Soft Toy Pattern Review: Whale by DIY Fluffies

I was keeping a covetous eye on the soft toy patterns by DIY Fluffies on etsy for a while, and it was the Zombie Bear that finally spurred me into action. But since I was buying, I got a bundle of 3 patterns to "save money". The others were the whale and the elephant.

Mariska's patterns are beautifully set out with adorable illustrations. The whale is pretty straightforward in theory, but curvy, so a bit tricky. The recommended skill level is intermediate, and I would agree. Experience with clipping curved seams will help a lot.

Seam allowances are not included, which is not the best arrangement for me, as my skill at adding them in evenly is not great (the fins are most notably quite different sizes on mine!).

My eco-whale is made from an unwanted tie-dyed apron project that a student left behind at school to be thrown in the bin. The stuffing is a mix of Innergreen's corn fibre fill and fabric scraps, including the left-over apron. I'm finding that as long as you keep the ball of scraps in the centre and surround it with the regular fill, the cuddliness is not impaired (especially on a very round bosy like this one).

I love the shape of this whale, especially the curve up of the tail. Also, the shape at the front reminds me of a soft toy whale I had as a kid. He was yellow and white fur fabric and we got him at a school fete jumble sale. His name was Belly Whale. I feel like there was this period in my life when I let having no space to store soft toys get in the way of my love for them. I miss Belly Whale, and many others who went off to Vinnies. I hope they are still being loved somewhere.

Soft Toy Pattern Review: Naked Frog

 
Well, at the moment it is naked. And in the magazine it is called either "swimsuit frog" or "ballet frog" depending which version you make, so mine is clearly currently "naked frog".

The one on the right is a backpack. Apparently it's ok to be naked if you are a backpack.

It's the Australian Women's Weekly "Handmade" from November/December 1998.

I picked it up at an op-shop, drawn in by the Christmas delights it promised, but it was the frogs that sold me. 50 cents well spent.

So, with a need to motivate myself back into craft after my trip, and with miles of pale green fleece left over from the elephant, I got to it.

The pieces were confusing at first, and covered with markings that I largely ignored, but it came together pretty easily. Probably the only tricky bit was sewing the front and back together with those GIGANTIC and already stuffed legs attached and having to be kept inside and not caught in the seam. I basically had to squeeze them through the opening as I sewed. The instructions said, about leaving the opening for turning: You will need to pull the Legs out through this opening, so don't make it too small. What they needed to say was: Basically hardly sew any of this seam.

Want to know what a frog looks like without eyes? This is it.

I was tempted to skip the rather complicated-looking eye sockets and just make some googly eyes, but I had already cut out the pieces, so I gave them a go.

Worth it. I left off the embroidered smile, as its head/chin seam was already very smile-like and subtle.

So now we come to the issue. How am I going to dress it? The limb-to-body joins aren't very elegant and in any case my legs aren't in the same place on the body, so something's got to cover that all up.

I like the old-fashioned swimsuit idea, it reminds me of a Frog and Toad story, but I think I'd like to try something different.

 

What outfit should my little frog wear?

An Elephant

I've mentioned Abby Glassenburg a lot, because she has a fabulous blog full of many great things, particularly advice on learning to design your own soft toys. She also sells her soft toy patterns and I've had my eye particularly on the Lovey Doveys for a while.

I told myself rather firmly that I couldn't buy this pattern unless I had a target in mind, and I just don't know anyone with a new baby at the moment!! Then one evening my lovely husband says "My cousin has had her baby." I practically burst with joy. "CAN I MAKE A PRESENT???"

So anyway, I have. The elephant lovey dovey is from Abby's 2nd Edition pattern which includes an elephant, pig, owl and penguin. You can get it from Etsy or Craftsy. (I went with the latter, because you get the pattern immediately rather than waiting for it to be emailed to you. Not that I was in a rush really I just thought that was cool.)

Here it is with some other babies - my little veggie garden. Hmm... something has been eating that lettuce.

It was very hard to get the little tike to sit up for a photo, not having a proper body and all. This was, I feel, an elegant solution.

Soft Toy Design - Polar Bear versions 1 and 2

Inspired to experiment with soft toy design (a bit of a childhood dream), I started with getting a bit of practise and experience by sewing up some from patterns, including the Hedgehog and Puppy, and the Zombie Bear. My only recent attempt to make my own was the compost creature, who was a bit of an easy project in the sense that it was supposed to look like a pile of rubbish!

No offense intended, compost creature.

So for the next chapter, we start at school. I've been teaching Year 7 technology this year as well as maths. For the first 3 terms I taught the projects I was given, an electronic skills tester and wind chimes, but for term 4 I felt like getting out of the workshop, doing some textiles, and incorporating a teensy bit more design into the project. Since I wanted to explore soft toy design, I decided we'd explore together.

I've decided on a polar bear because we'll be providing the kids with plain calico, and I wanted to show them something in a white/cream colour to show that you can do a lot with calico.

After much sketching, here's my basic "2D" polar bear pattern shape:

I wanted to develop the pattern from simple to more complex to show the different options to the students.

Ok so I didn't clip my curves and corners, but it's a good start. I'm happy with the overall shape I drew, but I think maybe the legs and head could be fatter. But I want to add an underbody gusset anyway so I'll see how it looks once that is in. I'm following the lesson on Elements of Soft Toy Design on WhileSheNaps for this, if you want to get more detail on what I'm doing.

She says that it's a process, and designs usually need some adjusting. Glad to hear it! Mine sure does.

Apart from failing to sew on my lines properly (always a problem), I'd adjust a few things. I think my underbody gusset comes up too high for his little legs, especially at the back. I also think the foot shape needs to be rounded out a bit, as does the face.

His legs at the front have turned out well. Next step, a head gusset to round out that cute little face!

Soft toy rises from the dead

I'm back! Still a bit sick. What a shocker of a week! But at least there was surprise spring snow.

I have managed to get one crafty thing done this weekend, thank goodness. It feels like a week has just been sucked out of my life. I made a Zombie Bear!

Zombie Bear was undoubtedly sparked into life by the crashing of this huge branch down onto his little Soft Toy grave in the back yard.

He is from a pattern by DIY Fluffies and he is pretty awesome. It was a good pattern with instructions that were mostly clear (a few little bits could be improved but overall ok). The skill level was listed as Intermediate and I would agree. The instructions assume you have sewing experience already and don't take you through the steps in detail. Lots of fiddly little bits to sew on (eyes, nose mouth, scars, patch stitches etc) but for once I was sensible and did as much as I could by machine so he was still all done in one day (and I slept in!).

His intestines are completely removable!

He is a bit of a Frankenstein's monster as well as a zombie, made of the remnants of many past and discarded craft projects.

His back is a little plain. I think if I made him again I might make a few small changes to the construction and maybe add some more to his back. Overall I'm very happy with this pattern and project. Luckily I bought 2 more of her patterns so there is lots of fun yet to come!

Hat Makeovers - Meet the contestants

I wanted to post once a day in October to keep myself motivated, but then last night a cold hit me again, so today I've done nothing.

So I'm going to talk about some plans. I love planning when I'm too sick or lazy to do real stuff. Actually I have done a bit of this already, but I feel too sick even to try to take photos of stuff.

I've been dabbling in millinery, mostly costume, for some years now, and I love some of the stuff I've made. Other things, not so much. And they sit around my house taking up space because they took up time and effort and I don't want to get rid of them. So it's time for some makeovers. I'm going to re-imagine these hats in an attempt to make them wearable, in the hope that someone will want them and I can finally get rid of them. Here are some of the candidates:

These first two, I've actually already had a go at, and you'll see the results soon:

These ones are definite contenders:

These ones I am not sure of. They may or may not fall under the knife:

That's just the ones I could find photos of. There may be more. Maybe some of my bought hats as well.

Sheet to Petticoat

Two weeks from now I was supposed to be going to a Victorian-themed event. I wanted to make a new outfit, a riding habit that I've longed to have for years. Due mainly to the wedding, I was very behind and not going to have my new outfit. But now the event has been postponed.

Which is a good thing, because all I've managed to make is a petticoat! From a $3 double flat sheet courtesy of a Bathurst op-shop, I now have a natural form petticoat (a Truly Victorian pattern) and some fabric left over! Nice.

A bit of ironing and removing gathering stitches left to go, but it's basically finished.

Halloween Finger Puppet Greeting Cards

I've been making some cards - something I haven't done for a while. I've been playing with the idea of cards with finger puppets, and since I was exploring Halloween ideas, I started with some Halloweeny ones.

I started with some owls. One of the big issues I had was coming up with how to attach the puppet to the card. Eventually I found these sticky puffy tab things in a card-making kit (you know the things that make the bits on the card stick out? Those. Turns out I had some) but I experimented with many other ideas, including paddle-pop sticks, as with this fat owl and his fence:

He is so fat.

Happy with the owls, I tried a pumpkin-headed man and a kid dressed as a devil.

I think in future I would do him either as just a jack-o-lantern without a body, or as a proper pumpkin-headed man with some arms. He looks a bit funny this way.

Poor devil kid's face. I didn't want to go to the effort of sewing on eyes and a mouth (especially the mouth) so I tested fabric pens. Unfortunately I tested them on one felt then used them on another, and it spread more on the face fabric. Oh well. He doesn't seem to mind.

I don't think the pictures I used are copyright free (they were from a Dover sampler but not from a clip-art book so probably not ok) so I can't try to sell them (plus apart from owl number one they all have issues, plus who buys Halloween greeting cards, plus who in Australia buys Halloween greeting cards...). I'll be giving these away to any of my friends who has someone to give them to. Then we can see if the puppet-card idea is a good one.

Also, this week's fabric of the week contest at Spoonflower is Zombie Plush Toys. Worth a look and a vote.

Making a Trapezium Puppet

You can check out my Teaching Blog for the "Why" of this project, and here I'll stick to the how and showing off the results.

Firstly, for some inspiration from the highest expert, watch Jim Henson talk about designing simple puppets. I also checked out the galleries at Project Puppet and the work of Australian puppet-maker PuppetOODle for ideas about the look, particularly the eyes. This HowStuffWorks article was also great although I haven't used much of that information in this project.

Here is my trapezium puppet in all his glory:

The good:

• Making the trapezium shape in 3D was very easy. I cut two of my trapezium shape and a long thin rectangle to go all around the outside between the two trapeziums. Thanks to looking up how exactly to clip corners he has a good crisp shape that I'm happy with.
• The eyes are slightly-squished table-tennis balls painted and with glued-on felt eyelids and I'm pretty happy with those, and the button I found for his nose.

The bad:

• I struggled from the start with the idea of adapting a sock-style puppet to something with a flat face. I think in future it might actually be better to give the shapes a more 3D, face-like face, if that makes any sense.
• I sort of sewed a sock-like structure for the hand onto the back of the mouth, and it left me with lips, which I wasn't planning on or keen on. It works ok but was a pain and is quite unfinished.
• I was getting more and more unhappy with him as I went so his face is hot-glue-gunned on and you can tell!

I'm pretty unhappy with him really but if I remind myself that he is a first go, a kind of test of the idea then I feel better. And the kids liked him, so I guess that's what matters.

Mr. Monk doesn't seem to mind him either, but Mr. Trapezium looks a little shocked at this strange creature sleeping next to him.

Gertie's New Book for Better Sewing - a review

As a fan of vintage patterns, I love Gertie's New Blog for Better Sewing. She started it to sew through all the items in the Vogue New Book for Better Sewing, and now it has quite a following.
Such a cool idea generally, so I'd have read it even if it lacked a certain something, but I also like her writing style. I was a little dubious about getting the book though.
Firstly, I own many sewing books, and there is only so much information you need on how to sew darts or alter patterns.  But this one promised to have information on applying vintage, couture-style techniques as well, and dealing with vintage patterns, and while my Threads sewing book  has some of that, I was anticipating that her approach might be more interesting. Then, of course, there is the fact that I was worried that her voice might be muted or changed when official editors and publishers had become involved.
And thirdly, the last sewing book I bought was disappointing.  The Colette Sewing Handbook was less awesome than I'd hoped. I bought it mainly for one chapter that people online were talking about and saying how great it was - the chapter on 'A Thoughtful Plan'. Unfortunately this chapter was 9 pages of information that kept to very surface issues, in my opinion.

This one, however, looks like a keeper. The production values are high, the tone of the text is just like reading the blog, explanations are good, her discussion of vintage versus modern reissues for patterns is excellent, the patterns themselves are not only appealing but go up to a size that fits me, and she has some great advice about vintage sizing and fitting generally, such as using your high bust measurement to choose pattern sizing.  She has chosen to make the patterns she's included go bigger in the hips than conventional pattern sizings, which is annoying for me as that is not an area where I have an issue. I am not a pear. Despite this, I'm definitely going to use some of these in my next round of project dreaming. And I think I'll be turning to this often. 

Spiralling Pumpkins

So the pumpkin pattern required a piece of fabric twice as long as it is wide, and I cut the tea towel to the right proportions. This left me with a discarded strip. So I cut that to the correct proportion. Which left me with another strip. Repeat. Then it was too small. Which is good, because it was starting to feel more like a lesson on the golden ratio or Fibonacci sequence than craft. Not that things can't be both.

Anyway, all this gives me a family of pumpkins! 3 little pumpkins, just like the ones we had as kids. Which makes me the littlest pumpkin :)

Compost Creature

Through a combination of being really excited about getting a compost bin and having my mind filled with ideas while reading Abby Glasenburg's series Elements of Soft Toy Design (beginning with this post), I decided to make a compost monster.

Originally I planned him to be pom-pom style - just a bunch of fabric sewn together, but in the end he has a solid body and some legs, which I think has turned out nicely.

Drawing a pattern for an apple core was quite weird and unusual, but I like that bit the best.

I had to include some celery. I always hated how much of the celery I would end up throwing out, but now it is a joy knowing it is all going to become soil for my future veggie garden.

As you can see we had quite a little photo shoot. Here he/she is - Master of the compost bin.

I'm gonna go buy more celery.

A Small Scale Beginning

Getting back into regular crafting there is a huge list of things I want to try. One of them is hobby horses, and I have begun playing around with patterns and ideas but it's a pretty big project and hasn't gotten very far yet.

So for the moment, I have made a tiny hobby horse Christmas tree ornament, to at least give me some feelings of hobby-horse-related joy.

Pinterest Progress - Pumpkin

I pinned this fabric pumkpin tutorial that was adapted from a Martha Stewart magazine tutorial or something. I mostly only pinned it because I wanted a pumpkin to write "boo" in buttons on, like another pin.

I went searching for the right fabric in my stash and all this laundry was in the way! Then I looked at the laundry, looked at the old tea towel with the spots in one corner, and my problem was solved!
So I turned this:

Into this:

Of course now it is too small and maybe too bumpy for the original idea.

This was a very detailed tutorial. She explains as though you have close to zero sewing experience, which is pretty awesome, because it is easy to skim over bits you already know, compared to having too-vague tutorials that leave you confused mid-project.

It was pretty simple to make but not as neat as I like things to be ideally, and I can see why Martha originally used thread to create the shape, because I used string and it was really difficult. The tutorial used knitting wool but I don't have any, short of taking apart my "Wrap with Love" monstrosity. I tried ribbon first and failed completely at that.

I think I'll give it another go because I did find some other possible fabrics, but I'd also like to find another pumpkin pattern to try.

Free soft toy patterns

In my childhood, I collected soft toys. Initially by accident, later on purpose. And I also began dreaming of designing my own one day. I made a few from kits (successfully) and a couple of my own design (far less successfully).

Contemplating returning to this dream, I thought I should start again at making before designing, so I looked for free patterns. So far I have tried two.

Found this Woman' s Day pattern and it looked super easy and pretty cute. I actually found it quite difficult because it was so tiny. But I like his quirky charm and button eyes.

Silver Seams has this fantastic hedgehog pattern, among other open source patterns and instructions. I'd like to make the Teddy Pig too. And maybe a balloon dog. What a weird and awesome idea. Anyway his snout seems a bit thin and he looks very different with a non-fur front, but I'm pretty fond of Hedgie.

An enjoyable start, but as my soft-toy-hoarding days are over, I now have to work out what to do with them!