Tutorial: Easy Teddy

This is the easiest teddy I've ever made. I should perhaps mention I've only ever made two types of teddy, but this was definitely the easiest. You don't even need a sewing machine - as long as you can sew a running stitch you can make this teddy.

YOU WILL NEED:

Some fabric, twice the size of the teddy you intend to make
A length of ribbon
Needle and cotton
Pencil
Card and an existing teddy to use as a template (or just freestyle one)
Toy stuffing
Fabric paints/ pens

1. Put something on the telly to entertain you whilst sewing. Pride & Prejudice is my film of choice because, despite loving it, I have no TV boyfriends in it to distract me

2. Ensure your workspace doesn't look like mine

3. Create your template. You can either draw around a teddy you already own, in which case make sure it's a flat, unarticulated teddy like the one pictured below ...

... or create your own template. I'm using one from Sew Pretty Christmas Homestyle by Tone Finnanger. I highly recommend her books, they're filled with fabulous projects.

When creating your template remember not to draw in ears, ideally they should be a seperate template to ensure they stand up correctly but, honestly, anything goes. As long as you can sew it you'll be fine.

You'll notice on my template I've marked where to leave a hole for each ear and a hole to allow me to reverse and then stuff the teddy. You'll need to mark these on your template too. The ear holes will, naturally, be the same width as the ear and the side hole just needs to be big enough to allow you to turn the finished teddy in the right way and also allow you to get your fingers inside to position the stuffing.

4. Fold your fabric in half and place your template in the middle. The entire template will need to be sewn around, no using the fold in any way (sorry!). Draw around your template and remember to draw around your ear template twice.

Comme ca!

5. I've found that when sewing together the bottom piece of fabric tends to move about so pin your two pieces together just to be on the safe side.

6. Running stitch your way around each template using the line you drew as your guideline. A very handy tip I picked up from Tone Finnanger, sew on the line! (sorry about the over exposure here)

7. Once it's all stitched (apart from your gaps!) cut out your template with a seam allowance added. Don't forget to clip the curves. I tend to veer into a fatter seam allowance around the area for the side hole as that will need to be invisibly stitched closed and I've discovered it's easier with more fabric. The choice is yours though.

8. Turn the ears the right way in and insert into the hole you left on the head upside down (trust me). Once you've positioned them to your satisfaction sew the hole closed. In the picture below the left ear is in place and the right ear demonstrates how the ear should be positioned. You just need to insert it between the fabric inside the hole, not lay it on the top like the right ear.

9. Turn your teddy in the right way ...

10. ... and stuff! (my favourite part!)

11. Slip stitch your side hole closed. Youtube has some excellent tutorials on this stitch if you're not familiar with it but essentially you're still doing a running stitch but each complete stitch is on opposite sides of the fabric. Remember to stitch on the folded-in fabric so you can't see the cotton and when it comes to knotting the fabric poke the knot in so it's hidden.

12. Grab your ribbon and tie, tightly, around the neck to define the head.

13. Draw on your face, add any other painted features you please, iron to ensure they're wash proof (or follow the instructions of your paints if they differ) and you're done!

Thanks for stopping by,

Project: Day Bag

I have lost my sewing enthusiasm for a bit after the tragedy of the Long Oregon Rail Dress and probably won't be following my plan of frantic sewing in every spare moment. Frankly, I need to learn to strike a balance between important things like eating and my current obsession (whatever it may be) so I'm going to continue to fail miserably at the SSS challenge but will hopefully remember to eat more than a packet of crisps in the evening in return. Not quite a win but certainly a little healthier for me!

I never did get around to posting about the finished product but here it is (dumped next to the cooking oils on my kitchen work surface upon return from work last night, sorry about that).

I really really like this bag. It's made from a pattern from Tone Finnanger's book Sew Pretty Homestyle which is stuffed full of fabulous craft projects and I fully intend to make at least one of almost everything.

I got the fabric and handles from eBay and whipped this puppy up in less than a day. It also involved absolutely no seam ripping which is terribly unusual for me and made me very happy. The fabric rose on the front also comes from the same book, although I've yet to add the leaves to the pin.

I'm making another of these for my sister, a month late for her birthday (better than a year but I'm beginning to see a trend here!) and best friend, Jemma, has also requested one so it looks like I'll have a production line going shortly ... although it'll have to wait until after dinner. Obviously.

Thanks for stopping by,

Short and Happy

After thoroughly confusing myself over styles for body shapes and disgusted with myself for spending far too much time on the subject I decided to cheer myself up with some simple crafting projects I had been meaning to start/ finish for some time:

On the left is a rose I'm making into a brooch for my Day Bag (finished but not yet posted about) and on the right is a ladies boot key ring in a fabric I adore. I drew the sole on with fabric pens and ironed it fast (hopefully!). It's a little too big for my key ring so I may make it into a handbag charm instead. I'm undecided over whether to sew laces across the front seam as I'm unsure if they would even be noticeable with the fabric print being so strong or if it would make it too busy. Both projects are from Tone Finnanger's Books which can be found here.

And then whilst catching up on everybody's week yesterday via my Google Reader I stumbled across this post by Charlotte of Tuppence and Ha'penny Vintage and instantly fell in love with the short and tee illustration in the second picture (below) and spent an hour or so figuring out how to make it. Not only will it make me happy, better yet, it will fulfill 2 of the 5 spots of my Sew Summer Essentials. It contradicts almost everything I've learnt about dressing for my shape and probably won't suit me but as Zoe pointed out in her comment, fashion do's and don't's are more like guidelines than actual rules and I'm with her and Cap'n Jack.

This is the outfit I want (shorts and striped tee) and the patterns I'll be using:

{ Source: Tuppence and Ha'penny Vintage }

Simplicity 3688

I'll be using the trousers to make the shorts (obviously). I had thought about using the shirt to make the tee but it has no centre seam and a yoke that would make it a little difficult to add a centre seam, for me anyway.

Simplicity 1008

So instead I'm going to use my newest purchase, once it arrives, to make the tee. This is actually a dress with straight sides so I'll be adding the centre seam and adding some shape to the side seams ... theoretically anyway!

I'm using an old dark blue cotton flat sheet for the shorts and have dug out a zip that is about 20" too long. I thought I'd get some red and white striped cotton material for the top as part of what drew me to the illustration was the fabric/ colour choices. Better yet, they match my wardrobe colours. Whoop whoop!

Right, I'm off to start cutting out!

Thanks for stopping by,

When Pigs Fly

I started this before Christmas, a little something for a friend who has now been waiting almost a year for her birthday present. I plan on (hopefully) finishing the birthday present today and thought I would add the pig as I'm sure she thought she'd get the present only when pigs started flying (I'm easily amused!)

The pattern came from Sew Pretty Christmas Homestyle by Tone Finnanger. There's an abundance of fabulously pretty things to make in her books (I have two and want at least one of almost everything). And, even better, you really only need to know how to do a running stitch in order to make most of her things.

All you need to do is photocopy the designs at the back of the book, trace them onto card, draw around the shapes on to your chosen fabric and then hand stitch along the line you've just drawn. Only then do you cut out the shape, adding your seam allowance. Turn in the right way round, stuff and stitch closed. Once all the pieces have been stuffed and closed you tack the pieces together and all of a sudden pigs are flying.

So far I've made two different teddies, some mittens and the pig. Next on the list is a pink and white dog teddy for my friend's little girl, Thea, as well as finishing the aforementioned tardy birthday present ... unfortunately not a Tone creation and significantly more complicated!

Thanks for stopping by,