Felt Foxes

Felt Foxes, originally uploaded by MandyMade.

Crafting for me lately has been mainly dreaming about what I want to make rather than the actual making. Too much other stuff going on, house reno, more stress at the real job and school holidays always stuff the routine around. Hopefully it will all settle down soon and there will be more making going on.

While the sewing machine is packed away at the moment I did get a little hand sewing time in the past week. I bought a Mollie Makes mag (issue 23) a few weeks ago, as soon as my sons saw the front cover both of them wanted a fox each. So instead of just putting it off till the increasingly long make list is complete I decided to squeeze them in.

I made from the pattern with the exception of using whip stitch to sew them together. They both came together really quickly, so if you need a quick gift, I recommend making them. They are now much loved :-).

What's next? Hats...

I love Nikki's book. Just in case I haven't told you already! My next project out of it was the Baby Hat for Little O. Sorry photos a bit blurry, bit hard to photograph an excited 6 month old! Yes he is now 6 months, boy time flies. And doesn't the hat look lovely with bonds wondersuit?!

Baby's Hat from You Sew, Girl by Nicole Mallalieu.

I used a wool felt and some cotton robot fabric. I interfaced everything except for the lining which I used polar fleece for. When I was making it I was worried that it would be too big and he wouldn't be able to wear it this season, but it does fit perfectly.

Baby's Hat from You Sew, Girl by Nicole Mallalieu.

This was made on my new machine, as I was sewing it I kinda wished I had got a more heavy duty machine. The layers did get a bit thick in some parts but it all worked out really well, I didn't sew any fingers or break any needles so that's always a bonus!! Besides that I am happy with the Singer.

Have you made anything from Nikki's book?

TTFN

Merry Christmas 2010

Merry Christmas 2010, originally uploaded by MandyMade.

Have a great Christmas and a Happy and safe New Year.

TTFN

Mandy


Half-Eaten Gingerbread Man design by Meg Spaeth
Handmade by MandyMade

Gift for Little A's teacher and Big Buddy

Lily's Fabric Toadstool

Lily's Fabric Toadstool, originally uploaded by MandyMade.

Another Christening gift, this one for my other niece. You may remember the toadstool I posted about back in May. Well when thinking about what to make Lily I couldn't go past this fabric toadstool to match the toadstools at her house. The original idea was for Little A to help me make it but it didn't end up that way, he chose the materials but we ran out of time (and maybe patience). It was quick to make and I ended up putting an empty thread spool in the stalk, worked great. I could see a whole forest and maybe some little visitors in the future.

Pattern by Amy Adams from Sewing Calendar 2010. Handmade by MandyMade

Niah's Whale

Niah's Whale, originally uploaded by MandyMade.

When my niece was born Little A wanted to make something for her. We eventually settled on this whale from the book "Softies". He chose all of the materials, helped cut out the pattern, sat on my knee when sewing it up and helped stuff it. With my guidance he then over sewed the edges. We eventually gave it to her for her Christening a couple of weeks ago.

Pattern "the lookout" by Michelle Valigura from the book "Softies". Handmade by Aidan and MandyMade.

Chrissy pressy for Mum

Chrissy pressy for Mum
Originally uploaded by MandyMade

Ok this is the last post that should have been done last year!!

I made Little Miss Millicent for my mum for Christmas. It was from a Christmas homespun issue from the year before. I wanted to make it then but had a long list before it. Even though there is a lot of tiny detail in it, it was easy to make and didn't take too long. I had to make it in-between other commitments so it seemed to take longer than it should have!! I love working with felt and hope to be making more like this, even though I have made this year, year of the practical projects, I still want to squeeze a few decorative in here and there!!

TTFN

Little Miss Millicent, pattern from Homespun Mag 9.11, design by Louise Hatchard, handmade by MandyMade.

Girl Robot

Girl Robot
Originally uploaded by MandyMade

I made this Girl Robot for my niece for Christmas. You may remember the one I made for my son for his birthday. They are very nice and quick to make. I added buttons this time instead of cutting out felt and sewing them on, it looked like it needed buttons. Other than that I made it in the same way as I did my sons, except I drew the seam allowance onto the fabric for the arms, I think it gave a better result for the claws.

TTFN

Girl Robot design by Audrey and Maude, handmade by MandyMade

Mr Rooster

Mr Rooster
Originally uploaded by MandyMade

Finally finished him, getting ever closer to my WIP's completed. I first blogged about Mr Rooster here so I wont bore you with the details. He took so long to finish as I didn't like how the comb ended up and the wings didn't sew in as I would have liked, but now he is finished and currently being cuddled by Little A on the couch.

I have discovered Sashiko, a japanese style of embroidery. On our trip to the library yesterday, mainly to try out the new library bag, I had to check out the craft section. It has been a long time since I've borrowed from the library, content with reading stuff there, that my card was completely out of date and now there are self check outs, who would have thought? Anyway, I came across a book on Sashiko and now I'm in love, can't wait to start a project, I know, must finish the WIP's first, maybe I could incorporate some into a WIP. Hmm the mind boggles :-).

Don't forget to check out my 100th post, now back to more WIP's. Desperate to go fabric shopping, it's now 55 days since I bought material, not bad ha!!

TTFN

"mister rooster" from the book More Softies, Design by Marieke van Esvald, Handmade by MandyMade

Aidan's 4th Birthday Present

Aidan's 4th Birthday Present
Originally uploaded by MandyMade

After I met Audrey and Maude at the stitches and craft show I had to buy their robot pattern (not that it took meeting them to buy it!!)

It was very easy to make. I used a lot of the techniques that I learnt from the Melly and Me lecture. I reduced the stitch length I was using and this made a lot of difference to how the curves turned out. I also stuffed using big clumps so the neck was strong.

There were a few things that I did differently from what the pattern told me to do mainly due to how I have been making softies, not that I didn't want to do their techniques. I didn't use batting to pad and I ironed on the face and tummy before I stuffed, I also chose to close the arms in a different place, mainly due to being better at closing along a straight instead of a curve.

Well done Audrey and Maude on a great pattern, now I have to make the girl robot and this time I promise that I will stick to the pattern!! :-)

This is the robot before stuffing.

And this is the card that I made him.

And this is Aidan after recieving the robot, very happy boy :-)

Gifts for friends kids

Gifts for friends kids
Originally uploaded by MandyMade

I found this pattern in Homespun. I love making Kate Hendersons designs so naturally I had to make this one too. I made 4 of the large and 4 of the small to give as gifts to friends kids.

They were very easy to make and as a production line goes, fast to make. All the materials I used were from my stash. For photos of all of the platypus go to my flickr.

Pippa, Polly and Penny: design by Kate Henderson from 'Australian Homespun Vol 10.1. Handmade by MandyMade

Pressy for Aidan

Pressy for Aidan
Originally uploaded by MandyMade

I made this little friend for my son. He was very easy to make and I used my endless journeys on the train to crotchet the scarf. He has squeezed him a bit much around the neck and now it doesn't have any stuffing!! So he's a bit floppy headed now, but much loved.

Pattern: Robot Bear, more softies, Penguin Books, design by Heidi Iverson, Handmade by MandyMade

Pressy for Lily

Pressy for Lily
Originally uploaded by MandyMade

This one is also from Futuregirl. I enlarged the pattern again, I think i should have stuffed the legs a bit more so they were more rounded. I have added this to a flickr group, you need to check out one of the photo, a lady made 99 of these for her family. It took me a little while to make this one, i can't imagine making that many.

Pressy for Lilli

Pressy for Lilli
Originally uploaded by MandyMade

I found this pattern while looking on Softie Making from Futuregirl. She has a few free patterns that you can download. They are fantastic patterns they have to be seen to be belivered. I actually enlarged the pattern to fit on an A3 sheet intead of A4 as I was giving this to a baby. I also used french knots instead of beads or sequens for the baby.

Polly 2

Polly 2
Originally uploaded by MandyMade

This is the second Polly. I made it for my cousins little girl. She has named it the Mandy doll!!

This time I stuffed the arms and legs and sewed it into the body instead of stuffing and closing later. This technique works better for me.

The material I used for the head was very thin so I fused it to a piece of calico. This seemed to work. I should have done the same with the ears though, they keep flopping!!


Pattern: softies, Penguin Books, design by Carly Schwerdt, Handmade by MandyMade

Maisie

I made this little friend for a friend of my sons for her 4th birthday. I also got some MandyMade tags made, this is the first time I have used them.

Stitching comments: Picking the material was probably the hardest, I really loved the material that was used in the book and just couldn't get it out of my head.

Pattern: maisie, more softies, Penguin Books, design by Kate Henderson

Little Chick

Stitching comments: all by hand

Pattern: softies kit, Therese Laskey

Babushka doll

I made this little friend for my sister for her birthday

Stitching comments: There was a lot in this one that was supposed to be done by machine but I liked hand sewing it.

Lessons Learned: My sewing machine doesn't have blanket stitch!!

Pattern: from the magazine Homemade Vol25 No 10 design by Jhoanna Monte Aranez

Tea anyone?

I made these for my mums birthday to give as thank yous.

Stitching comments: I have never made anything en masse before, may never again!! I had a little production line happening. I did a french knot for the nose instead of a bead, I think it worked out better for me.

Lessons Learned: wool felt, much better than acrylic!! I had to find that out somehow.

Pattern: softies, Therse Laskey, design by Heather Pudewa, my husband designed the tag.

Little Robot

I made this little friend for my husband for fathers day. It was very difficult hiding the fact I was making it, our son was a bit excited and wanted to tell Daddy all about it.

Stitching comments: I couldn't find any wool in the shops (I didn't try that hard mind you it is the end of the season) so i had so small corduroy left over from a jacket I made so I used that instead. He was a little bit fiddly to make but worked out in the end. I need to work out how to do weighted stuffing a bit better, I just used a bag of rice in the bottom.

Lessons Learned: It is very tricky to poke bendy wire through a tight seam!!

Pattern: softies, Therese Laskey, design by Hillary Lang

Tea and cake?

I bought the American book softies and the kit from Amazon, couldn't resist. With the kit you get felt and thread to make a cup cake. So I did!! I also made the tea bag.

Stitching comments: The cup cake was entirely hand sewn with whip stitch which I haven't really done before. I'm not use to having my join stitching exposed like that. The cream was a bit tricky but once I worked it out it was fine.
The tea bag was really easy, it's so cute. These two are definitely going to be on my gift making list.

Lessons Learned: Whip stitch

Pattern: both from softies, Therese Laskey. Cup cake design by Aoi Horn, tea bag designed by Heather Pudewa