Felt aeroplane mobile

My newest mobile is this little felt bi-plane.

DH told me that the plane's propeller looks like a moustache and now I can't help seeing it that way! Weirdly I am then reminded of the Red Baron that Snoopy dog fights then :)

This little plane fits in my hand and is so light because of the felt and fibrefill that it spins merrily in the wind.

It is currently snowing outside so I'm not really opening windows to feel the arctic breeze but I did spend a couple happy minutes blowing this bi-plane around just to watch it dip and whirl.
Happy crafting!

Circus Tents Commission

I received a commission based on my previous felt balloon mobiles. The lady loves all things circus so she requested two types of tents, a round blue one and one square yellow one.
First, the blue:

 I embroidered little stars behind the curtains of the doors!
And the yellow:

I think they turned out pretty cute. The concept would never have occurred to me and that's why I love commissions. Combining two peoples visions can sometimes lead to far greater results than individual efforts. Now if I can only remember this when my DH tries to help with my projects.
As always I hope these give you a bit of inspiration to let your creativity out!

Single Sock Dog Update

Single Sock Puppy is a favourite of the peeps who visit here and so I thought I'd add two photo's that people have been kind enough to send me of their versions of the puppy.
First from Emma over at http://emmalm.wordpress.com:
She made a standard one and then a dragon from the same idea. Love it!

These three were made by http://www.cutoutandkeep.net user Kantia and her daughter and a friend.
She was kind enough to repeat my tutorial for a single sock puppy on the website and show other users her results

Pam over at http://pamandmatt.blogspot.com kindly pointed me to hers in my comments. One is a mouse but I think he is super cute!

Thank you to everyone who visits and posts comments! It really helps to know that people are positive about my/our work and that I'm part of such a bright and vibrant community :)

Stuffed Dinosaur

So one of my best friends is having a baby half way around the world from me. I think this is very inconsiderate. Obviously I'll be crafting like mad, but now I'll have to pay for my makings not only in sweat and blood (hand sewing is torture) but also in postal costs! The agony!

Anyhoo. Here is one of many baby related crafts I've been sinking into:

 A baby stuffed dinosaur! A green spotted, blue spiked baby dinosaur!
(Note: I BRIEFLY called him a brontosaur but after the ensuing wikipedia battle with my husband I came to realize it is only correct to call him a diplodocus. Who knew brontosaurus is no longer acceptable?- since about the turn of the century?!)

 I was incredibly surprised at how well he turned out (I freely admit he is not my first dino, but the last one was tried about a year ago and I still haven't emptied the bag that the resulting demented half-creature lives...)
I made him with some super cheap bits of cotton that I already had in my stash and I used shrink plastic for his eyes. I'm a bit amazed at how much I like his eyes- they even follow you around!

So! Do you think I should make a tutorial and a pattern for everyone to have their own precious dino? I'm sure my construction could be figured out from my photos but its sometimes nice to have some help at 2am!
Let me know in the comments below.

Plush Baby Elephant Tutorial

I finally got round to creating the tutorial for this little guy that was requested so often. Just in time too- only 2 months crafting time left till Christmas! This elephant is perfect for kids and if making it for babies you could replace the eyes with a bit of sewn fabric or paint them on with fabric paint. 

Let's start:

 You will need some fabric- I used a cotton print of a medium weight (for home furnishings) but I have made this pattern using a much lighter, softer cotton and also corduroy. I used a piece about the size of 4x A4 notepad sheets. But the pattern can easily be scaled up or down, just make all the pieces larger or smaller together. You'll also need some stuffing  (I used fibre fill but you can use fabric scraps, old pillow stuffing etc), some coordinating thread and two buttons for eyes. A pair of scissors is necessary and I forget to picture a bit of twine or ribbon for the tail.

The link to the pattern is below, although as long as you cut the basic shapes you will be fine. Just remember to cut the long pieces that go around the circles longer than you expect (so give yourself plenty of leeway) and it'll work.Its homemade and these "quirks" are cool and make it lovelier.

These are the first pieces to cut. You will need:

• 1x A Body (The long side of this piece needs to be able to wrap around the circumference of piece B to form a tube)
• 2x B Body
• 4x C Ears
• 4x D Underside Feet
• 4x E Sides of Legs

The piece of the left is B, it is included to show the size to cut the side of head/trunk piece. This piece is cut in the shape of a 9. It is also cut on the fold, with the long straight edge (right most edge), on the fold.

This photo shows the final piece to cut at the top. The bottom is the 9 shaped piece from above, opened up. Don't worry about making the part at the top too long. You can adjust where the back wedge shape begins later on in the process.

Finally! Let's start sewing!
The head:
Begin with the pieces we cut out in the photo earlier. With the pieces right sides facing, begin sewing as shown, by starting at the V of the forehead and working around the circular edges.
It should look like the photo below as you reach the end. Don't sew this point all the way to where the trunk starts as you want to leave a bit of a gap to stuff the head (you'll insert stuffing where a real elephants mouth would be)

When you turn the piece above over it should look like the photo below.

Starting from the forehead V again, sew the other side of the head in a similar way.
It should look like the photo below when completed.

 

 This may be a bit confusing, but this photo shows the V of the forehead of our elephant and the  trunk (tail of the 9 shape) is opened flat to the right. This may be clearer:

At this point, fold the right sides of the trunk together and sew to look like this:

Now, turn the head so the forehead is on the work surface facing away from you and sew the end of the trunk closed. In the photo below the arrow is pointing to the gap you've left to turn the head the right way round and stuff,and the dashed line is where to sew the trunk closed at the bottom. I have finger pressed open the seam we did in the step previously.

 Turn the head the right way round and stuff.

(A note about stuffing- when using fiber fill- mold the piece in you hand a bit before inserting and try to keep it all as one bit, instead of putting in individual blobs of stuffing. This helps prevent a lumpy look)

We made a head! have a cup of tea and take a well deserved break.

The body:

Start by taking 1 of the B pieces and sewing the long side of piece A around its outer edge with right sides facing. This should form a tube shape like the photo below. Don't close the side of the tube!

Similarly sew the final B part to cap the other side of the tube. Through the side of the tube you've left open, turn and stuff the body. Then, sew the opening closed by using the extra flap shown above and trimming the excess, if necessary.
You should now have this:

Pin the head to the body using pins. A note whilst making children's toys- Remember to keep track of your pins! I use large colourful ones to be very certain, but just do a good final check before handing the toy over.

Sew the head to the body. I just do a bit of a whip stitch around the "neck" part twice to make sure it is secure and doesn't wobble.

Making the feet
Make the feet using the same method as the body to sew the long side of piece E to the circle D to make a tube with an open side.

Then sew up the open side, turn right way around and stuff (not too full, leave some fabric at the top and aim to make short, dumpy legs)

Close the top of the leg up, like a parcel. This doesn't have to be too neat, just enough to hold the top together whilst you sew the leg to the underside of the body.
 To make the ears
With right sides facing, sew two of the ears together but leave a little space to turn them right way round.
Before turning snip the fabric towards your line of stitching without actually cutting you sewing! This will help the curved seams lay flat. (green lines in picture below)

Attach
Using the method for connecting the head to the body, attach the legs to the underside of the body. Then attach the ears:

A close up of ear sewing- the pink is how to stitch them on:

Sew on the eyes, making very sure, if this present is for children, that you do this securely and well.

 Lastly, using some string, twine or ribbon make your elephant a tail (ass shot!) and sew it on:

 

Well done!

 Edit: Here are the basic pattern pieces. It is over two pages. 

• Baby Elephant Pattern Page 1 of 2
• Baby Elephant Pattern Page 2 of 2 

This is my first pattern so hopefully it works. The pages should each be printed on a standard A4 sheet (but you could scale it up, as long as you scale all the pattern pieces at once).  You should probably cut out the pattern pieces and arrange them on your own fabric, as I just tried to fit them on a page and you may have patterns that require the pattern pieces along the grain/fabric design etc. I have not included any seam allowances as I mostly hand sew these and use a tiny allowance- so add one if you like.Please leave me feedback if changes are required so I can edit it to make it a better pattern for others and I can get better at it :)!

You've completed a baby stuffed elephant! Leave me a comment below if you need any additional help (or to point me and others to pictures of the ones you've made). I'll leave you with ones I've made using this pattern before, for inspiration :)

Single Sock Dino Tutorial

Thank you to all the people who requested this tutorial, your encouragement made it happen!

So here is my favourite soft hearted beast for your sewing pleasure.

To begin we need to gather supplies:

• A pair of scissors
• A sock (This one is a bit thread bare and woolly and needs a new lease on life)
• Some red (or, really, any colour) felt
• 2 buttons for eyes
• Some coloured thread for sewing together and making his face
• Some filling ( I used standard fibre fill, but even scraps of fabric would do)

Firstly, we need to cut the sock:

In this pattern the heel of the sock becomes his nose/face/muzzle (what is appropriate for a T-Rex?)
The part towards the toe of the sock is going to be the top of his head and the part towards the ankle is his body. The body part is about twice as long as the head part but don't be too worried about measurements etc.
Next we're gonna sew up the sock at the body hole.

To do this I turn the tube with the heel of the sock inside out and then run a longish stitch very simply around the lip of the tube, then gather closed. Once I've gathered I stitch across the opening a few times to seal it securely. Again, this is the part he will sit on so it doesn't have to be perfect.

Turn the sock right way round again and stuff with filling. You want to create the rough shape of the filling in your hands before you stuff it into the sock. This makes less lumpy bits. If you do need to add more filling, try making a space in the middle of the already existing filling and inserting the new in there. Um, like a pie filling :).
Now he's starting to look like something. There are two methods for the next bit.
The hole on the top of his head needs to be closed. You can 1) gather the hole closed like we did the other side or 2) do the slightly more elaborate, but I think neater, finish below.
If you do decide to just gather remember to pull the hole closed slowly and tuck the unfinished ends into the gather as you go (else he'll have a weird lumpy, sticky up bit)
This is the method I use:

Hold the toy facing away from you (to the left of the picture above). Pinch the hole closed so it runs in a line from the nose direction to along his spine. In the middle of this long opening make a stitch or two to hold in shape.

Now stitch about a thumbs width away from this holding stitch like in the picture above, then tuck the remaining edges of the hole back towards were the needle is. (In the picture above his nose is facing left and his bum is facing right) Stitch along these two new joins to close this end of the hole.

Repeat on the other side. There's no photo of this but to create his chin you need to sew a running stitch along his front, just underneath the heel of the sock, and from about ear to ear (If he had any!). (Kinda eye where you'd like the fold of his chin to be). Pull on this running stitch to gather it. The photo below shows how the sock dents under his chin but is smooth up his spine to the top of his head

You can also see in this picture how the hole that was at the top of the sock is towards his crown.
Next we need to cut the remaining sock bits to make his arms (sorry, claws) and his tail. The small bits to the left are cut from the leftover sock towards the shin and are folded double. ( the larger bit on top of the left group is just to show the ribbed elastic top of the sock and is not used). The group to the right is the original toe of the sock. I have cut from about the middle of the opening and gently curved the cut to make a pointy tail. The piece on the very right hand side will not be used.

Turn the tail and the arm pieces inside out and stitch into tubes with one closed end. Turn right way around and stuff gently.

Attach the arms and the tail to the body, tucking in the unfinished ends as you go.

Next we cut the felt for the scales. A word on cutting the scales- if you're gonna make more than one of these begin by cutting a rectangle of fleece and cutting the diagonals down the centre of this rectangle, never quite touching the outside edge of the rectangle. That way you get two scale pieces instead of one and a whole lot of useless triangles.

Sew the scales to the dinosaur. You can see how I sew on the scales in this photo.

He should look something like this handsome boy at this stage.

Next we attach his eyes- I liked traditional beady eyes but bigger crazy ones would be cute too.

Finally his face! I just free hand embroider a big toothy grin and some french knot nostrils on mine. If you'd like a bit more symmetry (which mine are seriously lacking!) then use some dress makers chalk, or wash away fabric pen to sketch on a mouth. If you don't know how to make a french knot, the internest will teach you or just sew two little crosses or circles etc.

That's it! Congratulations you've just made the world a more dangerous and cuddly place!
(P.S. Don't feel like sewing? Click here to buy them in the Little Black Teapot Shop )

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