I made these 5 years ago when R was a baby, based on the doll patterns in the book, Creating and Crafting Dolls, by Eloise Piper and Mary Dilligan. I modified the pattern a bit, upscaling the size and adjusting the profile of the boy elf's nose, and making pointy ears, of course. Their clothes are all made from second hand woolen coats, pants, and sweaters, linen tablecloths and scraps. The tights are from a striped t-shirt and the boy elf's boots are from a scrap of velvet. The inspiration for these comes from a couple of places:
1. When I was little, my two older brothers spent a day locked up in my mom's sewing room, crafting a couple of elves out of styrofoam balls, felt, and the likes. That night they staged a skit for me outside the windows of our house. They rigged up the elves so that one was peeking from behind some bushes in the back yard, and the other one "flew" down from the rooftop into the front yard, sliding down a string to the ground when my brother tugged on it from out in the yard. He then ran inside so that the elves wouldn't think he was naughty, outside late when he should be inside getting ready for bed.
2. The other inspiration is from 1991 when, after Thanksgiving dinner, I spent the entire night, from 9 pm until 9 am decorating the Bellevue Square Mall outside Seattle. The pay was good, but I was delirious by morning. Anyways, the point is, that there were these really cool, big, flexible, almost muppet-like elf dolls that were one the last finishing touches to the decorating, hanging off of various parts of the props. I'm sure the decorating at that mall is more sleek and updated now, but I wonder what happened to those elves...
By the way, if you've ever wanted to try your hand at making dolls, this is a fantastic book...if you ever come across it. Simple patterns with options for modification, lots of pictures and ideas, and quite detailed. I'll try to share some more pictures after the holidays. Remind me if I forget.
