)

“~ Two of my favorite things are knitting and reading, and the evidence of this often shows up in my photographs. I love seeing what other people are knitting and reading as well~”

Apart from drawing, doodling and painting everytime I sit during the day, I am continuing to crochet my large Granny Square blanket when I sit down at night… it is coming along nicely, far more lovely than I had ever dreamed, considering I’m using up odds and ends and odd balls of yarn!

I’ve just finished The Glass Castle, by Jeanette Walls, almost finished Misconceptions by Naomi Wolf (just so that I know what I’m in for ((again!!!)) at the end of the summer),

…consulting Stitch and Fix by Joan Gordon regularly, realising that probably all the mending I have done throughout my life, has been incorrectly executed…

…delighting in Mother’s Nature- the pictures and illustrations alone are just inspiring!