MARY POPPINS DRESS

Below is my take on a child's version of a Mary Poppins dress.



I choose a white cotton eyelet fabric. Bodice and skirt are lined with a white cotton fabric. I could have gone with a satin, sheer or lacey material, but decided on cotton because of the durability. After all it is for a 4 year old.

I simplified the look a bit. Decided to not add the high collar. I could see complaints of itchiness around the neck being an issue. Went with a short sleeve instead of the 3/4 length sleeve and also left off the frilly collar/chest piece. If I had been making the dress for myself I would have gone all out to recreate the look. But on a 4 year old I think it would be a bit much.



The red corset/cumberbun is detachable. It is secured with velcro in the back.



I used Simplicity pattern 2989 in a size 4 width and size 5 in length.

 

CLOTHES PIN MARY POPPINS

After seeing a clothes pin doll of Mary Poppins on Pintrest I knew that's what I wanted to make for the top of my daughter's birthday cake.

I didn't realize how popular these clothes pin doll cake toppers were. There are some great ones on Etsy by LittleBun and TinyBlossoms. I love the wedding cake toppers created by Sarah Neuburger of The Small Object. Love the costumization and attention to detail!



I had a lot of fun making this. I kept thinking of a ton of other things to add to it but decided to keep it pretty simple. I'll definitely be making more. It'll be a great project to do with my daughter and a great way to use all those fabric scraps I have laying around.

The wooden clothes pins, heads (wooden balls), and bases can be bought at any hobby store.



I noticed that most of the clothes pin dolls I found all had painted hair. I decided I wanted yarn hair. It was a little tricky. I drew the on the hair line and used Tacky glue, works much better than Elmers, to attach yarn.  I think the yarn hair gives it an extra texture and gives you more choices of hair styles. The key is to find a thin yarn. Sock yarn would work well.

PRACTICALLY PERFECT IN EVERY WAY

Illustration and design for birthday invitation.



:::UPDATE 9/4/2012::Almost weekly I have receive  many requests to buy this invitation. I am flattered. However because I work for a large greeting card company my contract states to sell artwork for other card companies or to an individual for card use is a conflict of interest. Sorry I am unable to sell this. I'd kinda like to keep my job. Thanx.

DRAWING WITH THREAD

Every now and then I'll do a drawing or some sort of art work depicting my daughter. This time I decided to try embroidering a portrait. Definitely a lot harder to capture a persons likeness in thread as opposed to a sketch. I started with a sketch that I really had to simplify. Then I transfered it to my material. I used a light table to set my drawing on then placed my fabric on top to trace the image. I used a blue Dritz marking pen that is water soluble to trace my drawing onto the fabric. Then I started stitching. Once I was finished I lightly sprayed the fabric and stitches with water and the blue line work dissappeared.