Need a Hobby?

“Veronika, are you busy?” Charlotte asked.

Veronika looked up from the fabrics she was getting ready to cut. “Do you need something, Charlotte?” she asked. “I was just getting ready to cut some fabrics. I have to fix this rotary cutter first, because it’s set for dolls who are right-handed, but I can take a break and chat, if you like.”

“I do have a question,” Charlotte replied. “Can you explain what a hobby is?”

“It’s something you do for fun,” Veronika said. “Like human people, dolls usually have at least one hobby. It isn’t something you do because you have to but because you like it.”

“You mean like how you like to quilt?” Charlotte asked.

“Yes,” Veronika agreed. “We all have hobbies, like my quilting and how Mandy likes to knit.”

“She’s good at it, too,” Charlotte agreed.

“That’s part of why she thinks it’s fun,” Veronika explained, “although when she finds a mistake, she is unhappy.”

“But she fixes her mistake, and then she’s happy again,” Veronika went on. “It’s fun to solve problems, and it’s fun to work at something that might be hard to do and then get it right.”

“Jolena likes to ski,” Charlotte said. “I guess that’s her hobby.”

“Yes,” Veronika agreed. “She skis and does tricks on her skis. Jolena also likes to dance, and that helps her with the tricks she does on skis.”

“I’ve seen Jolena practicing dance,” Charlotte said.

“Jolena likes to cook, too,” Charlotte pointed out. “Cooking is useful, but I suppose cooking can be a hobby, too.”

“That's right,” Veronika agreed, “and Mariah likes to write.”

“Yes,” agreed Charlotte. “She wrote me that lovely poem for my birthday.” 

“She spent a lot of time thinking about it, too,” Veronika said.

“Billy has found something he likes to do for fun,” Veronika said. “He likes to take photos.”

“Then he likes to use the computer to make the photos look better,” Charlotte agreed, “and I’ve seen him watching lessons  to learn how to take better photos. His photos are very nice to look at. He's getting to be very good at it.”

“I remember,” Charlotte continued, “when I first started trying to play the violin, everyone said it hurt their ears, and they wanted me to stop.”

“I remember that,” Veronika said. “You were discouraged at first, but you kept practicing, and then you got better. Now you even make up your own music to play.”

“So if a hobby is something you do because you think it’s fun,” Charlotte said, “I wonder why Tanya doesn’t like to practice. Tanya is in my violin class. She told me she doesn’t practice, because playing the violin is just a hobby. You can never make money at it. She says it’s a hobby, but she doesn’t seem to like it much.”

Veronika thought for a moment. “Why would someone say that they didn’t want to practice because it’s just a hobby?” she asked. “A hobby is something you do because you like to do it.”

“I wonder,” Charlotte said, “if it’s just an excuse for not practicing. Maybe playing the violin isn’t her hobby at all,” she suggested. “Maybe it’s someone else’s idea of what she should be doing.”

“That’s too bad,” Veronika said. “If she practiced, she might find out that it’s fun. Human children should try different things for hobbies. That way, they find out what they like to do, and sometimes it leads them to a job they like when they grow up, or it starts them on a hobby that they will enjoy in their free time.”

“Human children are usually too busy playing,” suggested Charlotte.

“Charlotte, for human children, play is work,” Veronika explained. “Play is learning and practicing what they will need to be able do when they grow up, but it’s also fun. If children enjoy doing something when they play, they may also enjoy doing it when they grow up. If it’s something they have to do, it’s wonderful if they still enjoy it. Human grownups need to have fun, too.”

“What kinds of hobbies do grownup people like?” Charlotte asked.

“Grownups like the same kinds of things that children like to do for fun,” Veronika said. “They play cards or board games. They play sports or dance. Maybe they build things. They might draw or paint or knit or sew. Many adults like to collect something, like plates or stamps or even…dolls!”

The dolls found that shocking to think about.

“One more thing you should know, Charlotte,” Veronika added. “This is something you can tell Tanya. Some grownups even make money playing the violin, but they have to practice until they’re very good at it.”

Cast--

Veronika: Götz Classic Kidz Vroni

Mandy: Götz Happy Kidz Katie 2015

Jolena: Götz Happy Kidz Lena in Aspen

Charlotte: Götz Happy Kidz Anna in Paris

Mariah: Götz Happy Kidz Mariah, “Chosen” from My Doll Best Friend

Billy: Götz Happy Kidz Lily at London

You can follow The Doll's Storybook here.

Do you have questions or comments for us? Would you like to order an autographed copy of one of our books? You can email us at thedollsstorybook@icloud.com.

Note: No dolls were harmed during production of this blog. All dolls shown are Götz Happy Kidz, Classic Kidz or Little Kidz. If you like these stories and are willing, please make a donation of any amount to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital or any organization that supports pediatric cancer research and treatment. We are not affiliated with St. Jude in any way other than these donations.

“The Doll’s Storybook” is not affiliated with Gotz Dolls USA Inc. or Götz Puppenmanufaktur International GmbH.

Watch for the next story each Friday afternoon at 1:00 PM Pacific Time.

Do you like our stories? Some of them are available in print:

The stories in Mariah: Stories from The Doll’s Storybook are Being Little, Besties and Distraction.

The stories in Emil: Stories from The Doll’s Storybook are Best Buds, Getting What You Want and The Boys Cook Dinner.

The stories in Classic Tales Retold: Stories from The Doll’s Storybook are Little Green Greatcoat, The Boy Doll Who Cried Wolf and Lost in the Woods.

Our book of poems, Our Favorite Verses: Poems from The Doll’s Storybook includes Valentine's Day, Keeping Pets, Back to School, Victor the Vulture, The Week Before Christmas, Insomnia and Veronika's Vocabulary Verses.

The stories in More Classic Tales Retold: Stories from The Doll’s Storybook are Welcoming a Stranger, The Rescue, Unmasked, Fuzzy Town––A Play and Sky Blue.

Available now from BookBaby and other booksellers: Billy: Stories from The Doll’s Storybook. The Stories in Billy: Stories from The Doll’s Storybook are Talking About Boys, Changes, Shhhhh!, Staying After and Money in a Jar.

If you don’t get free shipping from Amazon or B&N, buy from the BookBabyBookshop, because 50% of the price goes to an organization that supports pediatric cancer research and treatment. Other booksellers pay much less, because the vendor gets a cut. The Writer’s author’s page at Book Baby is here. Scroll down and click on any of the books that interest you. Find our books at Barbara’s Bookstore as well, or ask your library to get them for you.

Note: This blog post was produced on the iPad and the MacBook, using the iPhone for some photos and some photo processing. No other computer was used in any stage of composition or posting, and no Windows were opened, waited for, cleaned or broken. No animals or dolls were harmed during the production of this blog post.

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Copyright © 2019, 2026 by Peggy Stuart

Veronika Sews

 On a warm, sunny Saturday, Veronika took a trip with The Writer to an outdoor quilt show. There were quilts hanging all over town. They were hanging outdoors and inside many of the buildings.

Veronika asked to have her picture taken with some of the quilts.

She looked at each one. She was interested in the fabrics the quiltmaker had chosen and the design that person had used.

She especially enjoyed seeing some quilts that were made for children.

At lunchtime, Veronika and The Writer sat in a shady spot in the grass and ate lunch. Well, The Writer ate and Veronika pretended to eat, because she's a doll.

When they had seen all the quilts, they went into the quilt shop. It's a big store that sells fabric and everything else you need to make quilts. The fabric is also good for dresses, and Veronika wanted to pick out some fabric for a new dress.
"I would like this one, please," she said, when she found a pretty blue fabric with scissors all over it. "It looks like something that a quilter would wear."

Veronika picked out a red plaid to go with it, because she wanted to use two fabrics for the dress. (Quilters like to put lots of different fabrics together when they sew.)
She went to the cutting table and told the lady who was cutting fabric how much she wanted. She told the lady she already had thread and hook-and-loop tape for the dress. All she needed was the fabric.

While Veronika watched, the lady cut and folded the fabric neatly. 

Then she handed them to Veronika.  

Another person was taking money and credit cards. The Writer let Veronika use her credit card for the fabric. The lady who took the money had to speak to Veronika several times when she was done with the card. Veronika couldn't stop looking at all the quilts hanging in the shop and all the fabrics everywhere.

A few days later, Veronika was ready to sew. Charlotte found her trying to decide which shoes to wear with her new dress. They talked about the colors, and Charlotte helped Veronika decide.

Charlotte asked if she could watch Veronika sew. She was very interested in how a dress is made. Veronika was happy to have company while she worked, so she offered to teach Charlotte about sewing.
Veronika washed the newbfabric first and put it into the dryer. While the fabric was in the dryer, Veronika showed Charlotte the tools she used for sewing. She showed her the little scissors she uses and her special pincushion.

The pincushion is made from a bottle cap. It's just the right size for a doll. "Pins are very sharp," Veronika said. "You have to be very careful with them."

"We use regular sewing needles when we sew by hand," Veronika explained, "but these are special needles that we use in the machine." 

She took out one of the needles and showed Charlotte the difference between the sewing-machine needle and a hand-sewing needle.

"The machine-sewing needle has a hole right above the point. That hole is called the eye of the needle. You put the thread through the eye. The other end, the thicker part, is where it attaches to the machine. When we sew by hand, we use the other kind of needle. The eye of that needle is at the other end, away from the point." 

"I will be using a special cutter for cutting out the skirt," Veronika said. "The skirt for this dress is a long rectangle, so all the edges are straight. It's faster to cut straight lines with a rotary cutter. It's called a rotary cutter, because the little blade is round, and it cuts as it goes around, as it rotates." Veronika showed Charlotte two tools.

"They look like pizza cutters," Charlotte said.
"They work the same way," Veronika agreed.
Veronika explained that she likes to use the yellow one, because she's left-handed. The handle of the yellow cutter is the same on both sides, so you don't have to move the blade to the other side for left-handed dolls. You just turn it over. 

Most people and dolls are right-handed, which means they write and use scissors with their right hand, but some some people and dolls use their left hand. Veronika uses her left hand, so she is left-handed.

To use a rotary cutter, you need a special mat to cut on. Veronika has one just her size.

You also need a special ruler to guide the rotary cutter as you cut. Veronika has two. They have lines on them that help you know where to cut.

When the fabric was dry, Veronika pressed it on the pressing mat with her little craft iron. She was careful not to get her fingers close to the part of the iron that does the pressing, because it's very hot, and she didn't want to melt her fingers.

Then Veronika showed Charlotte how to cut fabric with the rotary cutter, ruler and mat, being very careful to keep her fingers out of the way of the blade and keeping her weight on the ruler, so it wouldn't slip. She used the rotary cutting tools to cut out the skirt.

She pinned the other pattern pieces onto the fabric and showed Charlotte how to cut them out. Then she let Charlotte cut out some of the pieces, so she could practice cutting fabric.

Veronika threw the tiny scraps into the trash, but she saved any pieces that were as big as the one-inch marks on the pressing mat. "I have plans for these," she said.

Soon they were ready to sew.
"Billy will help," Veronika said. "My feet don't reach the floor, and you will need to be up here with me, if you want to watch."
Billy is always happy to help Veronika sew with the sewing machine. He thinks machines are fun.

Veronika will tell Billy "Go," and "Stop."
Billy knows it's important to pay attention, because the machine has to stop when Veronika wants it to. It makes him feel important to help Veronika with something she can't do for herself, and he feels good that he can do this job well.
Veronika turned on the machine, and Billy helped her run the machine to wind a bobbin. The bobbin holds the thread that comes up from underneath. Billy held down the foot pedal until Veronika said, "Stop." They filled one bobbin with red thread and one with blue, because they would need them both.

Then Veronika took the bobbin with blue thread and put it into the little space for it underneath. "You see," she explained, "the machine takes the thread from the spool on top and the thread from the bobbin underneath."

"The machine wraps the threads around each other where the needle goes into the cloth to make a stitch," Veronika explained. "That makes the seam that holds the fabric together." She showed Charlotte on two pieces of scrap cloth she had sewn together. She folded it so they could see both sides.

"It's very different from hand-sewing," Veronika went on. "Hand-sewing uses only one thread. It goes over the top, then underneath and back up again." She showed Charlotte what she meant.

When the machine was ready to sew, Veronika picked up two pieces they had cut out. "This is for the top of the dress. We call this the bodice (baw-diss), and this is the bodice lining," she explained. She matched up the edges of the front and back at one shoulder of the bodice. Then she sewed while Charlotte watched, and Billy worked the foot pedal. 

Then Veronika let Charlotte have a turn. Charlotte sewed the shoulders of the pieces that were supposed to line the bodice. Charlotte told Billy, "Go," and "stop."

The front of the sash was a folded strip of the red fabric. Veronika used basting (BAY-sting) stitches to attach it to the front of the bodice at the waist. She told Charlotte that basting stitches are big stitches she will take out later. Veronika let Charlotte take the blue bobbin and the blue thread out of the sewing machine. She watched while Charlotte put in the red bobbin and threaded the needle.

Veronika took the two long strips of red fabric she had cut for the sash and finished the edges. After that, she sewed the two pieces of the collar together. She trimmed the edges, turned the collar to the right side and pressed it with her craft iron. Then Charlotte took out the red thread and put the blue bobbin and thread back into the machine. She could do it by herself now.

When the thread was changed, Veronika sewed the neck and back of the bodice with the collar between the two pieces. Then she sewed the red border onto the skirt. "Now we will use a zigzag stitch," Veronika said. "It's one of the special stitches the machine can make. The zigzag stitches look like this." She showed Charlotte some fabric she had sewn together with red thread using the zigzag stitch.

Veronika finished the edges of the seam with the zigzag stitch. "This is so we don't have a lot of loose threads along the cut edges of the fabric on the inside of the dress," she explained. "It keeps the inside tidy."

Then she made two lines of the big basting stitches along the top, where she wanted the skirt to be gathered. "We use basting stitches," she explained, "because they are loose and easy to pull on to gather the fabric, and because we're going to take them out later."

When she finished making the basting stitches, she took the two bottom threads that came from the bobbin and pulled on both of them together. This made the fabric gather. She did this at each end, instead of just one end, so the gathers would meet in the middle of the skirt, and the thread wouldn't come out at one end.

Veronika did the same thing to gather the sleeves at the top and the bottom. Then she used a lot of pins to hold the top of the sleeve to the sleeve opening on the bodice. She sewed carefully, pulling out the pins as she came to them. Next, Veronika pinned the cuff onto the bottom of the sleeves and sewed it on carefully. She pinned the sash pieces in place and sewed up the sides of the bodice and the sleeve. 
Veronika used a lot of pins to fasten the bodice to the skirt, and then she sewed them together. She was very careful as she sewed over the pins. Charlotte only watched all of this, because this part is harder to do. This is what it looked like when she was done.

Veronika finished all the edges inside the dress with the special zigzag stitch. She showed Charlotte the inside of the dress, so she could see what the finished edges looked like.

Then she used some red thread to sew the inside of the cuff to the inside of the sleeve. She used a regular hand-sewing needle for this, and Charlotte watched how she made the stitches. Veronika made each one so it didn't show.

After she sewed the hook-and-loop tape onto the back of the dress, Veronika pressed it, and it was ready to wear. The girls thanked Billy for his help, and he went off to play. Charlotte helped Veronika put the dress on in front of the mirror.

"I think this dress is very flattering, Veronika," Charlotte said as they looked in the mirror.

"I think it would look good on you, too," Veronika said.

"Let's make mine in pink!" Charlotte exclaimed.

"I think you should get to pick out your own fabric for your dress, Charlotte," Veronika agreed. "We should go to the fabric store. Billy wants me to show him how to make some pants for hot weather. He can go, too." 

Veronika changed back into her play clothes and hung up the dress.

"You only used half of the fabric," Charlotte said. "It looks as if you might have enough for another dress."

"I have other plans for it," Veronika said, nodding. "I'm saving fabric for a quilt. I can even use the little pieces we didn't throw away. The quilt show gave me lots of ideas!"
"That sounds like fun," Charlotte sighed.
"Let's do it together!" Veronika exclaimed.

Cast--
Veronika: Götz Classic Kidz Vroni
Charlotte: Götz Happy Kidz Anna in Paris
Billy: Götz Happy Kidz Lily at London

Here's how to make a pincushion like Veronika's. You can make it so it fits on your finger with a piece of elastic, or you can leave off the elastic, and the dolls can use it. Remember to be careful with the pins!

A special thanks to The Stitchin' Post in Sisters, Oregon, for cooperating with our photo shoot.

You can follow The Doll's Storybook here.

Do you have questions or comments for us? Would you like to order an autographed copy of one of our books? You can email us at thedollsstorybook@icloud.com.

Note: No dolls were harmed during production of this blog. All dolls shown are Götz Happy Kidz, Classic Kidz or Little Kidz. If you like these stories and are willing, please make a donation of any amount to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital or any organization that supports pediatric cancer research and treatment. We are not affiliated with St. Jude in any way other than these donations.

"The Doll's Storybook" is not affiliated with Gotz Dolls USA Inc. or Götz Puppenmanufaktur International GmbH.
Watch for the next story each Friday afternoon at 1:00 PM Pacific Time.

Mariah: Stories from The Doll's Storybook, Emil: Stories from The Doll's Storybook, Classic Tales Retold: Stories from The Doll's Storybook and Our Favorite Verses: Poems from The Doll's Storybook are available from BookBaby and other booksellers worldwide, such as Amazon and Barnes & Noble. 

Author's page on Amazon. 

Royalties (net proceeds) go to support pediatric cancer research and treatment. If you don't get free shipping elsewhere, buy from Book Baby. Half of the price goes to charity (specific information available upon request). Autographed copies of all three books are available from the author. (Multiple books to the same address have a discount on shipping.) To inquire, email thedollsstorybook@icloud.com.

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Copyright © 2019, 2024 by Peggy Stuart