Miniature Felt Napoleon Hat

I recently joined a little 'club' called "Six Months of Softies". Basically it's six soft toy patterns from six different designers, but they are new exclusive surprise patterns revealed and delivered once a month for six months, so it's exciting too! I'm a sucker for soft toys, what can I say? (Read about it here, if you are interested.)

The first pattern is from Shiny Happy World, where Wendi Gratz designs patterns specifically for beginners and also has a heap of video tutorials to go with her patterns. So when reading through the pattern, there will be links to videos as you might need them. You can ignore the stuff you already know, and check out the video for extra help on stuff you aren't good at or familiar with. I've picked up some good tips. I also love the way she writes. Cute little comments lie among the instructions to give you a little laugh.

The pattern is an elephant and a mouse, called Napoleon and Josephine. I've actually mostly made the elephant, but I need more stuffing, so I'll show you that one later. For now, I have the mouse.

As you can see, I decided to give him a little hat.

Want to make your own little felt bicorne for your mouse or another little toy?

It's super easy to make. Slightly more tricky to place, depending on the ears of your toy! Here's how:

1. Start with a circle of felt that is a suitable size for your toy. The diameter should be "shoulder width" or wider for a more exaggerated look. (I say "shoulder width" in inverted commas because often toys have no shoulders. This mouse doesn't even have arms.) Basically there will be two folds in the circle, making two segments slightly smaller than a semi-circle for the sides, and a narrow strip in the middle. Kind of like a stand-and-stuff taco.

2. Fold into taco shape, and pinch the sides in and fold them down a bit. Now, I had a go at actually steaming mine to help it keep that shape. I used a cheap craft felt from my stash, so it was only moderately successful, but it might be worth it, especially if you are making a larger hat. You can see my improvised blocking set up in these pictures.

I knew I was keeping that oversized novelty Christmas pencil for a reason.

Just like a taco!

If you haven't steamed any felt before, the idea is to hold it in steam and shape it when the steam has made it a bit more pliable, then keep it in place. Holding it above a kettle is the easiest way.

3. Embellish. I went with a little button and the edges of some wire-edged ribbon in gold and red. Google up some Napoleon pictures for plenty of ideas. Some paintings seemed to have a gold trim, others just a little cockade. Whatever you fancy. Googling other bicorne hats (or chapeau bras) will give you other embellishment ideas.

4. If necessary, also put a stitch in on the other side to hold the shape.

5. Attaching is a variable process depending on your toy. For the mouse here, I used a ladder-whip-mutant stitch to attach it behind one ear, across the top of the head, and in front of the other ear. Wiggling and squishing was required.

6. Celebrate with some fresh banana bread.

Step 6 is the best!

Now... who else can I put a little hat on?

Wardrobe planning, continued - A Matter of Defining my Style

In a previous post, I talked about how I was trying to restructure my wardrobe in line with function - so deciding how much of my day I spent doing what, and how that should be reflected in my wardrobe. While that approach is very useful, especially as a way to see what areas you really don't need any more items of clothing, it does have limitations. Rather obviously, knowing that you need more 'work formal/dressy' clothes, as I have realised I will, doesn't help if you don't know what clothes fall in this category. And while I could default to my jeans/t-shirt combination for everyday casual, with cardigans/sweaters added for cold days, I've been working on changing this for the past year. (As it happens, the job I got as a 'normal', non-academic job is in retail, where I'm still allowed to wear jeans, and have uniform shirts, so no thinking is required for work clothes. This lets me concentrate on my everyday outfits. )

These questions are a matter of style.  What clothes do I want to wear? What sort of image do I want to project?

Confession time: I can't help myself. I'm addicted to style help books. If a book promises to tell you just what clothes will suit, or just what every woman needs in her wardrobe, or just how to get the most out of what you own - I can't resist. I have read so many blogs, websites, magazine articles and books on the topic. Yet I was still having trouble articulating my style. One book I read said that you should be able to encapsulate your style in a sentence; another said in three words. This gives me flashbacks to working on the thesis - sum up your thesis in three sentences! One sentence it is.

The big tension for me as far as style is between casual and ladylike. I like both. This happens in everything in my life - interior decoration, art styles, house types that I drool over. Part of me wants a big bleached pine table, part of me wants an elegant tea trolley. Part of me wants a big squishy sofa, part of me wants a Victorian arm chair. Part of me wants the vibrant print, part of me wants the botanical illustration. Part of me wants the open-plan beach house, part of me wants the inner-city Victorian terrace.  Generally this isn't problematic. As we are still renting, I haven't had the total control over my environment that I need to be dissatisfied with the mish-mash of styles I currently have. But with clothes... I do have control and I feel as though I should be exercising that control.

So I'd like my style to be comfortably ladylike with a quirky, vintage edge.  And currently it is very casual with occasional retro, ladylike accessorizing.

I think the key to upgrading my current casual style to where I'd like it to be will come in three parts:
1) Fit and quality. I can still wear a jeans/t-shirt/cardigan combination and achieve my goal, but only if the jeans are neat and fit well, the t-shirt doesn't have a slogan and isn't baggy, and the cardigan isn't pilling and is also the perfect fit.

2) Accessories. I own quite a few, I have plans for more, but I tend to wear them only occasionally, when something is happening to make me go the extra distance. I need to start wearing them on a more regular basis.

3) More skirts and dresses. I do tend to live in jeans most of the time, because it is the easy option. I need more skirts that coordinate with the rest of my wardrobe, and more dresses that are suitable for day-wear rather than special occasion wear. Or I need to rethink how I view the dresses I own, to believe they are ok for day-wear.

So these are the guidelines for my wardrobe planning and clothes projects in 2013 and 2014: clothes that fit beautifully, accessories, skirts and dresses.  Quite a task!

Soft Toy Pi

Remember these eyes?

They belong to a soft toy pi symbol I made for a friend and fellow maths teacher for her birthday. I had to wait until it arrived before I could show you.

I've made some before, but this time I think it has turned out even better, thanks to a nice fleece, firm stuffing and some cute felt eyes.

Creativity Exercise: Design Combinations

Rhiannon came up for a few days to my place and we've been planning and crafting and brainstorming!

I found an idea in "100+ Ideas for Teaching Thinking Skills" by Stephen Bowkett that I thought would be fun to try.

Basically you make two lists of key ideas or themes, randomly combine two, and think about what the crossover would be. We did a list of items you could make and a list of themes. Then we rolled dice to get a random combination each and came up with a design idea.

Round One: A Household item in the theme of fairytales. Rhiannon designs a Sleeping Beauty castle trivet.

Round One: A toy in the theme of the movie Inception. Tanith designs nesting dolls - an idea inside a sleeping man inside a sleeping man...

It was fun and challenging. Like most things, the combinations that seemed the most challenging ended up being the most fun and producing more unusual ideas.

Round Two: A hat in the theme of sushi. Tanith designs a stack of empty sushi train plates.

Round Two: cake in the theme of vikings. Rhiannon designs an adorable helmet and beard combination.

I was hoping we could use this to come up with actual usable ideas, but some of our designs fell outside our areas of expertise. I think it was good for our brains regardless. It could certainly be adapted in other ways that would focus more on our crafts and interests.

Round Three: A Van Gogh greeting card. Tanith at first designs a disturbing ear card then a sunflower seed idea that is slightly more tasteful

Round Three: A Jungle Animal bookmark. Rhiannon designs a twisted vine with various animals (after some decisions about what lives in jungles - not giraffes, for example)

Product Photography, a Craftsy Addiction, and a Bunny

So first, Craftsy. I went first because of the patterns, then started following the blog, but I was keen on the idea of the classes too. I have quite an addiction to learning new crafts even though I don't have time for my current ones. Having these lessons join me in the comfort of my own home whenever it suits me is pretty darn appealing.

So courtesy of a 50% off sale and no willpower, I bought my first class. It's called "Shoot It: A Product Photography Primer". So far I've watched the bits about colour, composition, style and such, and today I'm sharing with you some pictures I took as part of the first homework assignment (the best kind of assignment - one that no one but you cares if you actually do the work).

The homework is really just to take photos and start playing with what works and doesn't, but particularly considering composition.

The subject today is a bunny Lovey Dovey that is waiting for the birth of its future owner next month. Its made from white and pink bamboo fleece and has a little embroidered face. (I previously made the elephant version of the Lovey Dovey)

My first ever hat features in this next photo. I have sure improved a lot since then, but it makes a nice photo prop.

So back to the classes. They are basically structured as a set of videos that you can watch and re-watch as you feel like it, and they stay available to you forever. You can add notes so you can find bits you want to refer to later. Then there's course materials like notes and resource lists and stuff. The best bit, and what sets the classes above other online resources, is that you can ask the teacher questions and get their feedback on whatever you need. Other class participants can help you out too, and you get to see their questions and answers. Then people share pictures of their completed projects too.

I've since started another class too, but I'll talk about that in another post. There's plenty more classes on Craftsy that I'd love to get into, but I must be a good girl and finish the ones I've started first!

Black, Red and Silver Mini Tricorne

The second mini tricorne from a foundation I had lying around for a while waiting to be finished up.

The foundation is the same as the previous one, buckram and millinery wire. The main fabric is also the same black wool, picking up the same fluff and cat fur!

The side band is trimmed with the central piece of some ribbon. The whole ribbon was too wide and a bit over the top, so I just snipped around the central bit of it.

Some red feathers and a cute little silver button from the vast (but now organised) collection, and it's done!

Buttons, Buttons, Buttons

I've mentioned before that I have a lot of buttons.

 
The Ritz tin has been their home since before they were my buttons. I'm not sure whether Mum got the tin full of buttons at a jumble sale, or if she already had the tin and just got lots of buttons at the jumble sale, but I'm sure a jumble sale was involved in gaining this volume of buttons.

Everytime I need buttons I pour out the contents of this tin into a plastic bowl, or a series of bowls, to sort and search for what I need.

 
Meanwhile, in the kitchen, I've been saving these jars that came with herbs in them. I've been keeping them with a vague hope that I will make jam. It hasn't happened yet.

Separating the buttons from the Ritz tin feels like breaking a tradition, but I decided it was time. Time to sort the buttons and store them that way! I also like the idea of storing things in ways that make them visible. Not only is it easier to find them, but seeing them constantly reminds me they are there.

 
Sorting an ancient collection of unmatched buttons by colour is a difficult task. Is this more blue or grey? Closer to cream or brown? What about pink and blue together? When will I use a button that is pink and blue together?

 
I also had a few things that are not buttons. And only one button too big to fit into the jars. Poor sad button.

 
All up, I'm pleased with the result. And it was fun to look through all the buttons. There are some crazy ones, especially in the metal jar. Time to get back to finding ways to use them.

Black and White Mini Tricorne

I had a couple of buckram frames for mini-tricornes sitting around from ages ago, so I thought I'd better make some progress on them. I was going to say I hate unfinished projects, but the evidnce suggests that I don't!

So it's a buckram and millinery wire foundation covered with a black wool (I think) fabric on the crown and the top of the brim, and a gathered creamy white silk (I think) for the underside of the brim. This is the problem with working from random fabrics in your stash!

Look how beautifully wind swept it is! The perfect gentle breeze came for my photoshoot. And modelled on my lovely decoupaged foam head.

Trims are a gathered velvet ribbon in dark green, and two crazy buckly things that were in fact earrings! Good lord. And an ostrich plume and a little rooster feather.

I'm planning to stop using feathers but I have a supply to finish up first. (Although the rooster feather came from my grandmother's rooster anyway)

This black fabric has made many an item for me, and I love the way it sits and the way it hides stitches, but it sure picks up fluff and cat hair! You can probably see what I mean in that photo.

Fun times. I like the bit of military feel that the colours and the world's ugliest earrings give it. Completing a long-ignored item feels good!