It is a wonderful thing that I have such a devoted and wonderful group of women-students who I get to teach for the full year (and many more to come!) here at ROotie StudiO in Denver.
Recently I have been choosing specific techniques to incorporate into the year in addition to the known dollmaking techniques. This year I introduced piecing (as in quilting) and folk style design into their dollmaking repertoire.
I feel the more techniques you have under your belt the better "dollmaker" you will be- as with anything in life- the more you know the better and more well rounded person you can be!
So for our final patterned class of the year we made Santa with piecing of the fabrics, applique, and embroidery. All this done with the simple design concepts of the Folk Style. Even though these Santas where simple in design- my students would (happily) tell you that they were quite time consuming but well worth the effort!
I am sure we all know- Happy Hands- Happy Heart!
I used Japanese fabrics in colors of linens
and browns to piece the body.
Added in silk velvets from my stash.
Head done in Linen.
Embroidery- stitches of straight stitch,
varied lazy daisy, and chain stitch.
I used silk and linen #5 threads
for the top-stitching embroidery.
