Blossom & Friday

Happy Valentine's Day!

Whatever you are doing today I hope you got to spend it in good company and/ or doing something lovely.

❤

Little laundry basket

Why make one mini kitty when you can make two?
This little guy is made by printing the Blossom and Friday Kitty pattern at 60% (he is 6 inches tall).
I will be sharing a video next week that shows you how to resize any of my patterns up or down, as well as making a larger Kitty to show the process of 'soft stuffing' for a more squishy cuddly feel.
This little chap is top secret as he's a Valentine's gift for Ollie!
You might have noticed that with the mini dolls, I embroider the cheeks instead of sewing felt circles... they are just too fiddly at a small size. I have also added a little charcoal grey circle around the cheeks. I think it makes him look sort of like an illustration, like little pencil lines.
If you are interested in doing a make-along with a mini kitty let me know in the comments and I will make a little plan.

It's the Black Friday Sale at Blossom & Friday!
30% off every pattern in the store until Sunday 11.50 GMT
Use the code BFBF30

https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/BlossomandFriday

To find out more about my little business please visit www.blossomandfriday.co.uk

where you can also try my free 'Little Blossom' pattern.

Sweet little friends and their 'Saturday Dresees'. I love making these dolls! The Saturday dress pattern is included with the Blosso & Friday Doll Pattern

A special handmade doll and her own beautiful wardrobe. Gifting something as precious as this is as much fun for you the gifter and maker as it is for the lucky receiver. I haves some new wardrobe additions coming up later this year, incuding a jacket, pyjamas, peplum top and more. Each pattern comes with it's own in-depth video tutorial too, to make the whole process easier and to make sure that you have everything you need to make your gift look and feel professionally made.

Ellie Elephant made with soft grey Essex Linen fabric by Robert Kaufman.

Just a reminder that I have a FREE pattern that you can download. The Little Blossom pattern includes a printable template, full video tutorial and lots of tips and tricks to make your own little Blossom using small pieces of fabric - a brilliant scrap buster! You can download the pattern here -

https://view.flodesk.com/pages/63ff2cdda4305b94afa441b9

Tiny clothes are my favourite type of clothes to make... they are super easy, they are a fabulous scrap-buster project and they look so cute. Little clothes in a fabric of your choice is a really great way to personalise your doll design. I try and make my clothing patterns as simple as possible, I include little cheats, tips and tricks that wouldn't work for 'people-clothing' but for doll-clothing they are great!

Have fun sewing!

What a coordinated little bunch of cuties! Why make one doll when you can make a whole collection?

Sweet little Ted .. one of my favourite patterns to make - you can make your own sweet Ted too, in the colours of your choice and dress him or her with a whole wardrobe of cuteness. Take a look at my patterns here - https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/BlossomandFriday
Each pattern has a full video tutorial to walk you through every step of the process

Have fun!

I am running a LIVE version of the Doll Design Workshop this month! There are just a hand full of discount codes left to use (please message me privately to see if I have any left - first come first served!) Previous students are welcome to join in with the live calls, there is a new Facebook Group for all attendees and some live zoom calls over the next few weeks.

Start a fun spring project and make something beautiful, meet like-minded makers and maybe even start a beautiful creative business!

The Workshop includes lifetime access to:

Lessons and tutorials, inspiration exercises, templates, the 'Celia Spoon' pattern (the doll shown in the image is available as a pattern for Doll Design Workshop - a bonus gift for me!) lessons on hairstyles, shoes, making clothing for dolls and SO much more!

Message me now to join in with this live round of the workshop. If you are already a course attendee or have signed up recently you will have an email invite from me in your inbox.

click this link for more information about what's included - https://www.blossomandfriday.co.uk/dolldesignworkshop

Liberty of London fabric (sigh....❤️)
Have you ever been in their fabric department in the store itself? I was once in there buying a couple of pieces of fabric and poring over them for faaaar too long and there was a woman being served alongside me and she was ordering metres and metres (and metres and metres) of tana lawn in all different types and colours and prints and ... OH I was envious! She must have ordered 100 metres in total!

Now if you know Liberty of London then you know it's super high quality and so a hundred metres is going to set you back rather a lot of money... the wonderful thing about making little doll clothes and is that you only need a really small amount of fabric! So one metre can make probably 10 little outfits or more!

So, I will still dream about all those metres of fabric but having my own sweet stash of little pieces is still as wonderful and has just as many possibilities!

Studio spring clean! I think I may have to share a 'before and after' tomorrow. Does anyone keep a tidy space when they sew? I just can't even imagine how that would be possible :)

“True friends are always together in spirit” — L.M. Montgomery

Sweet Dreams ⭐🌙✨

Making Mini Dolls!

I absolutely love making mini sized dolls Sure, it is a tiny bit more fiddly and you will definitely benefit from having a turning tool but it isn't all that different and the results are adorable! All you need to do is take one of my patterns and before you print, just adjust the sizing. I have scaled these ones to 50% of the original size and they are 7.5 inches long - the perfect pocket size!

When I make little dresses and clothes at this side I like working with tana lawn fabric best as it is thinner and works better for the little size

Etsy Store - https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/BlossomandFriday

Making little clothes for your Blossom doll or animal is so easy and so fun. As well as printable patterns, instructions and photos, each pattern has a full video tutorial. Many times in the videos you will hear me say something like "It's very different to making real clothes" and that's because it is... with little doll clothes you can make little cheats and shortcuts that still give a lovely results but that takes out the fiddliness of making little clothes. I bought these mini coat hangers from Amazon and they are the perfect finishing touch to a little wardrobe!

Making mini clothes is fun, adds so much variation to a doll design, can really add personality, is a great scrap buster as well as a way of using little pieces of precious/ treasured fabrics here and there.

Head to my Etsy Store - https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/BlossomandFriday to see the patterns.

So I found out that quite a few people who follow me don't know I have this free Little Blossom sewing pattern.

I love this pattern! It's so fun and easy. Once you have made one it becomes even easier and you'll be tempted to make a whole bunch!

It's a brilliant scrap-buster project and makes a gorgeous gift for a loved one... or make some for yourself too of course! They can be strung up together as the cutest bunting ever or make a spring collection of them and place them in a vase on your windowsill!

You can access the free pattern at the following link:

https://view.flodesk.com/pages/63ff2cdda4305b94afa441b9

Sometimes inspiration for colours can be super simple or fit around a room style. If you take a look at the following link 'Choosing Fabrics' there is some information about the fabrics I use and how I choose colours and combinations as well as some specific details about the brands etc. I do love pastels but I am so tempted to do a little selection of teddies, bunnies and cats in really rich, bold colours too. This little orange Kitty is a sweetie. I chose a muted beige for his cheeks and a very soft linen colour for his inner ears.

https://www.blossomandfriday.co.uk/post/____choosingfabrics

Choosing fabrics is such a fun part of doll-making!

Vintage prints everywhere! That's the thing about Blossom & Friday dolls... you can make a teddy. bunny, kitty or any other creature and really personalise them with different fabrics for the clothing or inner ears or little patch pockets. Vintage styles mis-matched pieces are my absolute favourite!

If Blossom and Friday was a real bricks-and-mortar shop then this is what it would look like but with flowers and fabrics, dolls and kits in the window.

I don't have any plans for a real shop but working on that vision really helps me with my branding and style... speaking of which, my website it currently undergoing a re-vamp and should be up and running at the end of this week. I will be making all of my courses available as a self-study pace option, introducing some new courses and workshops and introducing pattern bundles. Thanks for your patience and as ever if there is anything you would like to see from Blossom and Friday please do let me know... feedback is always welcome! I hope you had a really lovely weekend

I made a great big kitty-stuffy for my boy. Let me tell you, I do NOT love working with really long-pile plush fabric. Maybe I'm just not used to it but it got everywhere! It was all worth it though as he absolutely adores her and she is HUGE. I'll share more about the making process very soon!

Sweet little Ted. The Teddy and Bunny pattern was the first one I created and to be honest, Bunny is the one who gets the most attention but I've said it before, I have an extra soft-spot for making a teddy-doll too.
This is Yarn dyed Essex linen by Robert Kaufman and it has a lovely texture and feel and is so nice to work with.

This is what our living room looked like mid-photoshoot! Ollie was up in his room when I started out and then came downstairs and saw this big pile of props etc. He said very slowly and cautiously... "mum... what... are... you... doing?" 🤣

Here she is again

I have been dying to share this add-on pattern sneak peek. It's not available just yet but will be soon. Imagine a Jane Austen/ Bridgerton doll... well, soon you will be able to make an outfit for your Blossom Doll and turn her into a Regency style beauty with a bonnet, empire line dress and slipper boots.
I'll post some more pics later!