Bunnies from Heaven

I successfully avoided making anything for Christmas this year.  I've been so tired, I'd just sew myself to things, and no one wants that.

I did make a mini-dress for my goddaughter's birthday.  She admired a particular fabric on a patchwork purse my mother made for me, so I asked Mom to procure some of the fabric.

 I started with Simplicity 4106.  I have no idea if this is still in print or not.  I decided to make view A, the long dress, but with straight sleeves to match the "kimono" theme, and a solid color facing/midriff.  I found a button to use as a detail - it reminds me a lot of both a Japanese-style chrysanthemum and a tsuba.

Here is a very blurry closeup of the fabric. The red spots are actually the center of a geometric pattern of gold lines on a red background.  You can actually get a better look in the first picture.
If you are familiar with my blog, you know I make no claims to be a photographer.

The pattern did not have an option for straight sleeves, so I measured the length of the sleeve flounce, and continued the sleeve out to that length, adjusting for seam allowances.
It's actually a tapered sleeve; if I had it to do again, I think I'd make it a true straight sleeve.
Or maybe not, she's pretty skinny, and it might be awkward.
 

Here is the completed mini dress.  The pattern also calls for sash ties on the sides; my goddaughter hates having those tied, and I hate watching her run around trailing loose ends.  I left them off, made a casing with bias tape on the inside back waist about 8" long, and stitched a 5" long piece of 3/8" elastic inside.  We get a slightly fitted look without ties.  I wish I'd taken a photo, but I suppose you can envision it well enough.

I bought a long-sleeved white t-shirt to go under it - wanted a turtleneck, but apparently those are out-of-fashion for girls these days - and here she is in the outfit complete with new Hello Kitty boots.  They're raising her right. ;-)

Dr. Frankenstein, I presume?

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!

I hate waiting.

Finally got the ol' Singer to the shop - two to three weeks.

Le sigh.

Oh Baby

So back in October I got a new niece.  I failed to finish anything in time for her shower (even though I knew months before) and I ended up only sending a card.  I am a bad sister/aunt.  I hope this makes up for it a little.

I made two pacifier clips.  My s-i-l has decorated the nursery in pink and green, so I purchased some pink-and-green argyle and used a scrap of that pink uncut corduroy that I still have tons of.  I got a spool of green ribbon with pink dots; I would have preferred the other way around, but no one had pink ribbon with green dots.  The clip is a chip clip from the grocery store, and the structure of the circle is provided by the lid to a Pringles can. 
I also had to purchase a hot glue gun.  How have I existed as a crafter without a glue gun?  Beats me.  Superglue maybe?

This is an item referred to as a Diaper Duffle.  The idea is, you put diapers and wipes in here, zip it up, and toss it in the diaper bag.  Then, when you need diapers in a hurry (and when are they not needed in a hurry), you pull this out of the morass of empty bottles, full bottles, extra pacifiers, sunglasses (so that's where they went), changes of clothes, toys, baggies of Cheerios, books, burp cloths, rattles, etc., and have everything you need at your fingertips.  Again with the pink-and-green argyle and the green ribbon.  The project instructions call for a 9" zipper, which turned out to be too short for mine.  Don't know what I did wrong.  I slapped together a little 1" wide strip to act as a stopper and cover up the gap.  Should I do this again, I'll get a longer zipper and just sew over the end if it turns out too long.

Last but not least is the diaper changing pad: tablecloth weight vinyl on the back, flannel on the front.  It's pink and purple, not pink and green, because they only had one pink and green flannel at Joann and it was hideous.  I made it a little longer than the pattern required, since Niece is so long, and I wish I'd put the rabbits closer to the bottom.  Oh well.  I considered adding batting, but I figure the last thing you really want on a changing pad is something absorbent.  In a couple of years, perhaps I'll redo this larger, with batting, as a nap mat.  If she's anything like her father, she'll fall asleep under the furniture all the time, so it'll come in handy.
Machine embroidery designs and project instructions from The Embroidery Library.