It's been a busy week around here as I have continued on my serious cleaning up and clearing out rampage. I have all the unattended to projects now underway. Seriously, I think it's nearly of them. I'm decluttering the closet, sewing a dress, using up old fabric to make pillows, and then chasing down the dog when he steals supplies.
Today I have a report on my adventures into the realm of stuffed animals, which I have done repeatedly in the last weeks for two friends having three babies, and for my mother.
Before this Christmas and rush of baby showers, I had made exactly zero stuffed animals, unless you count the hamster I knitted? crocheted? on a tiny loom-thing when I was about eight. It was pink and blue. I stuffed it with cotton balls.
These projects were going to be much more advanced, and because I am insane, I started with the most complicated project. Winnie the Pooh. Go big or go home, right?
Project One: A Throwback to Childhood
My grandmother made one of these for my mother in the sixties. I have that one now. He's a little worn and weary after 50 years and several chew-fests at the hands of my mom's childhood dachshund Sammy. Or maybe it was a friend's dog? I'm not sure. Grammie was thinking of making a replacement, but wasn't ever able to. I took over the task, managed to find the original pattern, and deciphered the pattern as best I could (thank goodness it came with beautifully written directions and I have a computer to explain sewing vocabulary to me). |
| The original, made by my grandmother when my mom was a child |
I tried to figure out what the original fabric was, and found a fabric that seemed to nearly replicate it. I looked underneath the shirt where there was the least wear on the fabric, and I guessed something like a towel, so I bought french terry cloth in the right color. My mom eventually confirmed my guess. The original was made with a towel. Excellent detective work, me.
After some easy successes and some struggles in making everything fit together, I produced a replica of the original Pooh toy that my Grandmother made. It lacked the pristine sewing that hers had, but I'm just saying that any errors added my own flair. I surprised the whole family with the new bear at Christmas.
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| The new version, made by me and photographed by my mother |
But wait, you say...I don't know how to read sewing patterns from the 60s, and I don't have hours to wrestle with the proper construction of a fancy stuffed bear! That is fine, and I was crazy, because I wasn't sure I would be able to read that pattern either! I bought twice as much fabric as the pattern called for for that very reason. However, I do understand, and that is why I also have...
Project Two: Some Very Adorable Foxes
This project was a present for twin babies. As a twin myself, I know that 1) the best chance of avoiding fights over the toys was to used the same pattern for each and 2) Having all the same toys is lame, though, so each would get a different fabric. Same toy, different fabric.
I found a pattern for the fox at Stitched by Crystal, which I used for both of these foxes. This pattern was far, far simpler than the pattern I used for my Mom. It was much less intimidating than my grandmother's project. It also came with clear directions. Win after win on this one.
I had already picked a fleece I had leftover from some earlier projects, and decided to try working with a soft scarf in the same colors for the second. The fleece was an excellent choice. The scarf, it turns out, was made of a soft but crumbly fabric that I fought the whole time I was working with it. I'm stubborn, so I persisted rather than try a new fabric. I probably should have gone to get the new fabric.
The only change I made was that I embroidered on eyes rather than sew on felt eyes. The most difficult part of the project (other than my error in fabric choice, of course) was in making sure no pins got stuck in the limbs and body when I sewed the whole thing together.
Project Three: A Loch Ness Monster someone just had to have
I found this pattern for a giant Loch Ness monster while I was searching for a pattern for the twins babies, but I thought that the parents of the twins might kill me if they had two of these.
Someone's child had to have this toy, though. I mean, how cute is it? Another friend of mine had a baby shower shortly after Christmas, so I came back from Christmas and made this toy for that baby using some fabric left over from my the Pooh bear project.
I did make a few changes. I shrunk the pattern to 75% of the original size and it was still about 2 feet long when I finished it and about 18 inches tall. A child can definitely sit on this thing. Excellent. I also embroidered on the face rather than sewing on felt (mine has lovely eyelashes). Finally, I sewed circles out of an old pink t-shirt and then more, smaller circles out of the yellow fabric to attach as spots.
I made a mistake here when I tried to attach Nessie's flippers to the body as I sewed the body together. Because they are large and I had already stuffed them, it didn't really work. Best to follow the directions (as I did not) and wait to sew on the fins after sewing the body together. Mine also came out with a few holes in it, probably from my struggles with a sewing machine combined with a bit of overzealous stuffing and some mildly fraying fabric. I hand stitched the seams wherever these little holes appeared.
If you embroider the face, this will take longer to make. The way I made the spots also took a long time- probably three hours for what you see. I think it may have been easier if I had attached more of them before stuffing the body.
The Nessie pattern was more complicated than the foxes because of the body being made of three pieces, but easier to work with at the final stages because of its size.
Overall Work and Time:
Friends, people seemed to love getting these stuffed animals as gifts, whether for children or nostalgia and sentimental reasons. It didn't matter that there were some imperfections in my work. There seems to be something special about a handmade toy. I felt that as I was making them. This may be my new favorite hobby. In terms of joy produced both for the maker and receiver, creating stuffed toys is a winner.
What about the difficulty? I have found stuffed animals of varying degrees of difficulty and complexity. It seems you can find a pattern for any level of skill. The easiest toy I made on this round was the foxes, and you can find simpler patterns still. The hardest was Pooh. For an easier design, look for toys that don't have separate limbs and are "flat." The next step up would be a toy that has limbs which are sewn, stuffed, sewn shut, and then attached to the body, as the fox and Nessie have.
How long does it take? I was afraid to use the machine for Pooh and Fox #1. I lost track of time for Pooh, but it was in the 10 hour range (I think), while the Fox came in around 5 hours. Fox#2 would have taken about 2.5 hours using the machine, IF the fabric had allowed it. The fabric and machine did not get along. I did use the machine for Nessie, though I had to hand sew the details. Nessie clocked in around 8-10 hours, with the vast majority of that time spent hand sewing decorative details.
What about the cost? Materials are your major cost here. You'll need thread, needles, fabric, and felt or embroidery floss (which uses a different type of needle).
I paid about $20 for the fabric that went to Nessie and Pooh, so I'll say they're fabric was about $10 each (Although I actually still have some of that fabric left). Fleece is about $5-$10 a yard, and felt around $3. A whole spool of thread is $2.99 in the variety I had, so per animal that comes in somewhere in the cents. I'm not sure how much I used. Embroidery floss is $0.50 for one pack, and I used one pack for all of these animals almost exactly- about $0.13 per animal.
So Pooh and Nessie came in at the highest cost, around $11 a piece, and the Foxes would have come in (I think) around $5.00 a piece
My overall takeaway: This is one of my favorite discoveries so far in the short history of the Stay at Home Experiment. It was time consuming, but also highly rewarding. I will be making more.
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