Mommy Maker Day - Doll Making

Are you a crafty mom?  I most definitely am not! However, for the love of N, I put on a brave face and signed up for a doll-making workshop.

So one fine Sunday morning, N and I headed to Fully Booked to join one of the  Mommy Mundo's Mommy Maker Day activities - doll-making.  The event was actually one of 3 activities - the two others were screen painting and setting up an etsy shop.



Our facilitator for the day was Jaclyn Colmenares-Zapatos of i.am.handmade.  Jac designs and sews Waldorf-inspired dolls.  Waldorf dolls are made intentionally simple - usually with no facial expression - to encourage creativity or imagination in the child.

For this activity, Jac prepared 2 kits - a mommy doll and a girl doll and we were supposed to make both dolls in a span of 3 hours.

However, after hearing us describe our sewing experience and background, she relented and allowed us to choose only 1 doll to finish! Whew!  My sewing experience was limited to cross stitch during high school.  For this project, we were required to know the basic running and back stitch - which fortunately I did.

SoMoms documenting the event

N was really excited and for her, I pricked my finger several times to sew our doll.  Jac pre-cut the body parts (thank you Jac!) and already sewed the sides.  So I just had to make the head, hair, connect the body parts then we're done!

N wants to get in action!

Sounds simple? But for an amateur sewer like me, it was a long process.  I couldn't clean stitches so had to re-do some and sewing together the doll head and body was difficult - pushing and pulling the needle was uncomfortable. Jac shared that she had developed calluses on the tips of her fingers - which made it easier for her to push and pull the needles.

K and N having fun while I was on my pumping break. 

Finally, we were able to finish a little past 12 [beyond our allotted 3 hours!] and the happy smile on N's face made all that pushing pulling and pricks worth it!

Work wasn't over because when we got home, N was budding me to finish the mommy doll.  So before I went back to my loaded work week, I prepped my fingers and finished the mommy doll that Sunday night.

Mommy and daughter doll

The experience was surprisingly therapeutic and rewarding as I was able to come up with an end-product that I could say was created from my hard work [with some help from Jac!].  This is quite an achievement for me especially since I don't cook, sew, iron.

If you're like me and can't sew dolls, you can also choose to buy dolls that Jac makes under her i.am.handmade.by.mom label.  She makes custom dolls, baby blankets and quilts.  Check out her really cute Dolldalita line too.

Are you a crafty mom?  What craft projects do you enjoy with your child?