Category Archives: Crochet

Crochet Doll Toilet Roll Cover

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I get more requests and click-throughs on this website and my Etsy site for this one thing – crochet toilet roll dolls!

I first started making them quite a while ago and blogged about how it was impossible to find a good pattern. That started me on making my own pattern for these retro dolls. I’ve been making the dolls and selling them on my Etsy site and various vintage and craft fairs for a while. They are always popular. I make them in all sorts of custom colours!

I’m constantly asked where I got the pattern and the dolls from. Well, I’ve finally got around to writing the pattern up. It’s now available for immediate PDF download on my Etsy shop. Happy crocheting!

I might eventually get around to writing up a few more of my patterns… maybe it will be the zombies next 🙂

 

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So, I’ve just dyed a doll’s hair…

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Bride crochet toilet roll dollAs you know, I make all sorts of things. Some of the most popular of my creations are the toilet roll covers and toilet roll dolls.

I have been using the same dolls from the same supplier for quite a while now. It can be quite hard to find the right size (at the right price). The dolls are all white and blonde and I’ve just not seen any others.

A couple of weeks ago I had a custom order from my Etsy shop for one of my bridal toilet roll dolls, but a brunette. Well, I searched and searched and managed to find one but the price was ridiculous!

So, I had a sudden flash of inspiration – could I dye the doll’s hair? I tentatively started to Google, thinking I wouldn’t find anything, and low and behold found quite a few links to how to do it. Mainly on how to create a goth doll, but I didn’t let that put me off 🙂

Anyway, a couple of links were suggesting acrylic paint for vinyl dolls and I used to do quite a bit of painting so dug out my acrylics. I chose a raw umber for the dye and gave it a go. The first attempt was a bit wishy-washy, but I tried it again with a bigger blob of paint and less water and it seemed to work quite well. What do you think?

The biggest tips I can think of for doing this is:

  • Pop the doll’s head on something like a pencil if you can – it makes it much easier to handle
  • Pop some vaseline on the dolls face so you don’t dye her face too
  • Use a brush or something similar to do the roots
  • Comb the paint through before it dries, otherwise it clumps and is a pain in the bum to sort out.

I’m really pleased with the results and it wasn’t even difficult to do – every day’s a school day!

Too busy to post? Put out the bunting!

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Yeah, that’s me!

I’m not quite finding the time I used to find to do little things like posting on here. It’s not even that I don’t like doing it, but I just don’t seem to find the time recently!

My little girl seems to have such a busy diary, I have enough on just keeping my Etsy shop open and keeping up with orders, and writing my regular articles for the Nottingham Post.

P1020201The main orders that are keeping me busy at the moment are for my handmade bunting. It’s all crocheted by me, including the letters so it’s quite time-consuming. It would probably be quicker to use felt letters, but I quite like the look of the crocheted letters. They have a much more 3D effect. The first one I did was something for my little girl’s room and I had so many queries I thought I start to make them for the Etsy shop.

And yes, my little girl’s room is purple…. she can’t choose colour schemes at the moment, so I choose them for her 🙂

I’ll post up some pictures of some of the other ones I’ve made as soon as I get around to it. I’m thinking they might work quite nicely for weddings, birthday and housewarming pressies.

 

 

Babies, babies, everywhere!

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Well, I’ve not been posting for a little while as I suddenly don’t seem to have much time to do anything. Why, I hear you ask. Well I had a baby a few weeks ago, just a few days before Christmas.

It’s not that before I had her that I didn’t believe friends when they told me to prepare for sleepless nights and days where you don’t get to leave the sofa, apart from to change nappies. It’s just that until it happens I don’t think you grasp the reality.

While I was pregnant, I did make quite a few things for my little bundle and it’s been really nice using them now she’s here. It’s especially nice when people as I’m able to respond with, “Oh that little thing. I made it”. Yeah, I know, sad 🙂

P1000292There was also a little amigurumi panda that I made before Christmas. This was in my Etsy shop, until I closed it over the New Year. Last week I was going through my stock so I could start to re-open my shop and she spotted it. I think it’s the combination of having a big face and being high-contrast black and white. It’s her favourite toy now…

I’m glad I managed to get some crochet stock made up whilst pregnant as that’s allowed me to get the shop opened again now. There are lots of new baby items in there now a I was inspired during pregnancy… I’ll post some of them up on here later this week. Some are already up in my Etsy Children and Babies section.

Anyway, I’m not quite sure how I found the time to write this blog post today, but I’d better go as it’s already bath time…

Vintage crochet shawls

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I had a fantastic find a little while ago. A stash of vintage shawls and ponchos. Most of them are hand crocheted too.

They are a real mix of hippy chick style, evening shawls and some 40s 50s style ‘bed jacket’ style. Quite an eclectic mix!

Some of the 70s ponchos sold as soon as I put them online, but I’ve just popped up a more varied selection which would be perfect for the current cooler weather.

They are on the eBay Shop and the Etsy Shop.

Incidentally I have also sourced some cool 70s crocheted shoulder bags. These are in fab bright colours and are just on the Etsy Shop at the moment.

I’ve got a few more shawls to work through at the moment but so far they are looking fab! What do you think?

Halloween hats!

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I did a little post a few days ago about a tea cosy that people kept asking me if it was a hat. Basically, I ended up making hats too as they were quite popular – here’s the post.

Jack O'Lantern hatA similar thing happened a few times at fairs with my Jack O’Lantern tea cosy. Kids would rush up and then look a bit disappointed that it wasn’t a hat. This year I’ve decided to create a hat based on the tea cosy design. What do you think? I think it looks pretty cool 🙂

It’s clearly getting closer to Halloween as I’ve had a couple of orders for the Jack O’Lantern tea cosy, so rather than finish the TARDIS coffee cosy I started on, I’ve somehow become side-tracked and been working on Halloween hats. Yeah I know, I should finish what I started first…

So far I have a Jack O’Lantern, a zombie, a scary ghost and a skull hat. What do you think?

Halloween hats

These can be made in 0-3, toddler, child or adult sizes. You can find them on my Etsy Shop.

Crochet toilet roll covers

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I made some crochet toilet roll cover dolls a little while and blogged about them here. They are quite popular at fairs or on my Etsy shop. I also get quite a few emails from people asking where to buy the materials or for patterns.

Crochet toilet roll doll Crochet toilet roll dollI decided a little while ago to try out some different crocheted toilet roll covers. Clearly as I make a lot of zombies, the first one I tried was a zombie:

Zombie toilet roll coverI’ve also made some Pac-Man ghost toilet roll covers, which have been more popular at fairs – they look great when they are stacked together.

Pac man toilet roll cover

I’m just working on a TARDIS coffee pot cosy and when I’ve finished that I think I’m going to try to come up with a TARDIS toilet roll cover. I’ll post up some piccies when I come up with a design.

I know they aren’t all to everyone’s taste but I like the retro look of them and I like mixing up the retro look with something a little different. They certainly make a talking point in the smallest room in the house!

Tea cosy or hat?

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Granny chic tea cosiesI made these granny chic tea cosies a little while ago. I think they are pretty cool and look great on a tea pot. Imagine a lovely plate of homemade cookies next to them and some Earl Grey in the tea pot….

But, for some reason people keep asking me if they are hats. Every time I do a vintage or craft fair people are drawn to them and then say “Oh, I thought it was a hat”. Even when they are on a tea pot 🙂

Well they seem to be much more popular now as hats and I’ve had a couple of custom orders to make them as hats instead of tea cosies. Isn’t it funny how things turn out?

Here’s a little baby hat I made for a boy, replacing pink with bright greens and blues. I also added a nice big rainbow pom-pom!

Granny chic baby hat

Crochet toilet roll cover doll

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Quirky Purple crochet doll toilet roll coverQuirky Purple crochet doll toilet roll coverWell, I blogged about these a little while ago in Crochet toilet roll dolls.

The dolls arrived a couple of weeks ago so I had a look around online for some patterns and they were sadly lacking. Lots and lots of pictures of various styles of these dolls but hardly any patterns. I’d already got some wool that matched the doll’s eyes – that’s not weird is it?

Quirky Purple crochet doll toilet roll coverIn the end I found two. The first one I tried just didn’t seem to make sense. I crocheted a few rows and couldn’t work out which bot of the dress it was! It didn’t help that there weren’t any pictures with the pattern, just the finished article. The second wasn’t much better. I started the bodice of the dress and it quickly became apparent that it was wayyyyy tooooooo big for my dolls. Also, again it was just a pattern and no real explaination of which bits of the dress you were doing.

Quirky Purple crochet doll toilet roll coverQuirky Purple crochet doll toilet roll coverSo, like I usually end up doing, I made it up as I went along. And it came together pretty well.

I liked one bit of one of the patterns and kept that. Quite nifty idea that I’d not tried before. You do your first chain around around a small elastic band. You end up with a stretchy piece of crochet. I used this to make the very top of the bodice so that it would fit nice and snug. It also means that the dress is removable and not sewn onto the doll.

Quirky Purple crochet doll toilet roll coverSo, I worked the bodice in a singe crochet until it reached the waist of the doll and then started to increase until the circle sat in top of the toilet roll and reached the edge. The I just worked the rows the same size in double crochet until it reached the bottom of a toilet roll and then for the final row I did a scalloped edge

The it was just a case of doing a strap for a halterneck and doing a few daisies to sew onto the dress. I also did a belt around the waist and a headband with a daisy.

This is what she ended up looking like – not bad eh?    Quirky Purple crochet doll toilet roll cover

I think I’ll sort out the pattern next and I’ll post it up. Let me know if you want a copy. I’ll try and make it easier to follow and with some pictures 🙂

If you would like one of these dolls to grace the smallest room in your house – then you can find it here Quirky Purple crochet toilet roll cover doll on Etsy.

I’m no slouch when it comes to making hats!

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Quirky Purple Beanie HatsI’ve been making hats for quite a while now. I make quite a lot of beanies and use the technique where you make  magic ring and increase until you get the right number of stitches and then continue building the rows until the hat fits the head.

It’s quite therapeutic doing all those rows and there’s no making up involved either – unless you’re adding pom-pom or eyeballs or skulls, or a tiara.

Quirky Purple Ear-warmersFor the ear-warmers (or head-warmers, whichever you prefer), I use a number of techniques. Sometimes a straight forward double-crochet and then join/stitch at the back.

I also quite like doing a rib with a back-stitch crochet. This works really well and gives some good stretch to the finished ear-wamer. Of course there’s also the way of creating a chain, joining it and building up rounds, a little like the beanie hats.

Well, I decided to try something a bit different. My other half wears a lot of those big slouchy beanie hats which are machine knitted and many also look fully fashioned. So, I thought I’d give it a go.

Quirky Purple hat start Well first things first, I needed to choose the colours. I did a black, grey and white union jack beanie as a commission for a Christmas pressie and quite liked the combo once I’d finished. I’d already decided to do a stripe that went from the front to back, rather than the usual horizontal stripes so thought this colour combi would work.  That’s a 5mm hook there in the picture.
Quirky Purple Hat halfway So I started with 50 chain and started to work the back loops but after a few rows I wasn’t too keen so I unravelled it (don’t most crochet project start like this?) and started again with a back loop row followed by a standard double crochet. This gave it a more spaced rib design. Then I added in a grey 4 row, a white 2 row and a grey 4 row. This was so all casting on and off was at the same end.
Quirky Purple Hat almost ready So, then it was back onto the black and just alternating rows until it was big enough to fit around an adult head. It then needs tying off with quite a tail so that you can use that to stitch the edges. All the casting on and off tails also need tying off. Once that’s done then it’s a case of stitching and gathering the top and finishing off.

For a first attempt it’s not turned out too badly. As usual I ‘designed’ it myself, as in didn’t use a pattern and made it up as I went along. Here it is on my male head.

Quirky Purple Slouchy HatI thing I might make the next one in red, white and blue. I think it would nicely suit the mod/scooter look. I might also make less of a slouch. Anyway, I guess it’s like most of my ‘designs’… they sort of evolve!

You can check out my hats at Quirky Purple Hats or you can see some of the other handmade commisions that I’ve completed.

Anyway, the hat was a sort of diversion from starting the crochet doll toilet roll holders. The dolls I ordered arrived on Friday so there’s no excuse now to get cracking on them!