Update on Patterns: Mistakes found!

While I was translating the Classic Sami Doll Pattern, I found a few little mistakes that escaped my attention during the first felt 10 000 proof reading sessions ;)

• For the 8" dress skirt pattern piece, the measurements should be 11 x 65 cm (I copied and pasted the 12" measurements and forgot to change the measurements)
• For the 10" dress skirt pattern piece, the measurements should be 12 x 75 cm. You can, of course, always make the skirt part longer or shorter, depending on the look you are going for.
• In the 20" pattern pieces, the bloomers pattern needs to be assembled from 2 pieces and in the top part of the bloomers pattern piece, it says to connect the top bloomers piece to the 15" bottom piece. It should instead say "to the 20" pattern piece" (again, I copied and pasted from the 15" pattern and forgot to change the 15 into a 20)
• In the shoe crochet directions, it says, in several places, to crochet into every stitch of the round. Every round should be finished with a slip stitch. I did not add this, as I thought it was implied. But better to be clear in the instructions, right?

Please forgive me for these oversights.

Anyone who has purchased the pattern already and wants the updated version, please send me an email to samisdolls@gmail.com with your receipt attached, and I'll send it to you.

Thank you

Theresa xx

Stella, a 20" Sami Doll

Stella is up for a $1 auction in the Sami Group now:https://www.facebook.com/groups/496284950388111/

20"/55 cm Stella is a big sister kinda girl. She loves to look after the smaller dolls in the house and keeps them in line when they get too cheeky and silly. Only very rarely does she allow herself to participate in the silliness. But when she does, she is the giggliest of all, for sure.She enjoys reading books with her new mum or dad, looking out of the window on a rainy day and she really hopes her new family likes pancakes. That's her favourite. With fresh strawberries and maple syrup.
Her skin is De Witte Engel cotton jersey, she is stuffed with corn fiber, her clothes are made from cotton, her undies from cotton jersey and her hair and her shoes are acrylic yarn.

A visit to Farm Animal Rescue

Today I visited the lovely animals at Farm Animal Rescue (Australia)​ in Dayboro, QLD, Australia again. In the background you can see Heather, a gorgeous pig. I learned that pigs are among the 10 smartest animals on the planet. And they most resemble humans. When you touch their skin, it really feels like touching a hairy human ;)

I found this on NBC news: 

"Pigs are perhaps the smartest, cleanest domestic animals known - more so than cats and dogs, according to some experts. But pigs don't have sweat glands, so they roll around in the mud to stay cool. A sign of their cleverness came from experiments in the 1990s. Pigs were trained to move a cursor on a video screen with their snouts and used the cursor to distinguish between scribbles they knew and those they were seeing for the first time. They learned the task as quickly as chimpanzees."

It is so fun to meet these amazing animals in person. Thank you to everyone who supports my business. You are helping me help the animals.

Heather is one of the lucky ones. She was rescued from the meat industry and gets to live out her life in this beautiful place. She is one of the fitter ones. Some of her other pig friends at Farm Animal Rescue have been bred by the meat industry to be so large so quickly to maximize profit, that they have a hard time walking around or even standing up. The pig house is at the bottom of a steep hill and some of the pigs never make it up the hill. But Heather is a sporty one. She gets up that hill and socializes with the funny humans who want to touch her and take pictures with her.

It was a great day.

T xx

The Classic Sami Doll Pattern is out!

The pattern is finally available! Here or on Etsy.

You can buy all 6 doll sizes separately, or all in one.
You can find video tutorials for most of the sewing steps on my YouTube channel already and I will be uploading many more videos over the coming days

After months of pattern designing, learning how to work with vector images and editing programms, testing and re-testing the pattern, sewing dolls, taking and editing pictures... it is finally here.

This pattern is really special to me. It is the one I use myself and it feels a bit like the "crown jewel" of my patterns (so far, who knows what's still in store ;))

I am hoping to be able to offer kits with all the necessary materials soon, but I am sure you crafty ladies know most of the secret material sources already wink emoticon

Happy creating!

Melody, a 18" Sami Doll

Melody is up for a $1 auction in the Sami Group now:https://www.facebook.com/groups/496284950388111/

18"/45 cm Melody loves to sing. She can up with a song for almost any situation in life. her favourite tunes are upbeat and happy ones. She is hoping to find a mum or dad who likes to sig too or at least doesn't mind when she does ;)She is a lot of fun to be around, for sure.
Her skin is De Witte Engel cotton jersey, she is stuffed with corn fiber, her clothes are made from cotton, her undies from cotton jersey and her hair and her shoes are acrylic yarn.

Sameera, a 15" Sami Doll

Sameera is up for a $1 auction in the Sami Group now:https://www.facebook.com/groups/496284950388111/

15"/ 38 cm Sameera is an artist. She likes spending time by herself coming up with new ways to braid her hair, sew a new dress, help her mum colour coordinate, sew some funky beads or ties onto a secondhand pair of wahshed out jeans and give them a second life in the limelight.She loves to write her diary as well, as she has very deep thoughts that she can't share with anyone, as she worries that no one will understand her.Maybe her new mum or dad or best friend will share her secrets and thoughts about life? She is hopeful that she will find someone who trusts her and whom she can trust.

Her skin is De Witte Engel cotton jersey, she is stuffed with corn fiber, her clothes are made from cotton, her undies from cotton jersey and her hair and her shoes are acrylic yarn.

Lola, a 12" Sami Doll

Lola is up for a $1 auction in the Sami Group now:https://www.facebook.com/groups/496284950388111/

Lola is a fashionable one. She loves it when her clothes match. She also loves getting herself really muddy in the forest, running through the leaves, climbing up trees and keeping an eye out for squirrels. I will probably have to send her with a set of spare clothes so her new mum or dad can be prepared when she comes back from one of her muddy adventures in nature :)

Her skin is De Witte Engel cotton jersey, she is stuffed with corn fiber, her clothes are made from cotton, her undies from cotton jersey and her hair is cotton yarn from catnipyarns.comand her shoes are acrylic yarn.

Poppy, a 10" Sami Doll

Next up is Poppy.

Poppy is up for a $1 auction in the Sami Group now:https://www.facebook.com/groups/496284950388111/

Poppy is a little shy one. But once she gets comfortable with someone, she can be really funny too. She prefers to whisper as she is a bit worried that others will overhear what she says and then make fun of her. She doesn't even know how gorgeous and beautiful she is. She will be a best friend to her new lil mum or dad for sure.

Her skin is De Witte Engel cotton jersey, she is stuffed with corn fiber, her clothes are made from cotton, her undies from cotton jersey and her hair and shoes are acrylic yarn.

Maddie, a 8" Sami Doll

The first doll to go up for auction is 8"/ 20 cm Maddie.

She is a lil spunky one. She enjoys hiding your favourite toys because she loves it so much when you are so happy when you find them again.

Her skin is De Witte Engel cotton jersey, she is stuffed with corn fiber, her clothes are made from cotton, her undies from cotton jersey and her hair and shoes are acrylic yarn.

She is up for auction in the Sami group now: https://www.facebook.com/groups/496284950388111/

So fun to see all 6 doll sizes next to each other. While I was taking their pictures, our neighbour came outside and saw me photographing these beauties in their knickers and started to giggle. He is a man well into his 60s or even early 70s. Now, every time he sees me, he giggles.
No amount of serious "this is my business, I sell dolls for a living, no, I am not some weird, obsessed, creepy doll lady" seemed to help.
Now I just greet my giggling neighbour with a smile, every time we see each other.

The dolls are going up for $1 auctions in my Sami Facebook group. If you would like to join in, please request to join the group.

Lotta, a 10" Custom Doll

Someone wants to say "Hi!" 

(Custom doll). 

Her name is Lotta and she is very excited to be travelling home soon, halfway around the world.

She is a bit of a giggly one. We had a lot of fun during our photo shoot.

My dolly mojo is back :)

I haven't been making many dolls this past year as there was so much going on in our lives with changes on both the inside and outside. 
I also had a little confidence crisis and thought no one would want any dolls from me anymore, as I changed the materials I use and stopped using wool and any materials that come from animals. 
I thought if I just stop with Sami Dolls, it wouldn't make too much of a difference in an online doll market that is flooded with incredibly talented, kind-hearted and beautiful doll makers.
I also went through some emotional lows and moments of hopelessness that often made it impossible to find the joy to create.
But every time I sat down and surrounded myself with my fabrics, my doll needles, threads and yarns and made another little dolly 'person', I was so happy. It just makes me happy. And I realized I can't stop. I need to do this for myself, for my own happiness, even if I end up with a house full of dolls all to myself. I need to be creative and create and I want to pass this joy on to as many people as possible. That's why I will keep making dolls as long as I can and that's why I will share my patterns (and hopefully come up with new and exciting projects).
I want to thank every one of you who sent me a message, and everyone who still likes and responds to my posts, even though I have neglected you guys and my page for quite some time. I am still here and I hope to breathe some more life and joy into this page, my little crafty corner on the interwebz smile emoticon
Thank you for having me.
Theresa xx

The new Pyjamas pattern is available!

Thanks to the wonderful help of my test sewers Becca and Lynn, I can now offer the Pyjamas pattern in my shop.
The video tutorial is also online now.
Here is the link to the shop: http://www.samidolls.com.au/#!pdfpatterns/cwvn
And here is the link to the video tutorial:

The discount code (PROTOTYPE) does not apply to the patterns as their download is hosted via an external webservice.