Katie Smith

Member/Manager, artist

Katie is an artist with experience in ceramics, painting, drawing, miniatures, paper craft, and digital art.
She designs kids' fabric, toys, & dolls.

ABOUT EPPIE PEPPERCORN

THE STORY

Eppie Peppercorn began when I was 12-years-old. My younger sister, age 7, refused to take a bath. Trying to encourage her to stay in the tub, I offered to tell her the adventurous tale of Eppie Peppercorn, the elf who lived in our spice cabinet. Eppie Peppercorn--mischievous and tiny--kept the cabinet tidy and always smelled of cinnamon. Though petite, she was brave, clever and creative. She fought pirates, played with pixies and followed us to school. Each night, at bath time, I would tell another tale of Eppie P. Peppercorn and her companion, Tulip Petal Pearl. The stories I wrote about Eppie Peppercorn are almost twenty-years old, and still treasured by my family.

EPPIE PEPPERCORN DESIGNS

I started designing print-on-demand fabric on Spoonflower.com in 2010, using my stories of Eppie Peppercorn as inspiration, and called my brand Eppie Peppercorn, accordingly. My fabric designs include florals, fruits, kokeshi dolls, cameos, pizza, pirate ships, and always, bright, bold colors.

In 2012, I moved to Germany for 18 months, joining my husband, who was serving in the military. In Germany, I lived the life of an artist, setting up a studio in our lovely attic apartment. I found inspiration in the landscape, the people, and the classic Waldorf toys I saw our neighbor’s children playing with. So, I began making cloth dolls to showcase my fabric designs.

My dolls started out small, so I could print them on letter-sized sheets of cotton fabric through my own printer. When I design a doll, I start first with a sketch of an idea. Then I draft that idea, without a template, using Adobe Illustrator. Next, the challenge comes from taking my flat, 2D idea, printing it, and sewing it into a three-dimensional doll. Usually, I make 5-10 attempts to get the doll’s features and proportions right. My first attempts often look like “fish babies.” Stuffing the fabric doll will stretch eyes and faces out of proportion. Limbs might be too big, or too small, once I've sewn them. If I don't get the desired product in my first try, I go back to the drawing board and repeat the design process.

My doll clothing is custom tailored to the dolls I make. Once I have a finished doll, I design the clothes in a more traditional manner. Using muslin and paper towels, I make a sloper, the basic form of a garment. Then, I adjust for fit and style. After this part, I go back to the computer. I scan my paper towel templates and trace over them digitally in Illustrator. I add my fabric patterns and details, then print out the garment panels onto fabric. Finally, I sew the clothing by hand.
​

DOLLS

Each doll I make for Eppie Peppercorn Designs, LLC has a unique personality.  My child dolls are simple and huggable with sweet faces and fun patterned clothing.  They are meant to be companions—large enough to hold, but still small enough to slip into a backpack or suitcase. My newest fashion dolls encompass a range of styles and tastes.  Some of my dolls are trendy and edgy.  Others are sweet and refined.  Depending on what fabric I use, they are soft and posable, or stiff soft-sculpture and meant for display.
​
My hope for the owners of my dolls is that they bring you joy and maybe spark imagination or conversation as you take in the details of the dolls’ features and clothing.
And perhaps, you may think of tiny Eppie Peppercorn (dressed in a frayed lavender frock, her long brown hair tied in an over-sized pink bow) slowly opening the spice cabinet door, tiptoeing across the kitchen counter, and leaving tiny cinnamon footprints as she treks off to find another adventure.