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Free Patterns from fionamarie.com

 

Linda Misa's Love, Faith and Peace

Love, Faith and Peace © 2004 by Linda Misa

MATERIALS

  • 20cm Flesh coloured fine weave cotton or cream quilter’s calico.
  • Acrylic or fabric paints
  • Pigma and gel pens, coloured pencils for face drawing
  • Mohair staples for hair –3 matching colours
  • Any beads, sequins or embellishments you want to use.
  • Fairy glitter paint (to add a little sparkle)
  • Toy stuffing
  • Freezer paper for templates
  • Craft glue
  • Pin for back of doll or fishing line to make a loop to hang her on the wall.
  • Haemostats, pinking shears.
  • General sewing requirements.

PREPARATION

  • The pattern pieces are templates; no seam allowance is included.
  • Stitch length is 1.5mm, use needle down position on your machine if available.
  • Cut out all templates and iron onto the wrong side of the doubled fabric.
  • Stitch around the templates. All pieces are stitched in one complete shape and turned through a slit opening made on one side.
  • Turn all pieces through to right side.

STUFFING and QUILTING

  • Stuff heads firmly though opening slit in the back. Make sure you push the stuffing well into the head to push out the seam line and give a nice full face on which to draw – but still keep it flattish! Whip stitch the opening closed.
    • Start stuffing the bodies, firstly into the boots and legs of all 3 friends. Once you have that area filled you can quilt the leg separation lines as marked. Use a slightly longer stitch length (2.5) to make the quilt lines. You can add a little extra stuffing to the legs if needed after quilting. Then quilt the skirt hemline across the top of the legs. You can choose to hand quilt the lines if preferred.
    • TIP – when machine quilting a line start a few stitches in from the edge, then reverse stitch back to the edge, change back to forward stitches and complete the line. Also at the other end instead of finishing the stitching off at the edge, reverse back a couple of stitches before tying off.
    • Now stuff the 2 outer friends, pushing the stuffing into the arm and neck area first. Then stuff the rest of their bodies – fairly firmly. Keep stuffing until you are just past where their body quilting lines are so that when you stitch the quilt line you are stitching on top of some of the stuffing. This helps keep the quilting lines from being too flat and sharp looking.
    • Now stuff the middle “Faith”, pushing the stuffing well into any corners and up close to the quilt lines. Whip stitch the opening closed when you are happy with the look.
    • TIP - If at any time you feel some area need more stuffing to an area already quilted, you can always make a small slit in the back of the doll and insert extra stuffing, then whip stitch closed. Once you have painted the 3 friends you will hardly notice any stitches.
    • Now you can quilt the waistline lines and skirt pleats as marked on the templates.

    PAINTING THE CLOTHES AND BOOTS

    This is a tonal painting method to give a little definition to the separate dolls. We will work with 3 complimentary colours. It is a good idea to sort out your hair colours first as you can mix your paint colours to suit them. Always know what colours you are going to paint before you start and if you keep the same intensity of colour, they will sit nicely together to give a great overall finish.

    I have painted from the neck down in bands of slowly changing colour. Starting with the full tint of the colour at the shoulder and then by gradually adding the next colour to the first as you work down the body. Make your paintbrush strokes across the fabric as you paint – NOT downward strokes. This will give you a tonal graduation effect. Keep adding a little more of the next paint to each band of colour you paint (approx 1cm in depth). I have painted the middle doll more solidly with 1 colour for the bodice and the quilt lines and a lighter tone of the red to highlight the pleats of the skirt. We want the effect to be subtle and gradual so take your time. You may need to practice on a scrap of fabric to get confident. If you make a mistake, just dry the paint and then repaint over it. Make sure you paint the back of the dolls, making the band of colour go right around the dolls. I have painted different necklines to add some interest. The boots are painted to match the (shoulder area) starting colour.

    You can finish their outfits off by adding some beading or other embellishments to the necklines and/or waistlines and boots. I have also used gel pens to draw shapes on their dresses and some fairy glitter paint to give a little sparkle to their outfits. This is the fun part where you use up some of those bits and pieces you have stashed in your sewing room – or buy some more to use!

    TIP – You will find it easier to embellish before you attach the head and hair – even if it looks strange! I use a hair drier to speed up the process of drying the paint – waiting for paint to dry is no fun at all!

    PAINTING THE FACES

    • Attach all 3 heads to their respective bodies, giving the outer 2 heads a slightly tilted angle of attachment.
    • A little craft glue may be of some help to help keep them in position when you stitch.

    Now for the faces….. Follow the drawings below, keep the lines clean and simple and use the coloured pencils to add some shading and a white gel pen to add some highlights. As the faces are all hand drawn you will find that they naturally have a look of their own – even if you are trying to draw them the same! – Mine do at least! I do usually vary the eye colour for interest.

    FINISHING THE PIN

    • Next I glue the hair into place. I usually do a “dry” run to check how much mohair to use and then I apply the glue to head of each doll and attach the mohair to it. It seems to work easier than putting the glue on the mohair and then on the head! – Sticks every where else but where you want it.

    • Finally to finish you can either attach a brooch pin to the back centre doll so you can wear her or if you prefer, stitch a couple of loops of fishing line instead and hang the pin on the wall.

    I hope you enjoy making Love, Faith and Peace. This pin was designed at a time when war was declared on Iraq. I needed to go to my sewing room and create something, an expression of my thoughts – I hope you use this pin to share with your friends/family to show the bond you have with them.

    Happy doll making! If you have any questions or queries about this or any other of my patterns please feel free to contact me.

    LINDA MISA DESIGNS
    938 Pateena Rd, Longford, TASMANIA 7301.
    www.picturetrail.com/linda38
    jandlmisa@netspace.net.au
    Ph (03) 63912598