My new project

the beginnings of a bag made of Irish Lace

 Crocheting with rayon thread.  1 strand of rayon thread and yout #10 white crochet thread.  This looks wonderful when finished.  Adding pink for flower and green fro leaves and you have a one of a kind doily.

Irish Lace Purse

I made this just before Christmas, still crocheting it on Christmas Eve.

 This one needs to be lined with silk.  Having trouble selecting the lining color.

 Irish Lace Grape Leaf

Irish Lace:  Foundation chain vs thread

I am beginning to explore the art of Irish Lace.  Among the things I have learned is that many of the patterns require a foundation thread or threads to get the proper effect in the design.  If you are like me and have a nerve injury in the hand or arthritis you may like what I have done here.

 I have made a chain with the same size thread to stitch over.  The chain is easier to hold on to. This will work if you need 3 or 4 strands of foundation thread.

 I only use this when my hand will not hold the threads.  The art of Irish Crochet Lace should always be created according to the patterns this is a creation of my own. 

 This is the periwinkle pattern I created.

Dolls from my childhood upgraded clothing.

I picked up my crochet hook again this past 2 weeks.  When Cliff went into surgery I needed small projects to work on while in the hospital with him.

I have over 80 StoryBook dolls and some two dozen were undressed.

This is a dress I made some years ago.  I found the pattern online this past week 

"Gibson Girl Doll Pattern"  http://freevintagecrochet.com/dolls/gibson-girl-doll-pattern.html

 I also found online several sites for crocheting flowers and thought to have a set of "Flower Girls"  These dolls will all have a flower in or on her hat. The flower on this gal is from http://www.youtube.com/user/Sheruknittingcom?feature=watch
This outfit is a one-piece dress.  I crocheted the pantalettes then the blouse and added the skirt last.
The hat is a simple cap like the ladies wore in the 40s.

As you can see I have loads of thread from the 70s and 80s that I found in the attic while cleaning up there.  This doll has a dress made with Pineapple stitches.  Her hat is of an open design made with the shell st and has a yellow flower on it.  This flower was at the above link as well.  I signed up to her blog to get the flower patterns in order as she posted them.

 This is an older dress as well with a new flower on her head.

A cluster of 3 flowers make up this gals hat.  The dress is made with white #10 crochet thread with a strand of red sewing thread added to it as I crocheted it.  The pattern is one of my own.

This doll is waring a very complex dress and hat without a flower on it.  I felt the flower would be overkill on this doll.

 These combinations are under the dress on the above doll.







Here I have made the Gibson dress for this doll with a few small modifications.  I added a black belt rather than a ribbon and her panties are part of the skirt.













 Here you can see how I make pantalettes.













 This doll is in a dress made in the 50s that had a top that was soiled beyond cleaning so I remade it with a new blouse and petticoat.  The flower is just laid on her head.

Here we have a dress made in the 60s or 70s .











Here you see some of the thread I had in the attic made into a layered dress and flower hat.  Again this is a one piece outfit. pantalettes under it all.

The variegated thread on this doll is some I found at Walmart.  It has a nice feel to it while crocheting.










I tried my hand at short skirts here.