As I showed in
this post, we have a very nice nature table (well, it's actually on top of a cabinet, but never mind).
But there are still some things missing...
I have always loved the nature tables an old friend of our had in her house, with loads of Waldorf-dolls she made herself.
I never got any further than sewing little gnomes from felt, with a pipecleaner base and wooden beads as a head, hands and feet. I've been making those since she tought me how to at the age of about 7, I think...
But when I got older and had already made a lot of them as gifts for grandma's and aunts, it wasn't fun anymore, so I stopped making them...
But since I started working in education, I always make nature / theme tables in my classroom and now that Joshua is getting bigger I want that in our home too. And not just with store bought decorations.
Since I learned sewing felt, I've also learned LOADS of other different crafts and needle felting is one Rebecca introduced me to.
So when I found these two amazing needle felted, Waldorf inspired dolls, I knew what I wanted to do...
After doing some research on how to get started, I combined
this and
this tutorial to make the base. I made the head and neck separately, as I was afraid the pipe cleaners would be visible. The head is very tightly felted, the body a little less tight and the skirt is very loosely felted. Only the underside is quite tightly done, to make it sturdy.
After I was satisfied with the rough base I made a dress by wrapping colored felt in brown and yellow around the base and needling it in place. After that I started adding details and hiding little "mistakes" (little spots where the base was showing through).
When that was done, I added hair and a braided hairband (just to keep the hair in place, since is didn't really turn out how I wanted it initially).
I also gave her a scarf of sorts, since autumn is chilly.. I was was a bit torn in two about the pumpkin, I liked the idea of a broom for sweeping leaves, but since I wanted the whole tning finished and I didn't feel like going out in the dark to search for twigs, I made a little pumpkin anyway... Looks cute though.
The whole doll had a bit of a medieval feel to it, which I like...
I have always had a thing for medieval stuff and fantasy figures....
She makes me think of
lady Marian in Robin Hood, the old Robin Hood with Kevin Cosner *sigh*...
I think she looks rather lovely "under" our tree... Don't you think so too...
Oh yes, I really need to thank my colleague and friend Elisabeth, since she provided me with roving for the base and a couple of colors, so that I didn't have to do, and wait, for an order of roving!
Love, Caroline
