Mini-me

I've shared before that projects and ideas get seared into my brain and don't get out until they're executed with some form of success or failure (anything from a "meh, it's ok" to "I LOVE IT!" or "where do I get these ideas??" to "I will NEVER do anything like that again!!") So when I saw a post from Stitch London, that they were creating a Stitch Yourself exhibit for the re-opening of the London Science Museum's Who Am I? gallery, then making a Mini-Me immediately become one of those projects that I just had to do.

The details:

Body Blank: The stitched self had to be approx. 6" and stitched (no clay, wood, etc. bodies) and a free pattern for a knit, crochet and sewn body "blank" were provided by Stitch London, but you were not limited to these patterns. I wound up choosing and making changes to Jean Greenhowe's Rainbow Babies pattern by working in a sock weight yarn, adding a couple extra rows to the legs and body and decreasing the number of stitches in the head. All of these adjustments brought me to about 6" in height and a more adult doll look.

Clothing: I live in New England (Boston suburbs) and for most of the year I wear jeans and sweaters. The sweater is leftover sock yarn dyed during my Independent Study sock yarn project (detailed here) and, of course, I had to work a heart motif into this project somewhere! The jeans were hand sewn from an old pair that were headed to the recycle bin. They're difficult to see but the sock feet are knit as part of the body using left over yarn from my very first pair of knitted socks!

Hair: DMC embroidery floss #840

Eye Glasses: This was the only part of the Mini-Me not hand stitched but I have been wearing glasses for over 45 years and I really wanted an accurate representation of them. A big thanks to my husband who crafted them for me ;)

Face: I HATE doing faces. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you to Laura for holding my hand and making me stop when I was suppose to!!!

Bracelet: I've been crocheting beaded bracelets for years(I've blogged about a few here and here) and one of my best and favorite designs is one I do of the American flag. Because this an international project and I had to have something representing crochet! I strung seed beads in the basic pattern that I use to crochet my bracelets and sewed them down to the wrist.

Misc.: I didn't spend a penny making Mini-Me which is a representation of 1) my stash and 2) I don't throw much out!




For those who know me in person I think you'll agree that this not a bad representation of myself. At the very least, she is a symbol of what I love to do the most - make things.

Here are pictures of Mini-Me on her first adventure at the London Science Museum. Stitch London has promised further adventures and I can't wait to live vicariously through her travels ... I'll keep you posted.

Mini-me is circled - click on photos for a larger picture

BTW, this was one of those projects where I LOVE IT!

Update 9/8/2012: The New Adventure of Mini-Me