The Long Beach International Quilt Festival

This is the carpeting that covers the entire floor of the International Quilt Festival in Long Beach. It just makes you feel so special as you walk the booths and look at all the wonderful quilts.

This is a look down the aisle at the International Quilt Festival in Long Beach. If you look to the right you will see the Dinky Baby booth. Lots to look at and what a great time, the crowds were wonderful. This picture was taken just before opening.


This is the Dinky Baby booth at the Long Beach Quilt Festival. I had a great location and wonderful neighbors.

This is me, at the end of a very long day. This show starts on a Thursday evening at 5 pm and goes until 9 pm. It then opens on Friday and Saturday at 10 am and closes at 7 pm. Sunday the hours are 10 am to 3 pm. If you have not visited this show, you are missing out! It is WONDERFUL!

How to wash Dinky Babies

I love making the Dinky Babies from craft velour because you can wash them right in the washer with a load of towels.

I wash them on a regular wash cycle and use warm or cold water. The towels help agitate the dolls clean. If you Dinky Baby has yarn hair, slip a pantyhose over their hair to hold it in place while she is being washed.

Once the wash cycle is complete, just put your Dinky Babies in the dryer with the towels for a fun ride. For the doll with yarn hair let her air dry on top of the dryer.

Add new blush and your Dinky Baby is ready for more fun play.

Meet "Penelope P. Piggins"

This is Penelope in her diva hat

This is Penelope, so cute

See Penelope's piggy tail?

Which hat to wear?

A New Pattern Coming From Dinky Baby

To find out more about this new pattern join my VIP email list, just go to www.DinkyBaby.com

Stuffing Ams & Legs

Here is a question about stuffing arms and legs from Ann, thank you for the question Ann.

I'm not sure if I'm over stuffing my legs and arms, do you stuff the whole leg and arm till firm? my dolls are starting to look like the Pillsbury dough boy or as my mother says that Michelin tire guy Thanks Ann

Stuffing is a very important part of doll making. I use two different types of stuffing for making my dolls. Crafter's Choice® Polyester Fiberfill for the body and Nature-fil™ Bamboo Fiberfill for the head, these are both manufactured by Fairfield Products©. When your doll is stuffed properly it will keep its shape for years to come and wash after wash. (If you do not have access to the Fairfield products, use something similar.)

Since Ann asked about the stuffing of the arms and legs we will focus on those two areas. This information is for the 14 inch size Dinky Babies, for smaller or larger dolls this will differ.

Using a stuffing tool (pencil or chopstick) stuff the hand and thumb area fully with polyester fiberfill. There is no need to make this too hard or packed too firmly, just stuff it fully.

Stuff the hand fully

Continue to stuff the arm up to about two inches from the end. This allows plenty of room to be able to insert the arm into the body.

Leave about 2 inches unstuffed
Arms ready to be inserted into the body

Legs are stuffed just like the arms. Fill the foot area fully with polyester fiberfill using a stuffing tool if necessary. Continue to add stuffing to the leg area up to about two inches from the end of the leg. This allows plenty of room to be able to insert the arm into the body.

I hope this helps in your doll making. A doll’s arms, legs and bodies should be huggable. Over stuffing will make it difficult to do proper sculpting and distort the look of your finished dolls.

Please email your doll making questions to Vicki@DinkyBaby.com

CHOOSING THE RIGHT FABRIC


Have you ever purchased a doll pattern and became very disappointed or discouraged when you tried to make it? You followed the pattern and the instructions, but somehow your doll did not turn out like the picture on the pattern.

The reason may be the fabric. We all want our dolls to look just like the pattern we have purchased. Some times we just use the fabric we have on hand or fabric we think would work, only to find out that all the time we put into our doll was for naught! The doll you made did not turn out like the pattern. It is very important to use the proper fabric in doll making. Most designers recommend the correct fabric to use for their patterns. Each Dinky Baby designed is made with craft velor with the exception of the mini's, they are made with Windsor or Doll Skin.

Craft velour is found on my website, www.DinkyBaby.com, unfortunately you will not find craft velour in any store. I do wish you could, it would make our lives so much easier. As this is not the case, please do not frustrate yourself; purchase enough craft velour when you purchase one of my patterns. Since I have designed my patterns using craft velour the use of any other fabric will not produce the same results.

When first designing dolls well over 30 years ago, finding fabric was the most difficult thing I ran across. Since soft-sculpture dolls were relatively new, the fabric was non existent. At that time I purchased a white nylon backed flannel fabric and took it home to dye. This was not an easy process and required a lot of trial and error. Getting the right shade of light pink was not always easy and each dye lot was always just a little different. When I made dolls I had to make sure they were all made from the same bolt I dyed. I won't even mention what it did to my washer.

Craft velour is 60 inches wide and comes in the perfect shade of pink, called "Doll Face Pink" and sometimes referred to as light pink as well as a variety of other colors. One yard will yield about three 14 inch Dinky Baby dolls with some scraps left over.

Always save your scraps for the small projects. I have designed patterns just for this purpose. My mother taught me to save scraps and to find a use for them. You will find the newest pattern "Dinky Dots" and the "5-little monkeys" a great way to make use of any of your craft velour scraps. The "Pocket Dolls" are also a great way to make use of any of your craft velour scraps.

To help you get started I am offering a discount coupon that you can use on my website for 20% any of the light pink craft velour, minimum purchase $20. All orders will ship in one week.

This is a great time to stock up and start making all those Dinky Babies. Just use the coupon code in all caps CRAFT VELOUR, this offer will end July 19, 2010.

www.DinkyBaby.com

My Booth at the Denver Show

The "Dinky Dots"

Inside the quilted booklet, see all the clothes.

Two little dolls with four different faces.

What could be more fun?