Cat Ears Tutorial

 I'm planning a mother daughter night soon.  L and I will be going to see the middle school play The Aristocats.  I'm too excited.  I want it to be an over the top girls night, three year old style.  I made these cat ears for L and I to wear to the play, and perhaps to the gelato place afterwards.  J isn't quite ready to sit through a play, but she'll get to wear the ears, too.  Any recommendations for making the night more fun?

I sort of figured out the ears as I went, and it turned out pretty easy.  I think the trick is that the ear fabric needs to be thick so that it will stand up.  I bought our headbands at the dollar store, and they have a fabric cover over them, which also might help hold the ears in place.  I meant to get some that were hair colored, but L liked these bright colored ones and they did seem comfier.  I think they turned out well.  I didn't sketch out a pattern, so you'll have to draw your own ear shape, which I'm sure you can handle.  I think bunny ears would be great, too.

Materials:

thick fabric, lightweight fabric

head band, matching embroidery floss

1.  Cut 4 ears from a thick fabric like fleece, flannel, or - like mine - an old baby sleeper.  

2.  cut 2 smaller ears for the inner ear.  Fold the raw edges toward the back and iron flat.  Top stitch or hand sew to on of the fleece ears. 

3.  With RSF, sew front and back fleece ears together.  Turn RSO and tuck bottom edges in.  

4.  Place one ear over headband where you'd like it.  Starting on one side from the back, stitch through the bottom edge of the ear, around the headband, and back in the bottom edge. Repeat along the entire bottom edge.  Repeat with second ear.

Hope that's clear enough!  Let me know if you need better pictures.

Mr. Fox

The dapper and cuddly Mr. Fox is now drafted into a pattern and available below. The pattern has a bunch of pieces, but is still fairly simple. It includes instructions for making your own little tie, too. I'm packing mine up in a box to send off to a sweet little boy and his new little sister tomorrow. Why is Christmas so far away anyway?

Download the pattern here until Friday at noon (I decided to extend it a bit).   Updated:  The giveaway is over, you can find it in the shop.  Enjoy! And please share your foxes in the wewilsons flickr pool!

Sidetracked

My sister asked if I would make a fox for my nephew for Christmas.  He's been watching a fox in their backyard and calling him Mr. Fox.  Even though Christmas is over 4 months away, I decided to start on the fox right away - I get excited about new projects.  


Anyway, I love how he turned out.  I usually make my little animals small and compact, but I wanted this guy to be really huggable.  So he's long and floppy, and made of oh-so soft linen, stuffed with wool.  I made him a simple little tie to make him more of a Mister.

I decided he'd make a great pattern, so I made a second one just to get all the details right.  Consider this your pattern-giveaway head's up.  I'm hoping to have it finished in the next few days.

Little Coloring Book Lessons

I made this little coloring book for L to help her learn the Lord's Prayer as part of our home/pre-school.  I saw the idea somewhere else, but thought the graphics were little cheesy, so I just made my own.  I also used all capital letters, because she doesn't recognize lower case letters yet.  She loved it, and is really proud of her little book.  I may have to do this with all of our bible lessons!  I'm getting excited imagining a whole library of tiny little coloring books made by L. 

It's a single page that you color, then fold and cut into a little book.   Download the page here.  You can find directions for folding this kind of zine on ehow.

The Santa Project

I know it seems counter-intuitive, but I believe that limitations can produce an extremely creative environment.  This is why I love rule based projects.  You may remember my Orange Curtain Project from a couple of years ago.  I've been wanting to do another, but I didn't have any really great ideas. Until, now.

Without further ado, may I introduce The Santa Project. 

I've never really been into pre-made doll heads, I'd rather just make my own.  But, I recently came across a bunch of Santa doll heads.  My first thought was, who wants a Santa doll?  My second thought was, who else could you make with those heads?  So that's the challenge.  I have 6 little Santa heads, and a brain full of ideas.

This project is a just-for-fun, stress-free zone.  So, no time limit.  Just a bunch of old, mustached, white man dolls.  I have a ton of other things I should be doing, so I'm not sure when I'll get the first one done.

In the meantime, does anyone have any tips for working with these things?  How to attach them to the body?  How you might attach a beard?  What kind of paint you could use on the face?  I clearly have no idea what I'm doing.

Arts in the Alley

I had a little table at Arts in the Alley this Thursday.  It was a lot of fun to actually interact with people looking at my toys and show them how they work.  I had a blast, the music and the company was wonderful, and the girls got tattooed and danced a bit, too.  If I can make a bunch more stuff by October, I'll do the Chickasaw Craft Fair. 

I spent a good chunk of today listing all the left-over toys in the shop.  Head over to see - a couple of Owl and Pussycat flip dolls, some sharks and crocodiles, turtles and pigs!

Mark My Words

I have commitment issues when it comes to reading long books.  Perhaps its because I get distracted by the need to draw several punny bookmarks?  No, that can't be it.  Whatever it is, having a good bookmark is essential for reading a good long book - so why not have a clever one? 

Nose Stuck in a Book

Dog Ear

I drew mine on cardstock and cut them out.  I've put all three on a single page, so you can just print and cut them out.  I think you could laminate them and they'd make great stocking stuffers or favors for your next book club?   Download the bookmarks here.

Okay, back to reading.

Sewing, sewing

I've been sewing like crazy cakes lately.  I got some new wool stuffing and cotton batting, and I can't believe how awesome it feels.  Somehow, I've been much more productive than usual, and boy, is that fun!  Our new local Arts Commission is having an Arts event at the end of the month, and I really want to participate - because, seriously, isn't it great we have a new local Arts Commission?

So, I'm sewing and sewing. I've got a growing basket of turtles, flying pigs, a giraffe, crocodiles and sharks (yes, sharks!), turnover dolls (ooh, that's new, too), some old fiber art, and a few flip dolls.  Also, I'm finishing up a custom George and the Dragon flip doll, an Alchemy request, and working on a submission to the Renaissance Regional Art Exhibit, which was the inspiration for the turn over dolls.

So I need to show you these new Turn Over Dolls - at least that's what I'm calling them.   One set is a bunny on one side, and a duck on the other. The other design is a cat and fish.  Cool?

And check out my shark.  Yes, it's basically the Smile Crocodile pattern, but in a shark shape. I'll be adding the pattern to the shop as Hungry Shark, unless you guys have a better name?

I had a bit of housekeeping to do, to get legal with the new CPSIA.  If you don't know, all items intended for children now have to be tested for lead and labeled with the makers information.   Items made of fabric and natural materials are exempt from lead testing - thank goodness.  My crocodiles and sharks are made with zippers that I did not test, but the manufacturer did and has a certificate stating there lead free, and yada yada.  It's complicated, and I'm still trying to figure it out, but I'm trying to comply with all the  requirements.  And hey, don't my tags look super cool? 

Have you seen Alchemy on Etsy?  Buyers can describe something they'd like to have made, and then designers make bids for the job.  I've sort of ignored it until now, but now the possibilities for collaborating with interesting folks is totally exciting.  Right now, I'm working on a Plush Walking Stick (Bug) - I mean, what a fun idea, right?

 Whew, that's a lot of pictures for today.  After the Arts in the Alley, I'll be adding all the left over plushes to the shop, so be sure to check in at the end of the month.

Full Circle

The first flip doll I made was actually one of the first toys I made.  I made it for L for her first Christmas.  She was learning her first words, and so I made her a cat and chicken.  It was a little goofy looking, and I had to sew the skirt on by hand because I couldn't figure out a better way to construct it.  Nevertheless, all of you in craft-blog land were so encouraging it made me want to figure it out and make it better.

I started thinking about it immediately, but it was almost two years before I put together the Bunny and Fox flip doll.  This one is clever and flips snugly, and I was pretty excited to figure out a way to assemble it all on the machine so that it would be sturdy.  BUT... honestly, it was a bit cumbersome and big.  Susannah of Art Nest, says something like that in this sweet pattern review.  I thought I was satisfied, and so I made George and the Dragon and my Super Hero from the same pattern.

I got such a great response about these dolls, and several people asked me about commissions.  But I just couldn't bring myself to sew that cumbersome pattern again.  So I declined.  And it ate at me.  I wanted to make this pattern work. 

Finally, this summer, I decided it was time to work out the problems with the pattern.  So this is what I did.  First, I made the George pattern again, making both dolls according to the flip pattern, but not joining them, so that they are actually two separate dolls.

George turned out adorable, but I realized that if I had been starting from scratch, I would have made the dragon totally different. Both of them had seams and steps that were originally included to facilitate the flip, making them unnecessarily complicated without it.

So the next step was to redesign the two dolls as separate dolls.  This time I made them smaller to fit nicely in little hands, and I just simplified the pattern overall, making them more like simple rag dolls. 

 I had a little tweaking to do, but I loved this George and the Dragon about a million times more than the original.  So did I still need the flip?  I considered forgetting it altogether, but I remembered that it was the whole reason I'd started down this design path, so I took one more stab at it, joining the rag dolls in a simple way.  I worried it was too simple - but it turned out simple was the way to go.  Flip doll success!

Now that I've figured out the basic form, I'm on a roll.  I've got about six more designs stewing, and I'm starting to go into project overload!  I said that my next pattern would be an American folk hero (and he's still coming), but he's a little detail heavy, and I needed a little break.  So...

This week, J started saying, "kitty cat," and it reminded me of the cat doll I made for L three years ago.  So, I quickly made a very simple flip doll for J - the Owl and the Pussycat (I can't resist a literary reference!).  This is definitely the easiest flip doll pattern I've made.  With much fewer details and no pesky arms and legs, this little doll came together in no time.  This time, I know it will hold up with lots of play - plus it's pretty darn cute. 

Making this simple little cat flip doll for J was one of those full-circle moments.  Back to a super simple design, but one that I feel confident and proud of.  It feels like... growing up.

Little Red Riding Hood and the Big Bad Wolf flip doll pattern

Flip doll number two is here.  When, I made my first flip doll, so many people told me about the Little Red Riding Hood they had as a kid in the topsy turvy style (with the big skirt).  There are a bunch of vintage handmade ones on etsy - I'm amazed none of them look quite the same.  So I wanted to make one of these for tradition's sake.

My version has Red and the Wolf, and the Wolf has Grandma's hat so you can dress him up, making it perfect for storytelling.  Red's pocket is full of flowers she's been picking for her grandmother when she meets the sly old Wolf.  See more pictures on flickr. 

I don't have much else to say about this little doll - I hope she speaks for herself.  I was a little eager last night and posted the instructions without the pattern - I guess midnight is too late to be blogging?  All is well now.  So here's the deal - 300 free downloads right here.  As always, please let me know what you think of the pattern and instructions.  Update:  Thanks everyone!  I just cut off the giveaway at 335 downloads. 

George and the Dragon are in the shop, and one more flip doll is coming soon - here's a hint:  an American folk tale!