Announcing.......Some exciting new projects with the amazing Michele Brulé of Enchanted Enfant!


Michele's lush and dreamy designs have graced the covers and pages of VOGUE Bambini, Martha Stewart Weddings, and have appeared on the red carpet at film premiers and television events.


I am proud and excited to be working on these new projects for Enchanted Enfant. Because they are still under wraps, I can't show you any previews here, but right now you can see a beautiful preview slideshow on the Enchanted Enfant site here! Just click on the "Estelle: The Book" button in the menu. 

Go look, go look! It's so beautiful!

Check out Babiekins Magazine's fab interview with the über-cool Mini & Maximus. The owl tee in the left picture is my design for their upcoming collection.

 Fiona is ready for her first dance recital. She is 24" tall and entirely hand-stitched from 100% cotton muslin hand-dyed with walnut crystals. Her pattern was designed by my four-year-old daughter and I, and is entirely one-of-a-kind. Her features are hand-stitched from my collection of delicate vintage silk and cotton threads. Her clothes are handmade from scraps of old ballet skirts, cotton, tulle and grosgrain ribbon, and are not removeable. Her wonderful red hair is of 100% mohair. Scarlett's arms are poseable, jointed with buttons. She bends at the hip. She can certainly be played with, but may not be appropriate for smaller children.

Do you ever dream of sunshine on a January day?

 I am so thrilled at how the doll that Q helped to design turned out!

I really have to give her props for prompting me into dreaming her up. 

Even though, as my daughter keeps reminding me, she doesn't like dolls. 

"Oh, mommy, I really love the doll that you made...for someone," she said this morning, tactfully reminding me with her phrasing that while she has enjoyed having a hand in the design, she is not about to back down from her anti-doll stance anytime soon!

Here is the doll before I clothed her. I stitched a heart with vintage silk thread under her dress, even though it is covered by her clothing in the finished product.

 Isn't she sweet?

 I love how drowsy and dreamy she is, the way she flops.

Her clothing was made with scraps of cotton homespun, satin ribbon, bits of vintage t-shirt, and repurposed parts from a ballet tutu.

I have to admit I never really understood rag dolls until now.

In fact, I was terrified by the raggedy anne that some family friend gave as a gift when I was very small, and which my mother propped (all unknowing) at the end of my bed until I was old enough to firmly object.

Maybe it was my fear of raggedy anne and andy that resulted in my inability to appreciate rag dolls all these years. Although, oddly enough, I have always admired (and often illustrated) redheads. In fact I would like to be one in my next life!

 

 So let this mark the start of my new appreciation for rag dolls as an art form. 

Good thing I just happened to have a yard or two of homespun left over in my project box!

And good thing that I have a daughter with a rampant imagination, ready to inspire with new ideas at every turn!

 I hope to be trying my hand at some more rag dolls in the future, if I can find the time between jobs (or during movie nights, as I did with this one!).

 I'll just have to order a few more yards of homespun, and break out the rest of my vintage thread collection (I love the wooden spools!) and the basket of vintage fabric scraps that my mother sent from Woodstock!

 Q standing proud with the design she helped to create. 

It's our first real collaboration...

but most likely not our last!

Welcome, 2012!!!!

 For the new year...a new doll in progress, made at the request of my daughter! 

...my daughter who does not like dolls.

She doesn't want to keep it, I think she just wanted to see me make it. 

So this doll will be in the shop as soon as I decide how to dress her.

 She is by far the largest doll I've ever made - about 24" tall. 

She is made from 100% homespun cotton, and entirely stitched by hand (yes, every stitch!) 

Her features are embroidered with thread from my vintage thread collection, and her hair is of mohair yarn. Q picked out the hair color, thread color and dimensions.

 I am quite fond of her, and can't wait to find the time to make her clothes!