Minky fever

I spent today wrestling with metres of minky! they are so soft and smooth and cute that you can't really be mad at them but I also don't mind having a break from sewing with them...

Almost all of the minky used here came from Minkee Fabrics Australia. Excellent quality, lots of choices and fast shipping. I will definitely shop with them again. The blue with white dots came from Spotlight, they had a sale on last weekend so I picked half a metre up for $7.

The hooves and the pig tails probably give the identity of these softies away but one can never be sure what expression (mood) they are in!

RaRa the bear

This weekend I finished a revised version of Bear Bear from 2009. I introduce RaRa.

RaRa loves the sunshine, he is just that sort of guy. He loves to hang out with others and once he is your mate, he will be your friend for life!

Go RaRa!

An oldie but a goodie

It's an oldie but a goodie...  Armed with the recent new learned techniques I decided to revisit the very first softie pattern I drew up a few years ago.  He was inspired by a bear I had as a child - one my parents had to buy two of because I wasn't old enough to understand that mum washed the first bear and he fell apart...  

Anyway I digressed...

I made this guy in 2009, I remembered thinking how my hand stitching skill was horrid - probably why I didn't take any photos of the side where I closed the gap... I didn't really understand seam allowance properly either. and my stuffing technique was off. With all that said, I was proud of him and the smiley face I gave him. He went to a little girl's home where I know her parents value handmade things. 

2012 - so with another arrival of a friend's first baby boy this week, I decided to make Bear Bear again...

I redrew the pattern... 

Inserted the tail...

Added in some darts...

Stuffed the arms and tucked them in...

I used minky for his tail and ears, to give him the different texture...

Now all he needs is a snuggly stuffed body and a smiley face...

Rolly the fashionista pup

Meet Rolly, one of the most fashion conscious pup I have ever known. The orange bow tie is one of his favourites as it shows off his complexion. Rolly is about 23cm (9 inches) tall, 15cm (6 inches) from nose to back of the head and 18cm (7 inches) from toe to tail.

I modified this pattern I found last week and used this tutorial for the bow tie. A relatively quick project to make, took me about a day from drawing to stuffing. And apart from his ears not being symmetrical which bothered me a great deal (although hubby laughed for a good minute at why I took it so seriously), I thought he was rather cute. He even pointed out that our own dog's ears aren't symmetrical either... yeah alright, point taken....

The key modifications I made include:

• making a seam between the head and the body so that the arms could be sewn in the seam between
• the tail is also sewn in the seam between the two pieces of body

I added some minky fabric for the paws and ears for extra textiles.

Rolly will be going to another boy baby who arrived recently amongst our group of friends.

I have really enjoyed making this pattern and can already think of adapting it for other designs.

What a nice way to end the weekend!

Simmy the Piggy cushion

This October Labour Day long weekend saw me through a softie from sketch to cuddly!  

 

Simmy is for a boy baby (one of many arrived recently amongst my group of friends) so I wanted a some cute boy colours. I also wanted him to be cuddly and soft so I chose this fabric with little fish on a dark blue background for the front and a soft shimy minky for the back. Have I already mentioned how I love the texture of these dotty minkies?

I had also envisaged this softie to also be used as a pillow or a cushion so he is not stuffed to the max as I normally do.

For Simmy's tail, I borrowed a technique I learned from making one of Abby Glassenberg's patterns.

Knotty?

Or springy?

I think Simmy has turned out pretty good, close to how I had imagined him to be. I do want to make his ears larger and the head more fuller next time. Perhaps a notch at the top of the head will help...

Back soon...

Ellie the Elephant minky blankie

Ever since I found Abby Glassenberg Design, I have been hooked on her blog and her ever so inspiring designs. Her series of "Learn to Design your own plush" has become my first go-to reference point. In recent weeks, while I have been sketching and testing different shapes for a couple of softies ideas, I also decided to buy my first Abby Glassenberg Design patterns and Ellie the Elephant minky blankie is my first finished project.

Ellie has been such a fun project and I learned heaps. I made some simple modifications and one of them is the use of different types of fabrics to what the pattern has called for. I used some minky, a thicker dress fabric and a piece of felt as the head gusset instead of fleece. This is simply because I hadn't found any nice fleece and had none in my stash, plus I also touched a piece of minky at the store and I melted... With the patterned face, I decided to use matching coloured felts for the eyes to give her a different expression. 

This is the first time I sew with this minky material (picked up from my local Spotlight) and I am glad I tried on a test piece first. It's a little stretchy and thicker than quilting fabric which is not something I am used to so I had to make sure that it didn't move away from me! This is also my first time to use the 1/4 inch foot (OMG, I don't know why I waited this long!), I love how I didn't have to mark out the seam allowance!

I left an extra opening on the bottom of the body and inserted the head, stuffed and ears sewn on, through the neck (right side) with the body wrong side out. I then hand stitched it to the body along the raw edges. I did this because I thought I could position the head neater. 

The tail is so cute and just by chance that one of the minky nobby dots is sitting in the centre of the tail! And since it is a present for my friend's little baby, I also hand stitched my little label.

I used the ladder stitch to close the bottom edge which I am happy with how it has turned out. My hand sewing skill can be hit and miss sometimes so I love how this minky fabric just hides the stitches, definitely a lot more forgiving than quilting fabric!

I thought she has turned out quite cute and soft and the different materials also give her the different textures. so hopefully she will become a little snuggly thing for her new owner.

Making this softie without booboos has made me so happy!! YAY! I have also signed up to do Abby's Craftsy workshop to make the Humpty Dumpty Doll which I can't wait to start soon.

I am just going to do a bit more trialling and erroring with my own patterns and see how things go... until next time, CRAFT ON!