Meet Awhina, a beautiful handcrafted heirloom doll from Zealous Design, created with love, care and attention to detail. Brenda of Zealous Design has been a doll maker for over six years, and has been sewing all her life. Each doll she makes has hours and hours of her time and love sewn into them as they come to life.
When Snells Beach sewing aficionado Brenda Howson of Zealous Design was a child she had a precious big rag doll that she loved to pieces. Now she makes beautiful handcrafted dolls and soft toy animals so that a new generation of Kiwi kids can love a unique doll that’s made with care and love.
This adorable one of a kind, handmade cat doll from Saskia’s Studio is named Maggie – and she has a sweet little kitten that she carries around in a baby sling. Great for encouraging imaginary play, this duo are lovely to cuddle and hold
Wellington crocheter and doll maker Tillybird is committed to expressing diversity in her dolls…
Khadil dolls represent our inner spirit and are here to remind us that beauty and joy come from within…
This sweet wee country garden rose dress with a reversible bolero from Buttercup Babyz is made from crisp poplin and is sized for 0-6 months. What a cute outfit for spring walks!
Mindful making: the Christchurch woman who makes dolls to inspire inner strength
Hilary Tapper-Zakheim creates her inspiring, eco-friendly Khadil dolls with a hand-powered sewing machine in her Christchurch workroom. She uses handwoven cotton, woven by empowered village women in India, and other natural materials to create dolls that celebrate natural beauty, wholesomeness, inner strength, and handmade, conscious living.
Woven into every fibre of this doll’s cloth is the heart and consciousness of an empowered woman weaver in India. Conscious Cottage dolls are made with handwoven cloth, special because no two pieces are the same. They are designed and hand stitched together by Hilary in New Zealand…
Dollmaker Claire Leblond is the maker behind the range of quirky, unique cloth dolls she fondly calls “Susie Dolls”, after her sister Sue. Each doll is one of a kind, made out of a combination of soft cotton, vintage embroidery and upcycled fabrics, and Claire also breathes new life into vintage dolls clothes. She works out of a slightly chaotic studio in her home in Birkenhead, Auckland, with a dog at her feet, music blaring, copious amounts of coffee, and two…