Skirt and toy making

I have been busy this week trying to stock the etsy shop, so I haven't had lots of time to post. Although I have made some delicious ice-cream that will be an upcoming post. Yum.

But I thought I'd share what I've been up to. I have made some cute skirts for my girls to wear. I followed this awesome blog here from Larissa Holland on making this cute three-tiered ruffle skirt. I modified it of course for the little one.

These should come in handy on July 4th

They were easy and fun to make, and didn't take too much time (score). I bought a ruffler foot (which I had not heard of before) to be able to do this project.

I bought this one here. Even though my machine is not a singer, this foot still worked on my machine. It was the cheapest option too. Thanks to good ol' amazon for our prime shipping, I was ruffling the layers in no time.

And thanks to Larissa from mmmcrafts for telling me to rip my fabric on the grain instead of cutting. It really did save a lot of time and made this skirt fairly quick to make.

I've had fun ruffling things. I added a rag doll to my toy making with a cute little ruffled skirt.

The toys in my etsy shop I've been working on

So I've been sewing skirts and toys this week. Fun stuff!

Happy Fox is in the Shop

I currently have this cute little guy in my etsy shop. He is made out of corduroy, wool felt, and cute woodsy printed flannel. His limbs have been double stitched so that he's durable. And his face is hand-embroidered. I will make more as I have some left over corduroy. I also have some fabric to make a cute little girl fox.

I had a lot of fun making this little fox. I don't know what it is about making little stuffed toys. It makes me happy to see them come to life. 

If you're interested, here is the link to the shop:

https://www.etsy.com/shop/AHappyCarrotCrafts?ref=hdr_shop_menu

pom-pom tail for the giraffe

I wanted to show you how I make the pom-pom tail for the giraffe soft toy. I experimented with time-lapse photography. While I can't guarantee that the video is beautiful, it is interesting to watch. Sorta. Here are directions and time-lapse video to show you how to make the pom-pom tail for the giraffe rag doll/softie. Or you can just make a bunch of pom-poms and hang them on things. That's fun too.

 How to make the pom-pom tail:

1. Cut two identical circle donut shapes out of cardboard or cardstock (use a craft knife to cut middle circle out). If you want your pattern to last longer, use cardboard. My donuts are about an inch and a half in diameter. Make yours larger or smaller depending on how big you want your pom-pom.

2. Cut 3 pieces of yarn about a yard in length each. With the two cardboard donut pieces together, begin wrapping all 3 pieces of yarn through the hole and around the outside of the pattern pieces. Continue wrapping all the way around the circle. 

3. After the yarn has been fully wrapped around the two donut circles, use a small pair of sharp scissors to cut the yarn. Cut it along the top edge of the donut, in between the two cardboard pieces. Do not take the cardboard pieces off yet.

4. Cut three 18 inch pieces of yarn from the skein. Take one strand and fit it into the space between the two donut cardboard pieces. Make sure you have an even amount of yarn on each side of the pom-pom (9 inches ). Tie the yarn tight once, and then double knot it. Repeat with the second and third strands of yarn.

5. There should be six (9 inch) strands hanging off the pom-pom. Combine the strands so that you have 3 pieces made up of two strands of yarn each. Braid the 3 together until you have a braid 2-3 inches long. Double knot the end of the braid and cut off the excess yarn. Now you have the pom-pom tail!

And that's a wrap!

putting your ragdoll/softie together: part 2 (embroidering face)

We left off in the last rag doll post (see here for previous post on putting together your rag doll, and here for free pattern for basic doll) of this tutorial at getting ready to embroider the face of the doll or giraffe (depending on which pattern you are using). If you have never embroidered before, don't be intimidated by this pattern. The embroidery is rather simple, and you can totally do it.

So grab your partially assembled doll and let's go. You should already have the head pieces and the body pieces sewn together and pressed. To embroider the face, you will need:

• Six-stranded embroidery floss (DMC) for the eyes 
• DMC floss for nose/snout (use 4 of the 6 strands) 
• DMC floss for the mouth (use 4 of the 6 strands)
• embroidery needle (I used size 5 needle)
• Disappearing ink pen
• Optional: small embroidery hoop

For the basic doll, grab the pattern-piece for the head and place your front-head/body piece over the top of it. You should be able to see the face from the pattern through the fabric. Using the disappearing ink pen, draw directly on the fabric, tracing the lines showing through the fabric from the pattern piece.

Once you have the face drawn on, you are ready to embroider on the lines you traced. Thread your needle with about 18 inches of floss for the eyes, using all six strands. Knot the end of the strand of floss. If using an embroidery hoop, put it on the head-piece now. Beginning on the right side of the circle, and about half way up one of the eyes, bring your needle up through the fabric on the line you traced. You will be outlining the eye using the embroidery stitch called the backstitch. Find instructions from the DMC website here. You will be stitching from right to left, or counter-clockwise. 

image from dmc-usa.com

The last stitch in outlining the eye will go down into the fabric directly where you began the needle. Do not tie-off the floss because you will fill in the outline using the satin stitch. Use the dmc link above again to read about the satin stitch. It is a stitch used to fill in spaces. Make sure to stay-stitch at the end. 

Repeat the process for the other eye. 

In stitching the nose and mouth, you will only use 4 of the six strands of the embroidery floss. Stitch directly on the lines you traced, making sure to stay-stitch at the end. You can use the backstitch again, but I prefer to use the split stitch. It is similar to the backstitch, but you bring the needle up in the middle of your last stitch, which splits it.

image from dmc-usa.com

After the face is embroidered, I like to press it with the iron. This will set the stitches and also press your fabric flat again after it has been in the embroidery hoop. 

I like to add pink cheeks to the doll-face. I don't know if this is how other doll-makers do it, but I'll tell you how I do it. I use a pink pastel-chalk; I bought it from an art store. I color the tip/pad of my pointer finger (on my dominant hand) with the pastel. Then I smear my finger on the fabric in a circular motion. I usually have to do this a few times to get the shade and even color I want. 

Now your doll has rosy cheeks!

If you are making the giraffe doll, you will embroider the snout piece first (felt). Using the disappearing marker, draw the nostrils on the snout piece of felt. For the snout, you will use 4 strands of your choice of colored embroidery floss. Start by cutting a length of floss about twelve inches long. Separate two of the strands from the 6, as you will only be using 4 strands (like in the basic doll above). Stitch the nostrils using the split stitch. I used the split stitch on the snout for the nostrils and for the mouth, using 4 strands of floss on the mouth as well.

After the snout is embroidered, place the snout on the front head piece, using your pattern as a guide of where to place it. Pin it in place. Then thread a needle with either matching thread or embroidery floss (two strands) to hand-sew  (whip-stitch) the snout on the face with about 1/16 inch seam allowance. Leave about an inch un-sewn at the bottom of the snout to stuff later, but make sure you end with a stay stitch still. Press with an iron to set your embroidery stitches.

With the snout sewn on, now add the eye patches (once again using the pattern piece as a guide) and pin. I use the machine to stitch them on the face, but you can hand-sew those on too if you prefer.

Now that the eye-patches are attached, it is time to embroider the eyes. Using the disappearing ink pen, draw the eye shape on to the felt eye-patches. I use all 6 strands of floss and use the backstitch (see above) to outline the eyes, and the satin stitch to fill them in. I then embroider (using all 6 strands of a piece of white embroidery floss) a french knot in the upper right portion of each eye. Here is the link again to the embroidery stitches: http://www.dmc-usa.com/Education/How-To/Learn-the-Stitches/Embroidery-Stitches.aspx

image from dmc-usa.com

This makes the eye seem to sparkle a bit. You could add it to the basic doll face as well.

The doll is starting to get a little personality of it's own! Doesn't that make you happy? It makes me happy.

In the next rag-doll post here, I'll go over sewing the limbs, stuffing them, and putting the doll together. Yay!!

sock bunny?

What do you do when your blonde-haired angel-faced 6 year-old niece wants you to make bunnies in a little basket like the ones Grandma has? Well I'll tell you what you do: you run over to Grandma's (your mom) house to snap some quick pictures of these little sock bunnies.

Now....I have no idea how to make these. I remember being enamored by them when I was a child. And funny enough, my mom can't remember how she made them either. It was back in the days when she sewed, and she's outgrown that now. Does that mean that someday I'll outgrow this crafty thing? Hmmmm. We'll see I guess. 

So if anyone out there has some suggestions for me,  I'd appreciate it. Because not only does she look like an angel, but my niece is pretty darn sweet as well, and I don't want to disappoint her. I'm sure Pinterest can help me out too. I'll keep you posted. 

sneakity peak of giraffe softie

Hello again! It's been a busy week. I have been working on a new project! Lately I have been into making stuffed toys. I love the cute little expressions I can give the toys, and I truly get happy and have a feeling of love of (I know, weird) when I see the toy come together. I might even talk to it...."hello there, cutie!"

My toddler has claimed all five that I have made this week as her own. She shrieks if you try to take them away from her, and on the car-ride to the bus stop the other morning (for the older kids), she insisted on having all of them plus her lovies (two smelly bunnies that she can't sleep without) in the car with her. She looked like she was buried in an avalanche of giraffes. But she wasn't screaming, so we went with it.

Why have I made five so far? Well, it's all part of the process of making a pattern and then perfecting it. And sometimes I can be a bit of a perfectionist about certain things. Although I am proud to say that I have made great strides since my younger years in overcoming prefectionism.....yes, I misspelled that on purpose.