Bilbo & Fili Large Plush Dolls

Almost every Middle Earth character seems to lend themselves to at least one style of handmade doll. Many of them seem to have endless possibilities. I mean, Bilbo and Samwise seem like they are perfect for every type of doll. Maybe it depends on your love of dolls . . . but I've always loved dolls, so they seem like a natural combination with Tolkien's fabulous characters. Between the two of us, we've made a variety of dolls (cloth, wool, wire, etc.) over the years, but today's spotlight falls on some of the neatest creative endeavours that we've gotten to see personally (based on Middle Earth characters). These dolls were given to us by one of our best friends, Olivia. She and her sister are artists, but they are so creative that they can make just about anything you could think of!

Imagine how thrilled we were to receive these two large plush dolls for Christmas! She made Fili for Elizabeth and Bilbo for me (having made Thorin for her sister). In the picture above, you see the pair seated happily in their new home . . . and having donned a scarf and some socks!

Olivia watched a few YouTube tutorials about making plush dolls, and she read up on different needle-sculpting techniques online. To make the hands, she actually traced her own hand and then sized it down on the computer to the different sizes for a dwarf and a hobbit.

The dolls are made of anti-pill fleece and measure 30" (Bilbo) and 36" (Fili) tall. The Hobbit hair on both his head and feet is made of a special faux fur material, as is Fili's beard. Fili's braids and hair are made of two different types of yarn.

What's really fun about making dolls this large, is the fact that the door is opened for a vast amount of creativity in dressing and accessorizing them.

Here is little Bilbo wearing size 6-months Baby Osh Kosh pants and an 18-24 months onesie top. We're going to sew a vest and jacket for him, but that's a future project!

Accessories are a lot of fun, too. My Dad carved this wooden Sting for Bilbo. I think that I'm just going to polyurethane it once it's warmer outside. That would give it a kind of cool toy-like look while still protecting the wood.

Old purses can be turned into great backpacks for these dolls, too!

We've posted more info and pictures about these dolls and their accessories on our website here:
http://sarahbethonline.com/middleearth/bilboandfili.html
We'll also continue to update with more creative ideas to do with Bilbo and Fili on this blog!

Sewing Our Own Frodo Flannel Blankets

One of the really exciting events of last year (2017), as far as LotR fans go, was the release of Lord of the Rings fabric by Camelot Fabrics Company. A full line was put out by the company for release in quilt shops around the USA. These included prints from LotR and The Hobbit, but they are only digitally printed on demand, which means that they are very expensive. Thankfully, three prints were released at JoAnn Fabrics, a chain store across the country. One was flannel, one was cotton and one was fleece. For more info on the whole line of fabric, check out the entry from my personal blog here: https://littlekumquat.weebly.com/little-kumquat-blog/camelot-fabric-releases-lord-of-the-rings-and-hobbit-material

This entry will deal with our project made of the Frodo flannel available at JoAnn's. Right away, we both knew that we wanted to make something fun . . . but we had no idea what. In that case, what do you do? Buy the bolt of eight yards, of course! We did, and it sat around for four months before we decided to make something. After hashing out some more complicated ideas, we decided on simple double-sided flannel blankets.

These pictures show the blanket. It's the same on both sides. We didn't want batting or anything fluffy inside, so we decided to use something different. Elizabeth's has a white 100% cotton table cloth in there, which makes it very drapey and cuddly. Inside mine, I picked an old cotton "summer-weight" blanket that we've had for years. It's really thin and cuddly --- and absolutely no static in the winter! The finished blankets are quite large, as you can see, though we didn't make them to actually use on a bed. We wanted something to use while watching movies, but not as small as the typical store-bought throw. --- something that you can use to totally cuddle up in a chair. That is my double bed above, and it spreads out to cover it (not draping down, of course).

The flannel isn't the quality of good quilting stuff. It's like the typical JoAnn's "Snuggle" flannel, which is lower quality fabric. We pre-washed and dried it before sewing the blankets --- doing this on high in each machine makes sure that everything shrinks as much as it is going to before actually putting anything together. The blanket and tablecloth, of course, were also totally pre-washed and dried as well. To make the blankets wider than the yardage (which was about 40" wide once washed and dried), we cut three 2-yard lengths. One of those lengths, we took and cut in half the long way (making a piece approximately 2-yards long by 20" wide). Then, we sewed a 20" wide piece to each of the full 40" pieces. The finished blankets are about 60" wide by 75" long. They are each slightly different, due to the different inside layers and the seams needed for those. It was a lot easier to sew the flannel to the cotton blanket, because the pieces of fabric stuck to each other. The cotton tablecloth was pretty tricky, because everything was prone to sliding around --- but it does make it with more of a drape.

This fabric has been in the stores at JoAnn's since May, so I would recommend that anyone interested pick up their yardage as soon as possible. If our local store is anything to go by, it looks like the stores are selling what they have and not stocking any more on the shelves. It's all still available online though, so don't be afraid to order that way. Sign up for their mailing list and coupons, because you can get good deals that way! If others come up with interesting projects to use with this fabric, we'd love to hear about it.