Toby is 31 cm tall and was the first Olive Sparrow child to be adopted at the Winterfair of the Toronto Waldorf Academy in December 2010. 

He was purchased by a mom, whose boys are already too big to play with Toby. Yet Toby brought back so many memories for her about her boys being little, she just fell for him.

 

Toby wears up-cycled linen trousers and a natural linen shirt. His vest is from an up-cycled woolen and felted sweater and his hat knitted from fair-trade Manos del Uruguay yarn.

 

Toby loves his wild head of hair and won't let scissors near it. He is full of mischief and loves to tell ghost stories. 

Each doll is made up of the following materials.

Skin: 100% cotton (Swiss-made to Öko-Tex-Standard 100)
Stuffing 100% “green-processed” wool batt from Canada
Hair: 100% Wool, or a Mohair/Wool Blend
Clothing: 100% natural fibres (linen, cotton, silk)
Shoes: Recycled felted wool sweaters, or pure leather
Face: 100% cotton Embroidery Thread

Workmanship:
Each doll is created individually by artist Monika Aebischer, the proprietor of The Olive Sparrow. She sources and uses only the highest quality materials in her creations – swiss-made skin fabric, Canadian green processed wool stuffing,  wool/mohair for the dolls hair (often hand-dyed by her). Hair for the Olive Sparrow Children is made by crocheting a cap that is sewn to the head, allowing for replacement should it ever become necessary (although most children will object to this, as it changes their doll dramatically). For the wispy hair, a special german mohair is used and a labour-intense technique, for the loose longer hair each strand of wool is individually knotted into the crocheted cap. This is the prime technique for doll-wig creation.

Doll clothing is made from up-cycled vintage and clothing fabrics, in either pure linen, cotton or silk. Up-cycled fabric is wonderful for doll clothes, as the cloth has been washed soft, gentle and free of textile manufacturing products. Monika also felts used woolen sweaters to use for doll shoes and clothing. She knits the doll’s hats out of prime quality knitting wool. Each seam on the doll’s body is sewn twice to allow your child to fiercely love their Olive Sparrow Child. Clothing is sewn with French seams and some are fully reversible. 

 

Lilli was a custom order to join some of the Olive Sparrow children sold in 2009. She is 35 cm tall and has gorgeous black hair. The same hair as the mother of the children that received her. 

Lilli is a very stylish girl and a real tomboy. She loves her jeans that are reversible — this makes it easier if she gets some grass stain on them to keep wearing them… 

 

Black can be a harsh colour for hair on a fair skinned doll, but Lilli pulls it off with her lovely eye colour and just a touch of girly-ness, methinks. 

Her body is the same as Emmi's and definitely a new basic pattern for me. 

Each doll is made up of the following materials.

Skin: 100% cotton (Swiss-made to Öko-Tex-Standard 100)
Stuffing 100% “green-processed” wool batt from Canada
Hair: 100% Wool, or a Mohair/Wool Blend
Clothing: 100% natural fibres (linen, cotton, silk)
Shoes: Recycled felted wool sweaters, or pure leather
Face: 100% cotton Embroidery Thread

Workmanship:
Each doll is created individually by artist Monika Aebischer, the proprietor of The Olive Sparrow. She sources and uses only the highest quality materials in her creations – swiss-made skin fabric, Canadian green processed wool stuffing,  wool/mohair for the dolls hair (often hand-dyed by her). Hair for the Olive Sparrow Children is made by crocheting a cap that is sewn to the head, allowing for replacement should it ever become necessary (although most children will object to this, as it changes their doll dramatically). For the wispy hair, a special german mohair is used and a labour-intense technique, for the loose longer hair each strand of wool is individually knotted into the crocheted cap. This is the prime technique for doll-wig creation.

Doll clothing is made from up-cycled vintage and clothing fabrics, in either pure linen, cotton or silk. Up-cycled fabric is wonderful for doll clothes, as the cloth has been washed soft, gentle and free of textile manufacturing products. Monika also felts used woolen sweaters to use for doll shoes and clothing. She knits the doll’s hats out of prime quality knitting wool. Each seam on the doll’s body is sewn twice to allow your child to fiercely love their Olive Sparrow Child. Clothing is sewn with French seams and some are fully reversible. 

Kerri is Emmi's sister. She is 31cm tall and loves that she is a red-head. And contrary to conventions, she loves to wear pink!

She was purchased for an older girl (I think 12 years old) who had never played with dolls, but her mother felt that she would still be well received. A few days ago I saw my client and she told me that her daughter opened up the present and exclaimed: "This is the best present ever!" and rushed over to kiss her mother (much to the surprise of her and her grandmother who was there with them). It is for these wonderful stories that I love creating the Olive Sparrow Children.

Kerri's tunic is made from up-cycled linen fabric and has a free-hand machine embroidered little heart on it's front. Her hat is knitted from a wonderful alpaca yarn.

This is just a teaser to let you see the tiny stitches I use to sew the bodies. I also sew each seam twice for sturdiness. Kerri's hair is high-quality merino wool that I hand-dyed to give it variegation, more like natural hair. She has a lovely head of hair, ideal to fashion into many styles. 

I also embroider the lips with a few stitches, rather than one very long one. I want to ensure that the lip threads do not get caught on anything. It also provides me with many possibilities in altering the expression of each little soul.

Each doll is made up of the following materials.

Skin: 100% cotton (Swiss-made to Öko-Tex-Standard 100)
Stuffing 100% “green-processed” wool batt from Canada
Hair: 100% Wool, or a Mohair/Wool Blend
Clothing: 100% natural fibres (linen, cotton, silk)
Shoes: Recycled felted wool sweaters, or pure leather
Face: 100% cotton Embroidery Thread

Workmanship:
Each doll is created individually by artist Monika Aebischer, the proprietor of The Olive Sparrow. She sources and uses only the highest quality materials in her creations – swiss-made skin fabric, Canadian green processed wool stuffing,  wool/mohair for the dolls hair (often hand-dyed by her). Hair for the Olive Sparrow Children is made by crocheting a cap that is sewn to the head, allowing for replacement should it ever become necessary (although most children will object to this, as it changes their doll dramatically). For the wispy hair, a special german mohair is used and a labour-intense technique, for the loose longer hair each strand of wool is individually knotted into the crocheted cap. This is the prime technique for doll-wig creation.

Doll clothing is made from up-cycled vintage and clothing fabrics, in either pure linen, cotton or silk. Up-cycled fabric is wonderful for doll clothes, as the cloth has been washed soft, gentle and free of textile manufacturing products. Monika also felts used woolen sweaters to use for doll shoes and clothing. She knits the doll’s hats out of prime quality knitting wool. Each seam on the doll’s body is sewn twice to allow your child to fiercely love their Olive Sparrow Child. Clothing is sewn with French seams and some are fully reversible. 

Emmi is a 35cm tall girl, my favourite smaller doll size and a newly developed body pattern. She is sweetly plump, and so adorable to hold. 

Unfortunately, these pictured don't do her justice, they make her face look flat and her lips too big. It is sad that I do not have better pictures of her. She was one of my favourite Olive Sparrow children I made for the Winterfair at the Toronto Waldorf school, and she went to a wonderful new home together with Kerri, whom you will get to meet in the next profile.  

 

Emmi's shoes are sewn from an up-cycled angora sweater and the ties of her shoes are hand-made cords from sock wool.

I hand-dyed the scarf she is wearing in a graduated rainbow pattern. Her hat is a soft alpaca wool with a fun pattern that matches the pattern on her tunic.

Emmi is one of those little girls that is just sweetness personified, yet she is also not shy to tell you what she thinks, a perfect friend.

 

Each doll is made up of the following materials.

Skin: 100% cotton (Swiss-made to Öko-Tex-Standard 100)
Stuffing 100% “green-processed” wool batt from Canada
Hair: 100% Wool, or a Mohair/Wool Blend
Clothing: 100% natural fibres (linen, cotton, silk)
Shoes: Recycled felted wool sweaters, or pure leather
Face: 100% cotton Embroidery Thread

Workmanship:
Each doll is created individually by artist Monika Aebischer, the proprietor of The Olive Sparrow. She sources and uses only the highest quality materials in her creations – swiss-made skin fabric, Canadian green processed wool stuffing,  wool/mohair for the dolls hair (often hand-dyed by her). Hair for the Olive Sparrow Children is made by crocheting a cap that is sewn to the head, allowing for replacement should it ever become necessary (although most children will object to this, as it changes their doll dramatically). For the whispy hair, a special german mohair is used and a labour-intense technique, for the loose longer hair each strand of wool is individually knotted into the crocheted cap. This is the prime technique for doll-wig creation.

Doll clothing is made from up-cycled vintage and clothing fabrics, in either pure linen, cotton or silk. Up-cycled fabric is wonderful for doll clothes, as the cloth has been washed soft, gentle and free of textile manufacturing products. Monika also felts used woolen sweaters to use for doll shoes and clothing. She knits the doll’s hats out of prime quality knitting wool. Each seam on the doll’s body is sewn twice to allow your child to fiercely love their Olive Sparrow Child. Clothing is sewn with French seams and some are fully reversible.