Lesson Learned

This is Penelope. She's cute as a button, but in reality she's a happy little mistake. I just about gave up on her and sent her to the plush graveyard quite a few times. I get so caught up in sewing sometimes that I will sketch something onto the material I am making the plush out of and just go at it without a second glance. Last night, I was SO ready to use this purple tipped white faux fur for a little bunny. It's my favorite faux fur that came in the scrap box I ordered - so soft and long and awesome colored! I made the little lady's face, and immediately I was in love with her. So I sketched up the body on the fur and got down to cutting. I sewed her together, and then I was ready for the "birthing" where I turn it right side out. Unfortunately, I didn't take into account how long the fur was and that her ears needed to be a little wider than usual so that I could turn them out easily. I normally have a really hard time turning them out as it is, so the added fur made it impossible. I spent at least 30 minutes in labor trying to turn her ears out, and my shirt took the punishment for me.


I had just gotten home from my day job and I hadn't changed my shirt yet. Lint roller anyone? Anyway, I got pretty pissed off and broke a couple of pens in the process, then went to bed for the night. Today I decided that I loved this tiny thing too much to give up, so I sewed bear-like ears under where I sewed the long ears and cut off the excess. I still think she's adorable even though her ears are not very bunnyish. At least I learned not to rush things when I'm dealing with my favorite (and only) scrap of material.

In honor of Snowmageddon

Well it really had nothing to do with "Snowmageddon" to begin with, but I guess it's a fitting thing to sew right now. And notice the lack of snow in my surroundings :) Anyway, this is part of my entry for Plush You's Olympic Challenge. There's much more to it than this, but I'm still working on the rest. This little eskimo had my fingers about ready to fall off last night. The suede his body is made out of did not agree with my sewing machine, so I did it by hand instead. He's one of the smallest things I've made - he easily fits in the palm of my hand - and I think he turned out pretty much how I sketched him up.

I used a different technique for closing him up and stuffing him than I normally do, and it was actually pretty difficult for me. In the most recent issue of Stuffed, plush artist Kathryn Paul talked about how she sews the entire body of her Longtails closed, then cuts out a circle for the face, which she uses to turn it right side out. Since the faces on her Longtails really reminded me of the faces on my own work, I though I'd try her technique. I'm sure it goes much smoother for her than it did for me!