hello pineapples: sewing

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New Plush WIP: Creepy or Cute?

I finally got around to working on a plush toy I've been planning.

Inspired by the monsters sewn by Blythe (a local artist I admire), I felted an old Gap cardigan (that I bought second hand, years ago) with the intention of turning into a toy. The sweater sat around for ages as I collected my thoughts and safety eyes and noses. I started thinking that it would make an interesting bear. Why a bear? I have no idea. Teddy bears have never really been my thing. Despite that, I took the plunge this morning and here my results:

1. pattern made from tracing Ikea PS Brum bear on newspaper:

2. He was a bit too bit too big, so I had to cut down the pattern:

3. Attempted sewing lots of rounded edges, which is still a bit of a challenge for me, and ended up with this guy:

Compared to the pattern's "muse":

And his head shot:

His eyes are crooked and a bit bigger than I'd like (I only have 18mm eyes on hand) and I haven't decided if I should embroider on a mouth or not. What I haven't taken a picture of is that you can see the thread at his seams. Overall, he's either cute or he's a weird craft mishap. I think I need to get back to the drawing board before I can introduce this dude to the world of craft fairs.

Posted byHello Pineapples! on Wednesday, October 29, 2008 2 comments

filed under: craft mishaps, felt, plush, sewing, wip

My first solo project on the sewing machine

I've attempted to use a sewing machine in the past, but always with limited success. I made stockings as a gift for my bro and his ladyfriend this past Christmas, and they turned out a little wonky and puckery. I also had to call on my friend (and owner of the machine) to rescue me from bobbin troubles a number of times. Bobbins are not my friend. I really want to own a machine with a drop-in bobbin so that I don't have to figure out how to load them properly. I'm also a little bit terrified of the machine and often go too slow. And I have a knack for breaking needles. I broke two on this project.

But, despite the fact that I was on my own for this and that I had to wind and load a bobbin and change the needle twice, the project was (mostly) a success:

(you can see all the dangly threads on it. That's after I cut off most of them).

The project involved sewing a piece of fabric onto the top of an old pillow sham. I then used stuffing from an old pillow and stuffed it so it was still thin and flat and blanket like. The idea was to create a bed/pillow for my cat to take to the vet. He's hyper-thyroid and getting treated with radioactive iodine. It's the same treatment that people get for the same problem, but since it is for an animal, the nuclear safety people say that he has to be quarantined for at least seven days and that anything in the cage with him for that week has to be incinerated. That meant I couldn't send him over with anything that I wanted back.

The fabric I used is the same as what I used when I re-covered a blanket (known at chez Pinapples as the "sick blanket") that is a favourite of the cat. I knew it would be a hit when he decided to lie down on it while I was still trying to pin it to the sham.

My stitches got tighter and neater as I moved around the edge of the blanket.

Start:

Finish:

I've still got a ways to go before I can consider myself to be a competent or even mediocre seamstress, but for now, I'm happy with sewing things that don't fall apart.

and the cat seems pretty happy with my skills as well.