Well, my goddaughters liked the monsters I made so well, they asked for some of their own. I decided to take pictures of the process this time. Be prepared for a long post.
Here's the one for my younger goddaughter.
We begin with the supplies. 5/8 yd corduroy, one sheet of felt, a 4" square cotton scrap (okay, I have a lot more here), matching thread, contrasting thread, and two 5/8" buttons. Not pictured here, stuffing, because stuffing is boring, and stiffened sparkly white felt, because I couldn't find it. I have included closeups of the corduroy and cotton.
After cutting the pieces out, you can see I could get at least one more monster out of the corduroy, possibly two if I'm careful.
--ahh, there's the sparkly felt.
Here you can see the markings I made for placement of the mouth and spine. I don't remember what the other markings are for, as I don't use them.
The first sewing I did was the tail and belly sections. These are the only parts that need pressing. (Yay!!) We all know how to clip, turn, and press, so I won't bore you with that.
Next, I used the fabric marking pen on both pieces of felt.
Sew along the markings on the spine with contrasting thread, then sew one end to the tail. On the first monsters, I used a wide blanket stitch, but my old sewing machine doesn't have that available, so I used the smocking stitch instead. It turned out cute, almost like the stitching on a baseball.
If you're smarter than me, you'll turn down 1/4" on the tail before stitching. Not an irreparable error, but annoying. Next, sew the bottom tail to the sides, being sure not to catch the spines or stick yourself repeatedly with the pins.
You'll notice in the last picture, near the tail tip, I'm awfully close to the fabric edge. Feel free to re-stitch any spots like that. I do.
I did use the blanket stitch on the teeth. I prefer pink to simulate gums/lips. The stiffness of the sparkly felt really lends itself to the "teeth" application.
The belly piece gets stitched on with a decorative stitch in the same contrasting thread as the spine. I just matched centers to align it.
Next, pin and stitch the spine to the body, using the same stitch and thread as on the tail earlier.
You'll have a dead monster pelt like this:
Now go to bed, before you sew yourself to the corduroy. :)
Next, we sew the sides
The ends probably won't match. After sewing both sides on, just trim it up.
Now he's ready to have his bottom sewed on. Again, careful with the pins.
I usually break the sewing at the legs.
And of course leave the back open for stuffing.
Turn the little bugger right-side out. I find it is useful to pull the tail out first, GENTLY!! use the spine as a handle, and perform this task in a place where cursing is permitted.
Look! An empty monster skin! Gross!
Another of those lessons learned from the first time - weight. Li'l Koji is kinda top heavy, so I used the bottom piece as a template to make a bag out of muslin and filled it with poly beads to weight down his bottom.
A funnel is absolutely necessary.
What, you don't have a matroyshka measuring cup set? I used 1/4 cup of the beads. 1/3 cup was too much - I couldn't sew the pouch closed.
Normally, I'd pin perpendicular to the seam, but it proved to be more important to restrain the beads than the fabric.
Again, not showing stuffing. Boring. Whipstitch the opening closed when finished.
I usually balance the eyes on the head to determine correct placement before sewing.
And voila!
Naturally, I forgot completely to take any pictures of the monster I made for my older goddaughter. Mayhap I shall get one tomorrow when I visit. And I got a call from the shop this afternoon, my sewing machine is ready!
