Warm Fuzzies

I've cut out the fur fabric for the Selat. This s a special birthday request from a teenager with attitude and a love of things Star Trek.

The last soft toy I made for her was a tiny teddy bear like the one in the picture. Oh--too many years ago! If I remember rightly it was pink and wispy. I couldn't help reminiscing just a little as the new creation starts to take shape.

E will finish her Secondary school career in the next week or so. She still loves fluffy and shiny things, but often with an unexpected twist. I do believe her chosen footwear for the end of school-year formal dinner-dance occasion is her beloved Converse. They will be tucked under the full-princess-with-sequins-and diamantes-floor-length skirt. Her feet are huge and why should she be uncomfortable! "No-one will be able to see my feet".

So I shouldn't be surprised that I'm working on something that would be a teddy bear if it wasn't for the extra tusks and tufts that will mark it as originating from the planet Vulcan--should I?

 

Woman on a Mission

What does a craft-loving woman do after her first market stall. Rest and recover? I've done a bit of that. Now I'm embarking on a rather unusual mission. I've been asked to make a Sehlat. I had to ask for further information, not being a Star Trek fan myself. Here is the best picture I've been able to find.

You can find more information at the appropriate wiki if you're that way inclined.

It seems I'm looking for a teddy-bear-like creature with six inch fangs and a tufted tail. It just so happens that I have quite a variety of soft toy patterns. The grizzly bear from Marshall Cavendish's 101 Soft Toys seems to be a likely candidate. I'm going to get started tonight by tracing off the pattern. It's one of those old-style scale-up-each-square-to-2.5 cm kind, but I think I'll be using the photocopier instead. Once that's done I'll dig out some suitable fur. Hopefully there's enough in my stash essential fabric collection.

Would you believe, this isn't the most unusual request I have received. Some years ago I made a Veeblax for a nine-year old. The request was accompanied by drawings of  front and side views and special notes on the single protruding eye.

And if you've been wondering about my somewhat unusual silence here: I've spent several hours in the past couple of days on the phone to my internet service provider. I think it's all sorted out now.

 

Adventures of a Camel

Meet Mathew Flinders the camel:He was a birth gift to a friend of my friend L, and after 25 years of loving, he was looking rather tattered. L brought him along yesterday afternoon to see if I could help restore him. He is very precious, despite his age, so I wanted to makes sure he looked right as well as getting him back to a more secure state. In the top right of the pic you can see the length of strong cylindrical bandage that had been holding his neck together. When that came off, his neck was definitely floppy and there were several large holes where the fabric had completely worn away.

First of all we raided my doll and bear stash for camel-coloured materials. Despite my ongoing attempts to sort and reduce my collection of stuff, it's moments like these I'm so glad of my stash! As it turns out, I had some thick felt and some beige corduroy which looked like they would do the job.

• I worked the felt in through the holes to pad out the stuffiing and covered that with the corduroy.
• The new fabric extended well beyond the holes in the camel fur fabric.
• I then ladder-stitched the small openings.
• There were a couple of places where I wasn't sure that I could get the edges of the holes to come together, so I stitched the edges of the camel fur fabric carefully down to the corduroy in those spots.
• When I knew it was all secure, I was willing to risk a bit more, so I started to pull the fur fabric together over the patches--again using ladder stitch.
• In the end it all came together--no holes and original camel fur fabric covering the whole of Matthew Flinders well-loved neck.
• There were a couple of other holes where the legs join the body, but they were easy enough to stitch closed.

So now Matthew Flinders the camel has gone home to the ones who love him, ready for many more years of happiness.

The Next Generation

R made this soft toy in Textile class. She's 14 years old. I'm delighted and impressed by her work. So here it is for you to enjoy: In case you can't quite read the tag: Penguin Pals: "a loving Penguin with large caring eyes and floppy paws and wings"