tricks of the trade #1...

A while ago I made two short films which are uploaded to You Tube, one of those films, the free motion embroidery one has had over 160,000 views.  I keep meaning to make another, this time showing how I stuff a softie.  The reasoning for this is that I am quite brutal when it comes to getting that stuffing in, there's lots of banging and bashing it on a table top involved to shape it, and poking with a stick, which is what brings me to the point of this post, tricks of the trade #1...

STICKS

  I find that all artists and designers always have certain tools they love, and I do love my stuffer sticks.  Except this one is not really a stuffer stick, it's a chop stick!

Now, you can buy proper bona fide stuffer sticks,

 (my Harry Potter wand)

and I do have one, except mine wasn't bought, I pinched it. 

When I worked for Coats Crafts UK (I can tell this story now as I haven't worked there for a good few years now!), one thing that did bug me was their reluctance to try anything new.  Ideas would be put forward at the product development meetings only to be met with a negative reaction, that was until one of our competitors came out with something similar.  Imagine the scene : an idea that had been pitched for a while :  Rag Doll kits, 'Oh no, couldn't possibly do that, too complicated/expensive'.  That was until a company called the Little Experience came out with a range, then the reaction was 'We should be doing these, why aren't we doing these?'.  Err, well we could have been doing them if you'd listened to your design team!

The story rolls on, as happens in most in-house design studios, we then have to go and purchase one of the competitor products for manufacturing analysis.  Inside said kit, was exhibit A, the stuffer stick, which eventually fell into my bag and made it's way home.  While this particular stuffer stick is very nice, has been extremely useful over the years, and also doubles as a wand occasionally, I do tend to revert back to my trusty old chop stick (which was also 'acquired', this time from a chinese restaurant), and this is why...

Stuffer sticks are used to get the stuffing into all the little nooks and crannies of a softie.  I use the end to push small chunks of stuffing in one at a time.  The chop stick is thinner than the stuffer stick, but despite that, it seems to retain it's strength, which is good as even when I'm being really rough with it, it doesn't feel like it's going to break. 

I also find the little square end it has very useful.  Quite often when I'm stuffing softies, I'll get issues like the one above, a stubborn crease which will just not go.  The most effective way to rectify this, 

is to take a small piece of stuffing,

and gently push it into place, over the existing stuffing, to fill out the crease with the square end.  The chop stick works better for me in this instance, as the pointed end of the stuffer stick is too fine and pokes straight through the stuffing I'm trying to get in, and the flat end is too wide as it tends to move not only the extra stuffing, but also what is already inside, which is exactly what I don't want it to do having already spent time shaping it.

So, that's it, a post all about sticks!  Just to finish off, here's oops of the week...

I made two right ears, ...oops!

sewing bee...

Here in the UK, everyone in the crafting world is currently going Great British Sewing Bee crazy (for what it's worth, I am Team Lauren), although I suspect the rather easy on the eye Patrick Judge may have a little something to do with it's popularity!

Anyway, in celebration of all the sewing machines which will no doubt now be being purchased, here is my contribution to get people sewing.  In the Sewing Bee, they are making clothes.  In my humble opinion, sewing clothes can be quite complicated, so if you are new to the craft, here's a simple little project to try which encompasses a handful of techniques, a sewing bee softie...

You will need :

selection of fabric : black & yellow (I used fabrics with sewing related prints!)

selection of craft felt

toy stuffing

2 small buttons or beads

sewing thread

embroidery thread (I used Pearl Cotton 8)

paper, pencil & scissors

pins & a needle

Step 1 : First create 2 squares of fabric, (8x8cm) by patch-working together 3 strips for each. 

Step 2 :  Draft yourself a pattern for the Bees body by drawing an oval shape onto the paper that is roughly 6.5cm tall and 5cm across.  Cut out and pin the template to the first of the fabric squares and trim to size.  Repeat for the other piece.

Step 3 : Pin the 2 fabric ovals, right sides together, sew round the edge to join (either by hand using backstitch or on a sewing machine), leaving a small gap for turning it back right side round.

Step 4 : Through the gap, stuff the bee, tuck in the fabric edges and then stitch the gap closed.

Step 5 : Switch to the embroidery thread and add eyes by attaching 2 small circles of craft felt with a tiny button or bead in the center.

Step 6 : Make yourself another template, this time a wing shape (mine is kind of like a flower petal) and cut 2 from the craft felt.  Stitch into position with the embroidery thread.

Step 7 : To finish off, after the wings are attached, take the needle up through the middle of the bee and tie a loop in this thread so you can hang your bee up.

And that's it, all done.  A quick bit of sewing and you've practiced pattern drafting, patchwork, sewing, applique and embroidery!  You could make lots and create a mobile, and even nip over to Whip Up for the Ladybird project I posted there, both insects are about the same size so will work great as a pair.

dalmatian...

I don't know if it's my internet or blogger itself that is to blame, but it's just taken me over an hour to just load up this one image!  So, to play it safe for now, all I'm going to say is...

Dalmatian Softie (spelt it right first time for once!)  ...is on Etsy now.

Fabric & felt...

When I started designing patterns for the Countryside Softies book, there were decisions to be made regarding materials.  I tend to work mainly using a base of felted wool, and for a number of reasons chose to stick with this as it's easy to work with, very forgiving for those who are a bit nervous about their stitching, and also I do love the way it looks for the finished piece.

But, I was also aware that Softie design is already a fairly smallish market, and one which was reduced further by the use of felted wool.  I've had quite a few emails from crafters struggling to find wool clothing suitable to use.  My own stash has not been added to as often as I would like.  I will still be using felted wool for items I make myself, but it's what they call a 'no brainer' for any PDF patterns I release to use fabrics as their base.  Which means I'm now working on choosing which fabrics to use for which designs, which is actually amazingly hard, as from a business perspective, the fabrics can't overpower the design as the images of the finished pieces are what will potentially sell the patterns.  

Also, as a way of giving my patterns a bit of kerb appeal, it's all about the added extras.  This is why I'm aiming for the patterns to include other bits and pieces, like the cat pattern will be a large cat design alongside the kitten, mouse and a miniature ball of wool.  I'm also waiting till I've got 3 patterns complete, as if I launch three instead of just one initially, again from a business perspective it gives more opportunities to run launch offers, 2 for 1 that kind of thing.  

As an aside, do you think there is a market for scrap bags of felted wools?  It's something I'm going to give a try, but one factor coming up against the idea is our UK postal system and the recent increased charges!  Not good for small businesses at all and it's leaving many to have to re-think their product range entirely, which is a real shame.

Etsy update,

I've added a few new items to the Etsy shop, they are...

SOLD

Fantastic Mr Fox, using that lovely Marvel comic print I talked about last time,

some cotton reel pincushions, using the same fabric,

 

and three more pincushions using a sewing pattern print as I'm always getting a steady trickle of emails enquiring about these so thought it would be a good idea to sew a little batch.

All are on Etsy now.