What can you say of a stay-at-home-mom, who despite tending to her six children and looking after the housework, finds time to create unbelievable crochet dolls? Incredible, to say the least. This amazing lady is Nathalie Amiel from Israel.
From her early days, Nathalie has been crocheting, knitting and crafting. The idea of creating Nathalie’s dolls struck her three years back and, till date, she has made hundreds of adorable dolls. Her wonderful craft would’ve remained undiscovered, had it not been for her son.
Says Natalie, “I had no clue and no idea what to do (to promote my dolls), so my son showed me how to post pictures (on the internet) so people would start seeing the things I make.” The rest, as they say, is history.
Creating these dolls isn’t easy. Natalie has to choose her fabrics and other materials carefully to ensure quality and durability. It takes her a minimum of 12 hours to complete one doll, not to mention miles of yarn. The attention to the smallest details and the care and warmth she bestows on her products is what makes them stand out.
However, the best part is Nathalie also reaches out to children with special needs through her lookalike dolls. For example, she made a doll with a breathing mask for a little girl afflicted with a tracheotomy that resembled her actual mask. Such readily identify with lookalike dolls and it becomes their lifelong prized possession, long after they’ve recovered from their ailments.
Nathalie explains, “I do like creating the dolls for children with special needs more than anything because I know how much it’ll mean to those children to have a doll that looks like them.” Nathalie enjoys a following of over 85,000 fans on Instagram.