Look how happy she is!!

Of course I would like to be a Team Member of the Wollyonline Blog.

But then... what to make?
I asked my daughter what she wanted to have for her doll. A bathrobe.
Christel sent me the pattern very quickly. So I could get started.
The pattern is called Flower Baby, it's for 43cm baby dolls and is sold in the Wollyonline Store.

I only have to keep in mind to take pictures during the steps.
And to read better before I start sewing...
Sometimes I feel like a man, doing first and then reading the instructions.
But I got it finished.

My daughter chose the cotton fabric, purple with dots.
I purchased softest fabric I could find in the cutest store here in the neighbourhood. 

I live in the Northern part of the Netherlands, Friesland, and in the beautiful city Workum there is a cute little store selling a lot of different fabric and more handcraft stuff.

First I pinned the pattern on the fabric, basted the pattern onto the fabric and cut all the pieces.

 Here you see the back placed on the front and I'm sewing the pieces together.

Yes, I can see it already, it's going to be a nice bathrobe. This is the first fitting and everything is looking good!

And here we have the finished bathrobe for a happy doll and a happy daughter : )

I'm happy to introduce our 5th Wollyonline Team member Marij : )

Can you tell us a little about yourself?
My name is Marij, I'm 57 years old and I live in Uden.

How old were you when you started sewing?
I think I was about 12 years old.

What started your sewing career?
The Pfaff treadle machine from my mother. At first I followed the lines on a newspaper, sewing without thread and after that I knew how the machine worked!!

What was the first thing you made?
A dusting cloth from a old sheet.

What are your favorite things to sew?
Now clothes for dolls. Years ago I made clothes for my children en myself.

What would you love to never ever sew again?
Curtains. And clothes for adults. For children it's so much fun to make clothes.

Who is/are the main recipient(s) of your sewn items?
The little children in the family love my doll clothes.

What is something that you always wanted to make but haven’t yet?
I would love to work a couple of days in the studio of a great fashion designer!!!!!

What was your biggest sewing project to date?
My curtains.

What was the most important sewing project to date?
The clothes for my children. And most the dresses for my daughter.

What was the last thing you finished?
Pillowcases for the sofa in the living room.

Were you happy with the result?
Yes, they look lovely.

What was the last thing you had to throw out because it failed desperately?
A dress for myself.

Could it have been saved?
Ooh no

What was your first sewing machine?
For myself a Singer.

What machines(s) do you use these days?
A Singer

Which on is your favourite?
It's my second machine in 35 years, there is not a real difference.

What other crafts do you do?
I love to knit and crochet also for dolls. I also enjoy walking and going for a ride on my bicycle.

Groetjes,
Marij

How wonderful, it's time to meet our 4th Wollyonline Team Member, Kirsten.

Can you tell us a little about yourself?
I am Kirsten, 43 years old, married with Kees and mother of 4 kids: 3 boys and 1 girl in the ages between 8 an 17. I am always busy when my work here at home is ready. Then I am sewing at my dining table or I crochet or knit at the couch in the evening. Since 2006 I sell doll clothing at my website Vera Poppenmode. During all these years I have sold about 1350 complete sets! All made with the patterns of Wollyonline!

How old were you when you started sewing?
I think I was about 10 years old.

What started your sewing career?
My mother sewed a lot of clothes for my sister and me. I always thought: "I would like to do that too!"

What was the first thing you made?
I first sewed a little dress or skirt for my Barbie doll. First by hand, later on with the sewing machine of my mother

What are your favorite things to sew?
When my 4 children were under 4 years old, I sewed clothes for them. When my daughter got her first doll I started making doll clothes … they are my favorite things to sew since then. Later on I started to make home decorations like cushions or buntings and bags/shoppers

What would you love to never ever sew again?
I really don’t love to repair clothes.

Who is/are the main recipient(s) of your sewn items?
I sell my creations at my doll clothing website or homemade website. Or I give them away as presents at (birthday) party’s.

What is something that you always wanted to make but haven’t yet?
I would like to make a (genuine of fake) leather bag someday

What was your biggest sewing project to date?
I am not sure it was the biggest, but I was really proud of the 3 dolls with clothes I sewed last spring.


What was the most important sewing project to date?
The most important projects are always those I make for my family and friends for their birthdays or other occasions.

What was the last thing you finished?
My last finished project was a linen shopper (with zipper) with a piping edge. I decorated it with a large crochet mandala, which I made in France during our summer holidays.

Were you happy with the result?
Yes, very happy! The colors of the mandala are so bright and look fantastic on the dark blue shopper. The handles, which I made from fabric and rope, have really succeeded as well.

What was the last thing you had to throw out because it failed desperately?
I wanted to make a cover for a book from oilcloth but my sewing machine made a really big mess of the seams.

Could it have been saved?
I removed the ugly seams and when I tried again it looked a little better, so I saved it ... I will make a new one sometime and hope it will succeed.

What was your first sewing machine?
My first machine was a Toyota. It was a gift from my parents when I was graduated as a teacher.

What machines(s) do you use these days?
I use my Singer 7422 sewing machine and my Happylock 2000DSA lock machine.

What other crafts do you do?
If I could, I would do them all but my favorites are crochet, knitting and of course sewing. My crochet cuddle toys, bags, buntings, etc, creations are being sold on my other website: Hip Homemade

And I love to do my sports: cycling/spinning, ice-speed skating and inline skating. So never a dull moment for me….

Groetjes,
Kirsten
Vera Poppenmode
Hip Homemade

Let's meet our 2nd Wollyonline Team Member, Anita.

Can you tell us a little about yourself?
Hi, I'm a 53 years old stay-at-home grand mom. Married and mother of 3 grownup children. I love to sew and create lovely things out of fabric and yarn. This makes me happy and is also some sort of therapy ha-ha. I started  to follow lessons at sewing school to perfect my skills and stay awake for the present.

How old were you when you started sewing?
I was 10 years old when I sewed my first doll dress.

What started your sewing career?
My mom was a certified seamstress.

What was the first thing you made?
The first things were some pieces of dolls underwear.

What are your favorite things to sew?
My most favorite things to sew are dolls and their clothes. And second clothes for myself and my granddaughters.

What would you love to never ever sew again?
Things for others that don't connect to my style or theirs. Or things that don't make me feel right.

Who is/are the main recipient(s) of your sewn items?
My 2 girls love what I make for them and their dolls. And little birthday presents or baby shower presents are also fun to make.

What is something that you always wanted to make but haven’t yet?
A suit for my husband or son.

What was your biggest sewing project to date?
A baptism dress for my kids out of my own wedding dress.

What was the most important sewing project to date?
Various pieces to dress a family crib for a friend of mine.

What were the last things you finished?
A dress for myself. And the little red riding hood cape for my granddaughter.

Were you happy with the result?
Yes, I was very happy.

What was the last thing you had to throw out because it failed desperately?
Another dress.

Could it have been saved?
Probably yes but I wasn't happy with the result. The changes I made were clearly visible.

What was your first sewing machine?
An old Singer treadle machine. Not an electric one.

What machines(s) do you use these days?
I use 2 Singer machines: a Light one and a heavier one. And a Baby Lock.

Which on is your favorite?
The Light one.

What other crafts do you do?
I love to knit and crochet too. And I love to create Waldorf dolls and cuddly toys.

Groetjes,
Anita
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Don't forget I'm still looking for Team Members : )
Please click the link at the top of the blog if you would like to join.

Cheers,
Christel

If you think that you are exactly what I'm looking for please email me a link to your blog if you have one or a few photos, some text to go with the photos and I will get in touch. You can find my email address on this page: Contact Me... posting it here would result in a lot of trouble....

Cheers,
Christel

Wollyonline Free Owl Hat Pattern

Here is a fun little Doll Owl Hat Pattern : ) It's a quick and lovely gift that will fit nicely in a Christmas Stocking...

You can find the English version here: Free Wollyonline Doll Owl Hat Pattern
De Nederlandse versie is hier te vinden: Gratis Wollyonline Uilenmutsje Patroon

Cheers,
Christel

All these original Wollyonline Doll clothes will be for sale.

As some of you know, we recently moved back to Holland for 2 years and as expected our house in The Hague is a bit smaller than our Houston house : )

To make space I will be selling the original Wollyonline Doll Clothes, yes, the ones that you see on the website. Over the years I have given a lot away but a lot still remains, it's hard for me to let go.... but it needs to be done, there simply is not enough space and my husband really needs an office, ha.

Together with the clothes I will be selling the doll shoes that we used to sell on the site, I have kept 1 of each and I will also start selling the duplicate dolls that I have.

If there is anything that you would like, please let me know and I can see if I can keep it for you. You can see my email address here: About Wollyonline. Everything will be listed on the Dutch Marktplaats site.

Once all this is done, I can start fresh in my new uncluttered space, hooray : )

Cheers,
Christel

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Zoals velen van jullie al weten, we zijn in Mei teruggekomen naar Nederland en zoals verwacht is on huis in Den Haag een behoorlijk stukje kleiner dan het huis in Houston.

Omdat ik ruimte tekort heb ga ik de originele Wollyonline Poppenkleertjes, poppenschoentjes en dubbele poppen die ik heb verkopen. Ja, dat is alles wat je ziet op de website. Ik heb over de jaren al veel weggeven maar er is toch nog heel veel over. Ik kan maar moeilijk afstand doen van de kleertjes... maar het is tijd. Mijn man heeft toch echt een kantoor nodig : )

Mocht je iets gezien hebben dat je altijd al graag hebt willen hebben, laat het me even weten. Je kunt mijn email adres op deze pagina vinden: About Wollyonline. Alles zal straks op Marktplaats aangeboden worden.

Zodra ik weer ruimte heb in mijn mooi georganiseerde werkkamer kan ik weer fris aan de slag ; )

Cheers,
Christel

My view from our deck where I'm loading the last patterns onto the new site

It's warm, oh so warm here in Santa Rosa CA, and we are sitting on our deck, my husband is working and I'm loading the last patterns onto the new Wollyonline website.

Tomorrow we will be going home to The Hague again. I will miss our log cabin but it's nice to be near my family too : )

Cheers,
Christel
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Het is hier warm, heel erg warm. We zitten op het dek van onze blokhut in California. Mijn uitzicht zie je op de foto. Martijn is aan het werk en ik ben de laatste patronen op de nieuwe Wollyonline site aan het zetten. Er is genoeg te doen....

Morgen gaan we weer weg, terug naar Den Haag, ik zal het hier missen maar het is ook weer leuk om naar huis te gaan waar de familie is. We zijn al lang genoeg weggeweest.

Cheers,
Christel