Using wool to knit clothes for dolls, people to middle-aged "weaving dreamers"

Jimu news reporter Lin Chuhan

How many songs to hum, how many CDs to buy is to chase stars? These are all OUT. Now it is popular to buy idols with the same doll, fans will give the doll makeup, dress up, and travel will also take it. One of these dolls is a cotton doll, a doll made of polyester in the outer skin and filled with cotton inside, with a height of about 10-20 cm. This doll, which originated in South Korea, entered China around 2017 and became quietly popular among young people because of its cute shape and soft and cute image.

Jiang Suhua (pseudonym), who lives in Wuhan, although he is more than 40 years old, has always lived in his heart with a "little girl". Since last year, she has been using various kinds of woolen thread to weave clothes for the cotton dolls collected at home, and various clothes have been molded under her skillful hands with strappy pants, vests, skirts, and various clothes. Dressing up dolls has become her biggest hobby in her spare time, and she will also post her own small clothes on social platforms to communicate and share with netizens, and has been loved by many netizens. On April 6, Jimu News reporter interviewed Jiang Suhua and walked into her "doll world".

Since childhood, he has been a master craftsman

When the reporter first added Jiang Suhua's WeChat, he found that her head was a painting of a flower pattern made of plasticine, and her WeChat name was also called "Duo", Jiang Suhua told reporters, "My daughter's nickname is Duoduo, this is a painting created by my daughter when she was a child, and I use this avatar until today."

"You see, this is the new dress I made for the doll, does it look good?" I saw a cotton doll the size of an adult's palm, wearing a hooded coffee-colored sweater strappy pants similar to a real person. The little doll also wears a red beanie hat on her head and carries a red satchel, which looks very energetic and cute.

While interviewing, Jiang Suhua fiddled with the cotton doll in her hand, and before the interview, she claimed to have the attribute of "social terror", and when she talked about the doll, she was completely like a changed person, talking about it.

Jiang Suhua, who has a quiet personality, likes to make some small gadgets by hand since he was a child, "I like to embroider some handkerchiefs and the like since I was a child, and the handicraft class in the primary school is always a place where I show my skills, and my handmade works in the class are always praised by the teacher." In this way, Jiang Suhua, who has always loved handicrafts, has continued this hobby and interest to the present. Later, work, marriage, having children... Jiang Suhua's life, like most people, lives a stable and quiet life, and she has also extended her hobby of handmade to the family. "The birth of my daughter has further stimulated my interest in doing crafts. When my daughter was a child, I picked up the "craft" of knitting sweaters again and began to knit all kinds of small clothes and skirts for her, a habit that continued until she went to junior high school. ”

And whenever my daughter put on the clothes that Jiang Suhua personally knitted, she always proudly told the classmates, "This is the 'warm brand' clothes made by my mother herself, which is unique in the world!" My daughter's gloves, hats, and even headphone covers, card sleeves, etc. are all woven by Jiang Suhua himself, "Whenever I sit alone and slowly make fabrics from wool, I feel very calm inside, and when I see my daughter can wear the clothes I made by myself, there is a heartfelt sense of happiness." ”

"Maybe I have a designer's dream in my heart!"

If jiang suhua was more like a "duoduo mother" when her daughter was young, now Jiang Suhua wants to be herself more and more after her daughter is older. When asked why he still likes dolls at this age, Jiang Suhua smiled embarrassedly, "When I was a child, the conditions at home were not allowed, there were no dolls to play, and now when I see this kind of cotton doll, I think they are so cute." I think age is not a problem, the important thing is actually the mentality, young people will also be old-fashioned, middle-aged people can also be childlike. As long as it is a positive and healthy hobby, there is nothing that cannot be done, and age should not be a limit. ”

After accidentally touching the cotton doll two years ago, Jiang Suhua was unable to receive anything. Now she has collected more than 10 cotton dolls. Buying cotton dolls good-looking, fit, and good-quality clothes is not a particularly easy task. "Some of the expensive quality you buy online is not necessarily good, and it doesn't necessarily meet your needs."

Remembering the experience of making clothes for her daughter before, she began to try to make clothes for "cotton dolls" herself.

The first outfit Jiang Suhua designed for her cotton doll was a red jumpsuit, and she also gave the dress a cute name, "One-piece fat pants", "The pants are particularly fitting, and I also knit a deer antler beanie hat of the same color."

In addition to jumpsuits, suspender pants, small skirts with small lace, doll shirts, sweaters... With the continuous improvement of weaving, Jiang Suhua has woven more and more doll clothes in her hands, and she will also weave hats, small backpacks, small socks, small shoes, etc. of the same color, and dress up the cotton dolls at home more and more "fashionable".

"This doll dress sells for almost one or two hundred yuan outside, and it is much cheaper if I make it myself." I can now knit a piece of clothing in almost a few hours and design them according to the seasons. Maybe I still have a designer's dream in my heart! Jiang Suhua exclaimed.

"Handmade fabrics incorporate the attitude and love of craftsmen for life"

After dressing up these dolls, Jiang Suhua will also put them in a good shape to take pictures and upload them to the Internet, and the cotton dolls dressed in exquisite small clothes will "appear" on the Internet, which will arouse the love of many netizens, and even someone will send a private message to Jiang Suhua, hoping that she can open a shop to sell, but they are all rejected by Jiang Suhua, "I usually have to go to work, there is no time to take orders, but if my friends around me need it, I can knit it for free and give it to them." ”

The street-side wool shops that parents remember as familiar seem to have fallen out of the attention of young people. However, Jiang Suhua found that it is not that young people do not like to knit sweaters by hand, but that fewer and fewer people know this craft. "Whether it is hand-knitted clothes or ornaments, in fact, it is more of an attitude and love of craftsmen to life."

Jiang Suhua not only has a good hand at woolen thread, the most admirable point is that she likes to sink down and study and ponder, "Now that online social media is more and more developed, many new weaving methods and patterns can be found on the Internet for relevant tutorials and learning - very convenient." Listening to soothing music, making a cup of strong coffee, and picking up the wool ball in his hand and starting to knit it, for Jiang Suhua, this may be the best state of the years. Jiang Suhua said, "I hope that more young people like to do their own handicrafts, in this era when everything pays attention to 'fast and fast', it can bring you calm and soothing, very decompressing." I hope that our team of 'handmade people' is getting bigger and bigger! ”

(Photo courtesy of respondents)