Tilda with a Twist

Tilda "bugs" /Christmas beetles from Spring Ideas book

Many of you know that I spent some time in Finland in 2001 and recently returned for a visit and also renewed my love of Scandinavian fabric design. I have always loved Marimekko, so it didn' t take much for me to develop a liking for Tilda - the clean, crisp, softer and appealing designs by Tone Finnanger from Norway. My local doll supply shop, Anne's Glory Box, has recently stocked the delightful Tilda fabrics. books and accessories, so of course I really couldn't resist... And the laces have been hand dyed at Anne's Glory Box to match the Tilda fabrics.
The bugs from the Spring Ideas book are my favourites ( image above) and they will be great gifts for my daughter and daughter-in-law, as I give them a handmade ornament for their Christmas trees each year . Tilda has also become a bit of a craze with some of the cloth doll makers in my Hello Dollies group. Here are a couple of gorgeous Tilda dolls made by a friend, Vicki Leeke of Victori Dolls.

Tilda dolls by Vicki Leeke

If you are not familiar with Tilda dolls and characters, here is a description from the Tilda website
"Tilda is most known for the whimsical, comical and naive characters in the form of animals and dolls. Tilda's world is without a doubt a feminine one, and the most recognisable features are the faces, with two dots for eyes and rosy cheeks."
I certainly did not or would not change the Tilda style, but I added an Australian twist to the gingerbread men I made from the Crafting Christmas Gifts book. The fabric for these little gingerbread men was hand dyed with brown onion skins and syzygium leaves. The syzygium is better known here as Lilly Pilly - an evergreen Australian tree which has glossy dark green leaves and small edible berries or fruits, mostly used to make jam. I thought the dye recipe of onion skins and syzygium turned the calico into a good gingerbread fabric.

Gingerbread Men, pattern from Tilda Crafting Christmas Gifts Book

And for a bit of fun... here is my Chinese bug - Tilda style if that's possible? certainly Tilda with a twist?

Fish and Sticks : Art Dolls

This week I've been working on fish and sticks .... The sticks are the message stick art dolls which were very popular, attracting some attention and a few orders at the Wise Women exhibition. Each of the message stick dolls are from the Wise Women series, each with her own personality and message of wisdom, handwritten on a handmade timber tag. I gather the sticks during my walks around my neighbourhood and the tags are made from special bits of timber, some collected by me or my husband or from off cuts gifted to us from another doll making friend whose husband makes bagpipes. These dolls start off very simply with a wrap around a stick, in the general shape of a body. 'Naked" message stick dolls - strips of wadding wrapped around found sticks. Then I usually wrap other layers of fabric, wool, and/or fibres, over which I do some simple embroidery. I sculpt or mould small face masks for these dolls. I really like using "sari ribbon" as w...

#SeptTextileLove Day 12

#SeptTextileLove #STL26Day12 ‘Friendship’ … This is a story of friendship based on the love of textiles and fibre art . Gallerist and artist, Anne Kempton and I have been friends for 15 years , meeting when we had both retired from ‘ top’ jobs in a government department and a high school respectively. Neither of us were the retiring types - Anne was establishing the first commercial textile art gallery in Australia and I was looking for a creative direction. We discovered we were both driven by a sense of social justice and community and shared similar artistic aspirations . Since then, we have co- curated exhibitions, collaborated on many projects. supported community art and women’s causes, and grown in our individual artistic expression - Anne includes more stitching in her work and she has had a more painterly influence on mine . Moreover, this friendship is multifaceted, deep and personal and one I value and treasure . Thank you, Anne.

#SeptTextileLove26- Day 2

#STL26Day2 ‘Hand or Machine’ … Why not both? Two small stitched works in my stitched garden series, (left - free motion machine stitch ; right- hand stitch). Which do you prefer ? #SeptTextileLove

Empress Wu Designs with Wilma

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