More on the Sinamay Hats

Posted on January 28, 2026 by Deborah Cooke

I shared my first efforts in making sinamay hats for the girls last week, but have been modifying my strategy since. Here’s an update on my changes.

As much as I love those first hats, changes had to made.
• the crowns are a bit too tall. Depending on how the doll’s hair is styled, the hat might fall right over her eyes – which is not a winning look.
• the join in the bias binding isn’t as neat as I’d prefer.
• I needed a larger crown for the 16″ dolls.

I also remembered another book on my shelf. The Art of Making Miniature Millinery is an older book that I found at a used bookstore. It documents the making of hats in many materials – but not sinamay. The authors use buckram for stiffer hat foundations, and they recommend placing a wire in the brim to help the hat keep its shape. I love their pillbox hats, which are reinforced this way.

I put a wire in the brim of several of the hats in this round of hatmaking, sewing it under the bias trim on the outer edge. This is a 22 gauge wire, a fairly stiff one, which seems about right.

Here’s a pic of it being sewn into the brim of the black hat with the shorter crown for the 11.5″ girls. I just tucked it under the bias binding, which in this case is a plaid silk.

inserting wire to the brim of a sinamay hat

I also improved the join in the bias binding on this round of hats. On my first few hats, I sewed most of the binding onto the hat, then made the join. This is what I do with bias binding on people-sized items, but it was tough to get the angle right, given the scale. Instead, I figured out the length the binding had to be cut in order to make a circle of the right size once it was seamed. After it’s seamed, the seam can be pressed open and the binding can be sewn completely onto the hat in one go. The result is much neater – on some hats, I can’t even find the join. If you look at the hat brim above, the join is hard to locate.

The shorter crown, about 1.5cm, is really good for the 11-12″ dolls. It maybe could be a little smaller in diameter for the Silkie girls, but again, that depends upon their hairstyle. This hat is never going to fall over their eyes, and the wire in the brim means it can be shaped.

Best in Black Silkstone in sinamay hat made by Deborah Cooke

The shorter crown with the wider diameter, intended for the 16″ girls, didn’t work quite as well.

Lacey Churchill in sinamay hat made by Deborah Cooke

Daphne Dimples in sinamay hat made by Deborah Cooke

I added lace to the hatband of this one, but it’s still not a fave look for me. (It doesn’t help that the girls aren’t dressed to match. Lacey is in her altogether, while Daphne is still in her lingerie.)

I made another with a deeper crown (2.5cm, like the earliest hats) and a 5″ brim instead of the 4″ brim I’ve been using all along. I also made the crown a little bit wider where it joins the brim. This worked out really well.

Tyler Wentworth in sinamay hat made by Deborah Cooke

Tyler is in the buff, as well. I’m glad I discovered my stash of feathers.

Finally, I made a hat for the 11.5″ girls with a curved crown. This was supposed to be a pillbox hat, inspired by the book, but I watched Four Weddings & a Funeral again and had to add the big brim instead.

Lingerie #6 Silkstone in sinamay hat made by Deborah Cooke

These last two are my favourites of the seven (7!) doll hats I’ve made in the past week or so. I’m going to take a break from sinamay now. Soon, the coloured sinamay will arrive from the UK and it will start me all over again. Not today, though.

I finished the knitting on my Quintessential Cardigan in Judy Long Alba in Kilt (which is a plum heather). This is the second kit I bought of this cardigan – I finished the green one in June 2024. So, I’ll be sewing that one together next and knitting the neckband etc. I decided against buttons on this one, so it’s pretty much a case of just sewing it together. (Ew. I hate seaming, but I will Just Do It!) This has to be a record for me to knit two sweaters in two years and right after getting the kits, too.

Sinamay Hats for Dolls

Posted on January 23, 2026 by Deborah Cooke

sinemay hat made for Silkstone B Best in Black by Deborah Cooke — Sinamay hat for Silkstone B

Sinamay is a material used to make hats. Even if you don’t recognize the name, you would know the material if you saw it. It’s woven from abaca fibres and can be dyed in many colours – it looks similar to a loosely woven linen. It can be steamed and stretched and shaped. Think of all those fancy straw hats and fascinators worn to British weddings and you’re probably imagining sinamay. It’s sold by the yard/meter by millinery shops or as pre-shaped hat forms.

You might remember that I made some hats for the girls, out of linen and felt. I used the DBD Brimmed Hat pattern, which is no longer available for sale. Here are a couple of them:

brimmed linen hat for Tyler — Linen hat for Tyler

I never thought about using sinamay to make hats for the girls until I saw a series of posts by a European maker in one of the doll groups on Facebook. She makes the most gorgeous hats for Silkstone dolls and posted photographs of her process in making various hats of sinamay. Wow! I knew I had to give it a try.

I ordered some sinamay from The Trimming Company in the UK – both ivory and black. I had to debate and think about the process for a while, then this week, I dug in.

For the first two hats, I kept things simple. I just went for a plain brim, and finished the outside edge with self-made bias blinding in silk. (This was in the instructions for the DBD Brimmed Hat.) The crown has to be steamed into shape and left to dry – I used a spice jar from the dollar store as a form. Once the crown and brim were secured together. I decorated the crown of the hat, which is good fun, then glued a piece of ribbon to the interior of the crown to finish that edge.

sinamay hat made for Silkstone B Lingerie #6 by Deborah Cooke

On the left is Silkstone Best in Black wearing an off-white sinamay hat trimmed in a floral cotton print. She’s also wearing the Danielle two-piece dress. On the right is Silkstone Lingerie #6 wearing a black hat trimmed in the black silk. The dress is Hankie Chic’s Simple Sundress. The flowers and ribbons on the hats came from my stash, including the flowers, which are paper flowers from the dollar store.

sinamay hat made for Silkstone B Best in Black by Deborah Cooke

I decided that the crowns were a bit too deep on these two, so I trimmed down the crown for the third hat, an off-white sinamay hat trimmed in the same silk taffeta plaid as the dress worn by Lingerie #6. I did a better job on the join of the binding on the crown for this one, with the help of the plaid as a cutting guide.

These little hats are remarkably sturdy once they’re completed. Here are the three hats I’ve made so far:

1/6 scale hat stand made by Deborah Cooke

I made the hat stands, btw, with more supplies from the dollar store. That’s a styrofoam egg, a bamboo stick and a wooden wheel. On the bottom, there’s a metal washer that’s just a little smaller than the wheel, to keep the hat stand from tipping over.

I really like these hats, although there’s plenty of room for improvement in my technique. They’re Ascot hats to me, or Kentucky Derby hats – or hats like Andie McDowell wore to weddings in Four Weddings & a Funeral. I’m going to try a few with even shallower crowns and do more shaping of the brims.

I’m now on the hunt for a slightly larger jar to shape crowns for the 16″ girls, and more flowers for decorating the crowns. I could probably make some smaller hats and/or fascinators – I have a LOT of sinamay to work with!

Japanese Books

Posted on January 20, 2026 by Deborah Cooke

Things have been quiet here this month, as I’ve been deciding how to go forward. At the end of last year, I discovered that several of my pictures of my dolls were being used on scam sites. I had thought that taking mediocre pictures would keep them from being stolen, but evidently that’s not so – now they look “authentic”. As an author, I have a whole lot of issues with the general dissolution of copyright and its protections, so hmm. As much as I love sharing my progress and results with others, I’m not interested in providing anything to aid scammers or pirates. This is the reason why I’ve never published any patterns or designs for dolls.

I did treat myself to some Japanese books this year and will share that with you today. Again, copyright is a concern – there are people on Etsy selling digital editions of many of these books, sometimes even with a translation by Google, but I doubt these are licensed digital or English editions. The beauty of Japanese craft books is that they’re so thoroughly illustrated that you can follow the directions even if you don’t read Japanese – plus buying the actual print book supports the creator and his/her copyright.

This first book is Doll Knit by Mieko Watanabe, for 20 – 22cm Obitsu dolls. You can find her on Instagram right here. The knits are detailed and very cute. The knits are all charted, so you don’t have to read Japanese to follow the instructions. They’re sized for the Obitsu dolls but fit the current MTM regular Barbie pretty well.

The big challenge is finding yarn substitutes. The designer has used yarns from a Japanese company called Puppy which aren’t available here. There is a Kidsilk Haze equivalent, so that’s easily replaced, but otherwise, not so much. I used Knit Picks Palette for the fair isle cloak and it’s slightly too heavy – I got gauge but the garment is thicker and stiffer than would be ideal.

The best match so far for the Puppy 3-ply is old 3-ply Kroy Socks, so I’m rummaging in my odds and ends for more of that. It does looks as if Holst Garn Supersoft would be a good substitute for the 3-ply, and it comes in shade packs, with five small balls in coordinated colours. I’ll make a road trip to a LYS that stocks this yarn to see it. The 2-ply Puppy is a lace weight, so I’ll try those patterns with some odds and ends in my stash. Maybe I’ll get lucky and find a lace pack of many little skeins in different colours.

I also want to get out my crochet needle and try at least one of those adorable hats.

Next is a sewing book of doll clothes, also for 20 cm dolls including Blythe dolls. I think this is called Tournesol (which is French for sunflower). It’s by Satomi Takei, who can be found on IG right here. These have the usual aesthetic of Blythe doll patterns – lace and petticoats and tiny florals, straw bags and hats – although the fashions are shown on other dolls too. Again, the book is beautifully photographed.

I tried a few of the patterns and they more-or-less fit the MTM regular Barbies – the designs are more like little girl dresses and I’m not sure I like the look on my B girls. There is a pattern for a kimono, which is a tempting project.

Finally, an accessories book from Dolly Dolly Books, although the other two books also have patterns for accessories.

That purse on the cover is what sold me. The instructions for that bag cover seven pages and I’m determined to make one. The author is Taeko Sekiguchi, who has designed a lot of beautifully detailed clothing for dolls. It’s very inspiring to see the work of people who stretch higher.

I bought the books from Pomadour on Etsy. This shop ships promptly from Japan and packs the books extremely well.

Swoon Blanche Barrel Bag

Posted on January 6, 2026 by Deborah Cooke

I seem to be making a lot of bags lately, but this one will finish me for a while. My favourite thing about it is that it’s done!

The pattern is the Blanche Barrel Bag from Swoon Patterns. I bought a paper pattern from Emmeline Bags because I was buying some hardware from them anyway. It’s also available as a PDF. (The first link is to the designer’s website.)

The pattern includes the bag in two sizes. I made the larger one. My plan is to make the smaller one as well, but not just yet.

My main challenge with this bag was self-inflicted. I chose vinyl for the handles, base and accent, and this did not bring joy to my sewing machine. I should have borrowed access to my friend’s industrial machine for sewing those thick bits.

Still, it came out pretty well:

Swoon's Blanche Barrel Bag, sewn by Deborah Cooke

You can’t be surprised that I got all matchy-matchy with the birds.

I made a couple of modifications. Originally, I had made piping with the light caramel vinyl and sewn it around the ends. I wasn’t happy with the appearance of it – as with the Weekender overnight bag, I had a hard time sewing up flush to the piping in some areas. This time, I just took out the piping. It means the piping on the top of the end pockets is kind of a solitary feature, but (luckily) the colour matches the fabric I chose for the lining. It ends up looking like a plan. 🙂

I also added one of those Ikea thin cutting boards into the base of the bag, and some bag feet. And I added an open pocket into the other side of the bag lining – this was partly to use up a piece of fabric that was cut the wrong way. The pattern seems to assume that your fabric doesn’t have a directional print. Mine did – both the birds on the outside and the lining inside, which has little flower buds – and I cut the pocket lining in the wrong direction. I cut it again, then (ha) ended up putting it in upside down. I have drunk birds inside the zipped pocket in my lining. (My guess is that few people will know or notice.) So, my pattern has a bunch of notes on it for future reference since I do like directional prints.

Finally, I sewed the lining to the inside of the zipper by hand, instead of by machine. This is the same modification I made with the Weekender bag, as I just couldn’t fit all that under the arm of my sewing machine.

The other thing I did on the vinyl was colour the cut edges with a Sharpie marker. Vinyl often has a white backing, so when you cut it, the edges look bright. A matching Sharpie marker squares that away. I should have done that on the edge of the contrast piece on the base of each side of the bag before sewing it to the main fabric. I’m thinking that if I do it now, I’d likely get the Sharpie on the bird fabric, which wouldn’t be cool.

Once upon a time, I had a purse that was this shape and loved it to pieces. This one is a bit big for a purse – it’s looking like a knitting bag to me right now – so I will make the smaller version, but my sewing machine and I need a little break first.

The girls are also certain they need some new clothes. 🙂

New Socks for the Mister

Posted on January 1, 2026 by Deborah Cooke

The mister’s new socks were done in time for him to put his best foot forward for the new year!

The pattern is an old one, from a Beehive book called Socks by Beehive #113. They must have printed a lot of copies of this booklet as they’re pretty easy to find in thrift stores and antique markets. This pattern is Knotty Pines. (Those are both Ravelry links.)

I really like this pattern and have made it several times, long before Ravelry existed (so those socks aren’t listed on my project pages there.) The yarn is vintage Patons Kroy in a heathery blue.

Patons Knotty Pines socks, knit in Patons Kroy by Deborah Cooke

The legs are shorter than stipulated in the pattern because I was going to make these for myself. They ended up being too wide in the foot for me (I should have seen that coming, with 76 stitches around) so they became socks for the mister instead. He really likes them.

Now that I have my needles back, I could cast on a pair for myself. First, though, I’m going to finish those pretty socks.

I hope you all have a happy new year – with lots of cozy socks! – and wish you and yours all the best for 2026.

McCalls 6260

Posted on December 30, 2025 by Deborah Cooke

This is a vintage pattern for dolls which is out of print. I found a PDF version on Etsy. Like most such PDFs, the sizing of the pages was a bit off – I ended up printing mine at 104% in order to have the measuring tape scale come out the correct size.

Thank goodness it had the scale! If you ever download a pattern that doesn’t have a scale, you can print the pattern pages at different sizes until the seam allowance comes out to 1/4″ – if that’s what the pattern uses. Most of them do.

I like the vintage look of some of the pieces. The kimono reminds me of a bathrobe my grandmother made for my dolls when I was a kid – she (very cleverly) used a baby wale corduroy for that robe, then pre-made narrow bias tape which she applied with a decorative zig zag. (Yes, I still have it.)

I made the ballgown first, which is view B. This one fits pretty well, though the bodice could be a little more snug. I used Chinese brocade, which is quite thick, and that could be a contributing issue. I lined the bodice, as instructed, but not the skirt, also as instructed. When I make it again, I’ll line the skirt too. That brocade sheds like mad, even though I finished the edges.

Of course, I made B a pair of gold opera gloves to go with the dress.

McCalls 6260 gown with stole made by Deborah Cooke

McCalls 6260 gown with stole and gloves made by Deborah Cooke

The stole is interesting. I thought it was like the big bow on the back of that other ballgown, but it isn’t. For this one, the doll’s arms go through the loops of the bow – ha! I looked back at the historic images I found for that bow dress and sure enough, the Balenciaga from 1950 has a stole with similar design. I had found this pic before but hadn’t noticed her arms going through the loops of the stole. You can see that the top loop, for her arms, is lined with another fabric, while the other loops and train are plain tulle. B is always so very stylish, isn’t she?

Interestingly enough, the 80th anniversary Barbie has a gown and stole that looks to be inspired by the same Balenciaga design.

The skirt on this gown could be a teensy bit shorter for vintage B (which might be my fault) and I’m thinking I’ll add a back slit next time around. The colour made me think of this tall B.

McCalls 6260 gown with stole made by Deborah Cooke, modelled by a tall Barbie

It is a fabulous shade for her. She’s thinner than vintage B, so the bodice is a bit loose on her, but the fabric is perfect. (The dress could be maybe 1/4″ longer for her.) I’m thinking she needs a frock coat of this pink brocade, maybe with a pair of black silk cigarette pants and some great boots.

In this image, you can see the topstitching on the part of the stole that goes around the doll’s arms. It’s faced with ribbon and I decided to use a contrasting one. So, the ribbon is bright pink and so is the stitching. It gives the sheer fabric a bit more structure, too.

I also made the coat from this pattern. It’s a swing coat, which I cut from a cotton flannel that looks (in scale) like wool coating. I cut the collar of a thin (very soft) fur and the undercollar of rayon Bemberg lining.

I lined the pockets (which is not suggested by the pattern) with the same rayon Bemberg as well as the coat itself. I like the result, but similar to other swing coat patterns I’ve made for B that are cut this way, there’s really a lot of fabric in the bodice for size of the doll. I’d like to modify this design to make a more flattering swing coat for her – and I have the perfect leopard print fur for that.

It’s hard to see on the pattern image but there’s a matching fur hat for this coat. It’s a band of fur, lined with ribbon, with a bit of elastic at the ends. This is a clever idea, but the one I made was far too small for B. The instructions specify that the fur strip should be cut to 3.25 inches long, which makes it 2.75″ once the edges are turned under. B’s head is over 5″ around, so my elastic wasn’t nearly stretchy enough. I tried another with a strip of fur that was 5.5″ by 1″ and that worked out reasonably well. I think it could be a little bit smaller. In future I’ll start with the circumference of the doll’s head then maybe take it down by half an inch. The elastic stretches but the fur doesn’t. I can’t show it to you because this whole ensemble has been shipped off to a friend. 🙂

Finally, I made dress A in cotton. This pattern is a real gem. The bodice fits B really well.

McCalls 6260 dress made by Deborah Cooke

I lined the bodice – as instructed – but didn’t follow the assembly directions. The pattern says to join the bodice and lining, and turn, then to sew the darts with the two pieces of fabric held together. Since the seam allowance on the dart is trimmed afterward, this would leave raw edges on the inside of the garment. The side seams are also to be sewn with both fabrics held together, which would give more raw edges on the inside. Instead, I did the darts on each piece separately so the raw edges could be trapped between them.

The skirt wasn’t supposed to be lined, but I lined it anyway. (Are you surprised?) I then followed my usual dress construction sequence. I sewed the hems of the skirt and skirt lining together, pressed the seam, and understitched the hem. I then sewed the center back from the lining below the opening around to the main fabric below the opening. I turned and pressed the skirt and top stitched the edges of that back slit. The skirt went into the bodice in the main fabric, then I enclosed all the seam allowances under the bodice lining, sewing the side seams in the bodice by hand. In the picture, you can see that I understitched the neckline as well. I added a ribbon belt, too.

This one had quite a deep hem in the original design, so I could modify the skirt and lining pieces to make the lining longer.

I really like this little dress, and of course, the skirt could be easily changed to be straighter, fuller, longer or some combination thereof. What’s unusual about it is how easily the bodice can be turned, once the lining is sewn to the neck edge and the sleeve edges. Because there isn’t a shoulder seam in either the bodice or the bodice lining, it’s easier to turn the garment. It reminds me of the sleeveless dress bodice McCalls 7550, one of the first patterns I used to sew for B, but turning that bodice was much more challenging – possibly because the neck was smaller. I’ll have to take a look and compare the two.

I had cut a piece of lace for the overskirt as shown in this dress pattern, but decided that it looked too much like an apron, and a permanent one at that. I left it off. I do have a dress that my grandmother made for my dolls which uses lace and taffeta together – they’re treated as one fabric, with the lace giving more interest to the taffeta, instead of the lace being a separate skirt. I may try that with this pattern.

I had originally planned to make view E as well, the jacket and trousers, but the pants are actually cut of a knit. You need the stretch to pull them over her hips. I didn’t have a knit thin enough to be in scale for the girls, but I’ll keep looking.

See how it is? I finish trying out one pattern and end up with a whole list of potential modifications and projects!

The Orange Purse Completed

Posted on December 23, 2025 by Deborah Cooke

I mentioned these two fruity purses to you a few weeks ago, as they’d risen to the surface of my projects needing to be finished. They were from a kit from Knitpicks called The Elegant Edibles kit. (That’s a Ravelry link – the pattern is no longer available.)

I knit the orange and the kiwi, but never finished them and put them aside. That’s changing now. 🙂

The orange was like this:

Orange purse from Elegant Edibles Knitpicks kit, knit by Deborah Cooke

Usually, when I put a project aside, there’s a reason. I had no idea how to line the orange, given its unusual shape, plus I thought it was too floppy to make a good purse. Similarly, I liked the handle of felted leaves, but it felt too soft to be functional.

One review, I decided to interface the lining. For the shape of the lining pieces, I flattened the bag and traced around the crescent shape, then around the arc of the “rind”. I added 1/4″ seam allowance on the edges and cut the lining. I then added some interfacing to the “rind” edge to give the purse some body. I trimmed a piece of curtain header (buckram) to the shape and stitched it to the lining fabric so it wouldn’t shift around, then assembled the lining.

You can still see those stitches. There was no chance of matching a print with so many colours, so I went with white for contrast.

Orange purse from Elegant Edibles Knitpicks kit, knit by Deborah Cooke - lining and reinforcement of base

Here’s how the lining looks with the purse on its side.

Orange purse from Elegant Edibles Knitpicks kit, knit by Deborah Cooke - lining completed

Of course, I added an interior pocket. Just for fun, I used a contrast batik. The open edge of the pocket is parallel to the zipper.

And here’s the bag turned right side out:

Orange purse from Elegant Edibles Knitpicks kit, knit by Deborah Cooke - bag with zipper

Finally, here it is all finished up.

Orange purse from Elegant Edibles Knitpicks kit, knit by Deborah Cooke - completed purse

I like the felted leaves a lot, but they’re a bit soft for a handle. Twining them around the fabric handle makes for a more sturdy solution. I’ll see how it works out but might stitch that felted wool handle right onto the batik. Overall, I’m pleased with the result. 🙂

Next up, the kiwi purse.

Vintage Knitting Patterns for Dolls from Mary Maxim

Posted on December 22, 2025 by Deborah Cooke

Last week, I discovered these older knitting patterns for 11.5″ fashion dolls available as PDFs from Mary Maxim. They were also on sale at the time, so I snapped them up. They include quite a number of garments each.

The first one is called Fashion Doll Wardrobe – you can find it on the Mary Maxim site right here.

It includes a (blue/white) houndstooth coat with pants, top and hat; a (green) poncho and dress; and a (peache/blue) capri set with top and short pants.

Apparently, the top and capris both have a beaded fringe at the hem, although it’s tough to see in the picture. The whole thing looks like an old photocopy. 🙂

The second one is also called Fashion Doll Wardrobe – the pattern samples are all knit in red and white.

It includes a “skating outfit” with sweater, skirt and headband; an “aran outfit” with sweater and skirt; a “casual outfit” with sweater and pants (I think that’s the top middle one); an “office outfit” of dress and short jacket; and an “evening outfit” of a long skirt and sleeveless top.

Again, the PDF pattern looks like a photocopy, but there’s a chart for the top sweater. It has a contrast star on the back.

The third pattern has a black and white product image, which is very fuzzy. This one is called Teen Doll Pattern.

From left, the pattern includes a coat and boots, worn with a straight skirt; a skating dress with panties; a long dress with an eyelet pattern on the skirt; a jacket, pants and tank top; and finally, a crocheted long dress.

Finally, there’s a very vintage pattern, Teen Age Doll Pattern Book. The description says it includes 8 outfits. Ravelry lists the original publication date of this book as 1950 but that can’t be right. The doll on the right is Midge, who was introduced in 1963.

There is the 3-piece suit for B shown on the cover, and the 3-piece outfit for K shown on the cover. There are two dresses for B: one “off-shoulder” and one v-neck. Both have a hat and purse. There’s a v-neck sweater and hat for both B and K – these look like polo shirts to me. There’s a Bermuda shorts set for both B and K, including shorts, sweater, knee socks and hat. There’s a sweater, skirt and hat for B with Rudolph on the sweater front. (That’s what it says. I don’t see it, but maybe it will be more clear in real life.) There’s a coat, hat and purse for B with fur trim which is very pretty. Then there are “ski outfits” for both B and K, with sweater, pants, mittens, socks and hat – knit in a variegated yarn, they look a bit like pjs. 🙂 I count more than 8 outfits in total, so there’s a lot of knitting in this little book.

All of the knits call for either fingering weight yarn on 2.75mm needles, or DK/sport yarn on 3mm needles. Sounds big to me, but I’ll check it out.

Ravelry shows a book (Mary Maxim, Teen Age Dolls, Vol 2: Mary Maxim Exclusive Knitted Sportswear for 9″ to 11½” Teen Age Dolls, Vol 2) which has classic Mary Maxim sweaters for Barbie, Ken and Skipper. Those would be fun to knit.

I found a print copy of this one on Etsy and have ordered it. I figured I’d print it out since the sweaters are charted, so a print copy made sense. I’ll tell you more about that one once I dig in.

Cute Embroidery Kits from Kiriki

Posted on December 18, 2025 by Deborah Cooke

These kits were featured in the current issue of Threads Magazine, as a gift suggestion for sewists. I took the suggestion and bought myself two of them. They are incredibly cute.

The kits are for stuffed and embroidered dolls – many of them are animals – from a company called Kiriki Press in Toronto. You can see the range of options on their website – and a few of them in this image at right from their site.

The doll kits are presented by level, which is determined by the amount of embroidery on each one.

I bought the raccoon in the starter kit, partly to avoid having to hunt down an embroidery hoop of the right size. (You can choose any design in the starter kit or just on its own, as the sheep below. You can also add a hoop to any order, which I didn’t notice earlier.)

The starter kit includes the hoop, as well as a pair of stork scissors and the instruction book of stitches. It also includes the same items as in the individual doll kit – the embroidery floss, screen-printed fabric, stuffing and pattern.

I bought the sheep in the doll kit, so I have two critters to make. Both of these are level 3 kits, with most of the surface covered with embroidery.

It was tough to decide. I loved the wolf and the otter also, and the hedgehog is adorable. Hmm. I also loved the keeper bears, but they were sold out. It looks as if they’re back in stock, so maybe I’ll treat myself once these two are finished up.

I thought they’d make nice projects for a snowy evening and am looking forward to starting the raccoon.

Hankie Chic Caracas Dress for 12″ dolls

Posted on December 16, 2025 by Deborah Cooke

Caracas pattern for 12" dolls by Hankie Chic

I made some holiday dresses for the girls, using this pattern by Sylvia Bittner at Hankie Chic. The pattern is called Caracas, and you can buy the downloadable PDF from her online store right here.

This dress has an interesting wrap around the shoulders. It’s attached to a bodice flap overlapping the front body of the dress. The skirt has a big pleat in the front, then there are three bead buttons at the side of the bodice.

I found this pattern an easy make, so long as I didn’t think about it too much. I referred to the pictures of the final dress for that front pleat, because I would have sewn it down wrong otherwise. Similarly, I wrapped that shoulder bit a couple of times before I was convinced that I had it right. It folds back on itself (kind of) which confused me at first.

Here’s the first one I made, modelled by Continental Holilday Silkstone B.

Caracas pattern for 12" dolls by Hankie Chic made in red silk by Deborah Cooke

The three little “buttons” are gold beads, although they’re hard to see from this angle. I also bought the girls some Kaiser stands, which are pretty awesome. They almost disappear and are much more stable than the stands that come with the dolls.

I really like the base bodice design on this dress – it has a center front vertical seam from the waist to the bust, then a crosswise dart on the bust – and may use it in other garments. It fits quite well.

Caracas pattern for 12" dolls by Hankie Chic made in red silk by Deborah Cooke - bodice detail

I did change the order of assembly, in my usual way. I really like to sew the skirt and the lining together at the hem while they’re still flat, then understitch the lining. I did that with the skirt, then the same with the bodice. My handsewn seams end up being the waist seam in the lining, then the back edges to finish up.

I am lucky to have a number of friends who sew and who give me scraps of their wonderful fabrics. The red dress is made from a silk taffeta given to me by Laura.

Caracas pattern for 12" dolls by Hankie Chic made in blue silk by Deborah Cooke

Caracas pattern for 12" dolls by Hankie Chic made in pink silk by Deborah Cooke

The blue and the pink are from silk remnants given to me by Helen. The girls like them all. 🙂

These models are Lingerie #6 in the blue and Lingerie #2 in the pink.

After the first doll was dressed, I realized that she reminded me of Ravishing in Rouge from 2001. I had a look and found one at the right price, so she’s joined the other girls here. She really is lovely.

2001 Ravishing in Rouge Silkstone Barbie

I’ve still planned to make another Caracas, with the wrap in a contrasting fabric. For the moment, though, the girls have some party dresses for the festive season ahead.

Alive & Knitting

Knitting and other tangled webs we weave