An update on my 'critter' sewing adventures

I've been a bit slack with updating my bear blog lately. Between the two very active children in my life, the husband who is home for a few weeks over the christmas/new year period, 40+ guinea pigs in the backyard, a reasonably well behaved dog, giant fish and now two new baby cockatiels... we have a busy little world!

But here is a look at the last bunny I made in my newest rabbit pattern. This little lady is named 'Maple', and she has already been claimed. She was made from a mix of coffee and cream ratinee curly mohair - which I think worked quite well as something a little different.



Maple ended up sitting a lot straighter - which is what I originally wanted, after I changed the method of stuffing the tummy/legs (really firm, heavily weighted belly, firmly stuffed and weighted feet, and much softer top-part of the legs).







I've also been working on some quirky new guinea pig plushies (because I am a little guinea pig obsessed...).




(The belly of the mumma piggy is lined in 100% cotton quilting fabric, and padded so that the babies snuggle in well and stay in place while mumma sits over them - kind of like a guinea pig version of a babushka doll!).


Babies in the tummy...

...babies out! I think it's something a little different, and a little fun, and will appeal to those who loved those 'puppy surprise' toys from years ago. (or even those pregnant barbie dolls that used to be available... which was me! lol)

A different kind of sewing

I decided that i should sew an outfit for Chelsea. In the big batch of hand-me-down clothes i got from my mum were two outfits i had sewn for my younger siblings 10 and 7 years ago. So i knew i had done it before. Just not in a very long time!!

Sewing clothing is similar to bear making, but different enough to prove a bit of a challenge. I 'stole' the pattern from another commercially made outfit of Chelsea's, giving it a few tweaks to make it look more like i wanted it to look (and a little less complicated!). Cut it out. Made some more tweaks. Started sewing - yet more tweaks... a bit of unpicking. A bit of re-designing. A bit of experimentation and trial and error - and finally the outfit was done!

Its like an oversized romper, or one-piece bloomers, made in a sweet 'old fashioned' butterfly and flower print of muted creams, pinks and blues. It has two butterfly buttons down the back and some buttons and snap fasteners between the legs for easy nappy changes. I'm pretty happy with it. Some bits are a bit uneven, but I think it's great for a prototype!