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Showing posts from February, 2009

Wall-e and...an egg

Wubby (my 3 yr old) looooooves Wall-e. For Christmas he got a little Wall-e toy. But sadly, he has no Eve. He loves to pretend play while he watches the movie. In place of Eve, he was using a plastic pretend-play egg. It was pretty pitiful. So, if you look online for Eve action figures that size, the price is jacked up. Again, I'm cheap. But I did find this . They charge for the pattern, so I created my own . I used felt for the black on the eyes and hand stitched the blue eyes (I cut out the eyes on the template and traced them onto the felt) and the leaf emblem. Remember to cut out 2 Eve bodys and 4 arms. I just stitched the arms on afterward, but I've heard some people have used buttons, so the arms swivel better. Needless to say Eve was a big hit.

What a Sham

No, that's not a typo. In the early hours of the morning before I'm forced to get up, I tend to be the most creative. In our current house my nightstand doesn't fit next to the bed. I needed storage at arms length. Our bedding set came with a bunch of pillow cases, including a European sham (one of those big square ones). The sham was currently being stored in a trunk. So here was my innovative idea. A bedside organizer. I seam ripped the back "flaps" of the sham off. I used one of the "flaps" to create pockets. I just sewed the perimeter and then sewed lines up and down to create the pockets. Because the "flap" is larger than the area I was attaching it to, I created pleats (I just folded and sewed) in two spots. The second "flap" I used to line the back of the exposed half of the sham. And whala! I tucked the unfinished half of the sham under the mattress. It works like a charm and blends in perfectly with the bedskirt.

Monsters for my monsters

I have boys. Boys don't really play with dolls. But they do play with monsters! I'm not the first or the 100th person to make these. These are dolls inspired by the ugly dolls . There is a whole ring of people out there making these monster plushes. For references just search flickr , google image search . Another great inspiration reference is CurlyQCuties.com . I created my own patterns in Adobe Illustrator and printed them. But what is great about monsters, is they can be lopsided, and just plain ugly. A perfect project for a novice. First...introducing Humphrey ! I used a curly stitch to sew the felt eye ball on. The green part of the eye is a button with the center cut out, and the black is a doll eye. I got a whole bunch of doll eyes from Hobby Lobby, and also found them at my local Ben Franklin (yes they still exist). Doll eyes are great if you want small children to be handling them. The star is a reverse applique . Oh, and he's got a tail! Humphrey's tem

Rings of glory? ...almost

Even though I don't have a baby baby, just a toddler and preschooler, I am fascinated with baby things. Here is my first and not so perfect attempt at soft baby toys. I used a tutorial and used Michael Miller's First Sight series. I sewed the baby ring , the baby block , and the ribbon ball . The fabric is really important to me. I think that is the main draw of sewing for me in particular, besides being cheap that is. I'm a graphic designer at heart and am very inspired by beautiful patterns. Oh, don't forget to add bells inside with the fiber-fill. These toys were definitely a learning experience, I made a lot of mistakes with the ring especially. But onward I trudge!