Saturday 14 December 2013

An angel and her cousins

In my last WIPW post I showed this little Christmas ornament I made recently.
 Annet asked if it was my own design, and I have to admit that it is not.
I found the pattern in a Swedish craft magazine, Handarbete, in the 90s, and have made several versions. Also here are some of the cousins:
To celebrate Lucia, a Swedish tradition held on 13th December,  I once made this doll from the same basic pattern.
St Lucia comes in the dark winter night carrying light, and hope.
Children traditionally wake their parents early in the morning with songs,  and carrying coffee, saffron buns and ginger snaps. One of the girls would be St Lucia, the other children her attendants. The girls would have tinsel in their hair and the boys a cone shaped white hat and all would hold candles in their hands.
Lucia is also celebrated in schools, companies, church and shown on national TV, this year from Olaus Petri Church of Örebro.
 My little Lucia is blurry eyed - is it too early in the morning or have the eyes simply got fuzzy with felt? Either she needs to wash her face or I need to redo her eyes!

22 comments:

Pamela said...

Such sweet angels! How tall are they? I can picture a small tree of angels.

Julie Fukuda said...

She is darling just as is.

margaret said...

Love them Queenie, the faces are full of character and using pinking shears for the hair has worked a treat

Queeniepatch said...

They are approx 12 cm tall. If they are left hanging somewhere they can dangle freely, they will dance or fly. Quite charming, actually.

Queeniepatch said...

That WILL make her wake up!

Queeniepatch said...

I am glad you noticed; the pinking was my own idea, and I am very pleased with it - a saint with permed hair - angel fashion!

Pamela said...

I still have trouble with metric - I had to go to the online conversion to see that 12 cm means about 4 and 3/4 inches!

Queeniepatch said...

Then living in Japan must be a bit of a challenge?!

https://linsartyblobs.blogspot.com said...

Cute little angels. These have given me inspiration for some felt I recently bought.

carorose said...

All those little dolls are just perfect for each occasion and the stitching is pretty good as well.

Queeniepatch said...

Oh, I am so happy they have given you inspiration!

Queeniepatch said...

The stitching is NOT good, just basic. This project would be perfect for your children's classes. You need two pieces of the head and dress, and two of the wings if you are making an angel. These pieces have a piece of wadding insided.
Then cut two pieces for the hair, long at the back and with a fringe at the front. Hands and feet/boots are single layered. Joined with Buttonhole stitch and embellished with whatever stitch and beads you like. The variations are endless.

Claudia said...

So sweet and every angel looks different. Love the hair!

Queeniepatch said...

Thank you. With different material you could make even more fantastic hairstyles.

Stitching Lady said...

Neither wash nor redo.... just so sweet and lovingly made.

Annet said...

Thanks for sharing more of these cute dolls. Love the Egyptian cousins and Lucia. It's fun to see what you can do with just one pattern.

Queeniepatch said...

She will be so pleased to hear that!

Queeniepatch said...

Please explain 'Egyptian cousins'!

Annet said...

When I saw the cute dolls in the second photo, the hairstyle made me think Egyptian!

Queeniepatch said...

Ah, a clever observation!

Anita said...

Lovely angels! The hair and the expressions are so cute !
What type of felt have you used for the angel in the first picture? Please do share.

Queeniepatch said...

Thank you!
The felt is the ordinary craft felt sold in small blocks in Japan. Synthetic I would guess.