Crocheted Power Nighttime Fairy

The Nighttime Fairy has special powers to settle children before sleep and calm nighttime fears.  According to my daughter, these fairies went to school for special training to help their young charges  All that was missing was a personal fairy, and that was Nana's task.  I gladly accepted the job of making the Nighttime Fairy for my granddaughter.  She had been having trouble falling asleep and felt alone if she awakened during the night.

My go-to pattern for children's dolls is the Weebee Standard Size Baby Doll by Laura Tegg.  the pattern can be located through Pinterest and on Ravelry.com.  The Fairy Mod Kit, also by Laura Tegg, can be found on Ravelry.  I used this latter source for the fairy dress and fairy wings.

The Power Nighttime Fairy has been "performing" for my 4 year old granddaughter.  The fairy was placed in the pocket of a quilted pillow created by my son-in-law's aunt.  The pillow faced my granddaughter from a tall chest as she lay in bed.  She felt peace when she looked up at her doll and slept easily at night.

A few weeks later, we learned that her cousin, my son's 5 1/2 year old daughter was also experiencing similar fears at bedtime.  My daughter shared the story of the Power Nighttime Fairy's success with her sister-in-law.  I offered to make a doll for this young girl, too.  This granddaughter was very excited at the prospect of having her own personal fairy doll.  Her favorite colors of pink and purple were to be reflected in the doll's dress and hair.

When I made the first doll, I was "winging" it when it came to the hair, dress and wings.  She had a purple dress with pink flowers and wild blond hair.  However, when I made the second doll, I used a smaller G hook and worked more tightly. the result was much neater.  Also, the dress pattern by Laura Tegg was just perfect for the new doll. It was pink with purple trim.  In addition, I found it easier to crochet the shoes and panties right into the doll body instead of making them separately and sewing them on.

The blond hair from the original doll was voluminous.  I had used a combination of gold Homespun yarn combined with yellow worsted yarn. Perhaps, I did not leave enough space between the rows,  This time, I used purple Ombre yarn from Red Heart.  The head of hair was full, but more controlled. I especially liked the look of purple hair on the fairy.

Now I had to crochet a sister fairy for my the four year old.  She was happy enough with the original doll, but was happy to accept the more finished fairy to accompany the original.  Besides, this doll had a mane of pink hair.Her dress was purple edged with pink, and delicate white wings peeked out from beneath her hair.  The changes made thedolllook quite fairy=like.

The Power Nighttime Fairy with the pink dress and purple hair will be in the mail tomorrow.  I look forward seeing this granddaughter smile on FaceTime as she cuddles her new companion.

Every project brings learning opportunities.  This time, I included the shoes and panties on the doll body.  I worked on limiting the volume of the doll's hair.  Finally, I have been trying to improve my dolls' embroidered eyes.  After examining many photos of embroidered doll eyes on crocheted dolls, I was able to pick up some hints that make the eyes more lifelike.  The eyes seem to hold the key to the doll's' personality, and so  it was important to me to improve size, color, shape, and texture.  I know that I can give in and buy set-in eyes, but I am determined to accomplish my goal.  

As  always, I welcome your feedback and reflection.  I invite you to join me on my stitching journey.