A softie day......

Sunday (and Saturday night) turned into a completely softie day here in my little sewing studio.

I have a number of exciting new ventures which I can't tell you about yet.....but at least here is the beginning of one of them..

You might remember my doll making from before and thus eventually the Pipples arrived.

Well, the softie-maker in me was still not happy, not completely fulfilled - I wanted to make a softie with character, using all the lovely fabrics that I have stashed away......

So Sunday was the day for it - I started by looking through some vintage teddy and soft toy making books, then sketched a rough idea of what I wanted and drew a pattern and made these little chaps here....

I experimented with their faces, I liked the open eyes better and the effect I got from using the free-motion embroidery foot on my machine. But, the softie in my head needed to be bigger.....so I looked at my Lucie Attwell books for a bit of inspiration and decided to make a Pixie...... at least that was the idea! He looks a little scary I think!!I think it's the eyes!! And maybe the mouth!So then I went back and made the first ones a bit bigger! The idea was to make the prototypes out of any old fabric until I found the right shape, and then to let loose on the lovely stuff!!! Hmm!!

The lovely soft furry fleece was calling me!!! I made the next one out of it!!

The only thing I can say, is that I have learned that the fleece will be lovely when I get the pattern right!!!! (DON"T mention the arms!!!!!!) I wanted them a bit longer, I said a bit longer!
However, how cool is it that he can do this?!!He looked a little fed up so I made him a friend to get away from the pattern! A little oblong friend.Then I had a cup of tea, and a biscuit or two......and, not one to give up, I tried again. This little chap looks more or less exactly as he had in my head. He's called Olivier, after Lawrence, and because he's Olive Green. I LOVE him!! Okay, maybe the arms are still a little long but he's very cute. So that's how I spent my Sunday. Hope yours was good! Obviously, being me, I am now addicted to making these creatures and I made little Olivier a friend, just so he had someone to talk to, you understand. OOooh and I named them - meet the Luvvies!!! (They have a love heart on their front and another little one on their tush!!!)