Zebras with wings (and unicorn pegasuses)

On holiday, I got to make unicorn toys for my daughter, and for a niece I had promised one to, long ago.  I took with me a pattern, but then modified it until I liked the face better.  You can see the first shape in the first zebra (black hair smaller one, Eve) - my modifications in the second (white hair larger, Troy named her Ash).

Later I made wings for the unicorn - and stuffed them, and sewed through the wings so it had a quilted effect.  Troy loved them and begged me for wings for her zebras.

I will post the pattern I made sometime soon!  Kids love unicorns.

I also made her some zebra pants to match her toys.  I love holidays...

The white mane is a knitted piece that uses eyelash wool which is then stitched into the seam - so basically like a plush toy fur texture in a strip.  The horn on the unicorn Pegasus was a piece of leather rolled into a cone.  But I also make them using ram shell horns.

I said no to Troy about giving her zebras horns.

How to make truffula trees (using dyed carded wool)

...just like in 'The Lorax", by Dr. Seuss.

I made these with my daughter's class at school (she is 9).  It was a blast.  The next day, her friend came over to play, and I made Fimo creations with them.  We made a barbaloot bear, and a Lorax, and they had so much fun making all these foods out of Fimo for them.  Then, since I had a few trees home with me for finishing - they played with them in a truffula forest.  They even made a humming fish, and I cut out a circle out of blue cloth for a pond in the forest.  So much fun!

My tutorial is below:

Unipegasus for Phoebe

 

Unipegasus - inspired by a girl who really wanted me to make her a unicorn. 

I used a pattern from a craft book - which I looked at and scaled up by eye as I drew it on a larger piece of paper.  Then of course, I had to make a few adjustments when I was sewing it together on the sewing machine.  I added the hair in advance - laying it along the seams before sewing up those seams, as I knew that would turn out well.  I used hand dyed and spun wool that I had bought at a craft market.

I stuffed the unicorn with soft unspun soft real wool that I had around to use for felting.  Then I added a mouth and red felt tongue. 

The horn was made by sewing a case around a shell shaped like a unicorn horn - then sewing that to the forehead.  I used fancy metallic fabric for that ( mine was stretchy, but then sometimes a bit sags above the horn - non-stretchy would actually be better.)

I had sewed the top of the nose on the wrong way up (part 1), but after tailoring to fix it, and adding the mouth and tongue to suit the 'corn, the end product was a bit goofy and cute - but so is the recipient. So all good.

 This is the pattern I used - from a New Zealand women's weekly pattern from 1971 (but republished recently in a craft book), contributed by Helen Crompton, Waiheke Island, New Zealand (Waiheke is close to Auckland. a ferry ride away).

 

First sewing practice doll - buy a premade doll form to decorate and sew a dress

My mother made me the doll on the right, "Raggedy Ann". She had taught me to sew when I was little by helping me sew a simple doll's dress for my doll. They were selling doll forms at a local craft depot, and I got one for Troy - thinking of that. This is "Raggedy Mary".

Troy designed the doll first, which was sweet. She drew the face on with pencil, and then sewed the nose and mouth herself. I did the eyes and hair. She also sewed a few seams on the dress and apron, and sewed a button on the dress. I really had to hold myself back and let her do the parts she did do, thinking - the whole point of this is for Troy to learn. It can be difficult when one wants to make something perfect yourself - but then what is the point? Passing on skills is far more important. So with great difficulty I held myself back....

And it was great.

Troy threading a needle - children are better than adults at this anyways!

Note: For the dress and apron, I looked at a doll dress pattern I had and replicated the steps, but tailored for this doll. (I would get a doll pattern of some kind with a few clothing options to choose from - aprons, pants, dresses for example.) I didn't have elastic in the house which turned out to be great because I used thin hair elastics and they were perfect!

How to make a rainbow dress (dyeing calico)

I had a vision of a rainbow dress for an upcoming work party. I looked around a bit, but didn't find anything that suited my vision. Then I thought I would go find a beautiful rainbow print from Spotlight and make a simple dress out of it.

A day prior to the function (of course), I went to Spotlight. I searched high and low but there was nothing like I had imagined. I knew that I didn't have the extra money for buying a dress at the shops. After awhile at the store I got the idea of making the dress in plain calico (100% undyed cotton), and then dying it myself. I chose the primary colours (red, yellow, blue) of Dylon dye (the hand-dying variety, there is also one you can do in a washing machine), and envisioned dipping a side of the dress in at a time. The dyes would fade upwards and blend into each other to create other secondary colours, green and orange and purple. I didn't buy a pattern because it was out of my budget (some were $20-30).

The 3 dyes, a dress zipper, and 1.5m of calico fabric came to $31 NZ.

It took me all night to make the dress from a pattern I had that was far too small that I visually sized up looking at a dress I had that fit me - so made my own pattern by following the structure of one, and the look of an actual dress I had. I had to play with it, tailoring it, but eventually made one that was good enough. I was very out of practice! So this was the weak part of my project - and can only improve the next time I do it (I think I will then just use a pattern which fits me).

But the dyeing went great. See the photo below. I dyed in our basement garage, which is perfect for dyeing - just concrete and metal down there. I repurposed a container for the dyeing that I usually used for recycling. Then I had to find a way to the dress dipped for at least 45 min (one side at a time), so I used laundry clips and string, and tied them up to a pole at the right lengths so the dress was suspended evenly in the mixture.


What I did:
First I had washed the dress in the washing machine on hot - so it shrunk as much as possible and wouldn't shrink any more later (my mom's tip). After it was dry, it was wrinkly so I ironed the fabric before (and as a tool during) making the dress.

After the dress was made, I got the dress wet and wrung it out. After dipping the side of the dress in the first colour, I rinsed the dress out in cold water, then warm. Then another side of the damp dress got suspended in the next colour. I was even able to make the fade (which naturally happened anyways) more extended by raising the container up higher for a few moments (so the dress was submerged for a short time deeper in the dye) so the colours blended more.



Important: Dyeing is very fun and easy - IF you are dyeing a natural fabric. It's pure cotton, or wool, or linen etc, it will be great. If it's polyester or viscose or something plastic - the dye won't take.

From problems to opportunities - the holes in Lukie's jeans

During a weekend away, I hand-stitched nice dark denim over some holes in Luke's jeans. You need to be relaxed, not under time pressure to enjoy doing this.

Just fold the edges under of the patch fabric so they won't fray, pin, and watch TV or listen to a radio show. (I watched a great Indian movie that I hadn't expected to like!) The letters are sewn with a large needle and wool/yarn.

If you take a positive spin on holes worn in knees (in otherwise strong jeans), they stop being problems and start becoming opportunities.

Fun Sewing Project for kids

This is an idea I had from how children learn to draw by giving them a piece of paper and pencil. They learn by drawing anything they wanted. What if you gave kids a big needle and yarn or thick cotton thread, and they had a little circle stretcher (embroidery hoop) to hold the cloth, and they could "doodle" with the needle?

When I tried it though, it was fantastic, but free sewing wasn't the natural outcome. I drew something simple with pencil, and they sewed around it with the big needle and thread. They loved it.

The end result looks good, it's simple, and they learn how to sew. You just need the little hoop - mine was at a local craft store called Ike's Emporium - any craft shop should have these in plastic or wood for embroidery. Mine was $3 NZ. Almost any cloth will do, especially cotton. (I used an old Canadian flour sack.)

By the way - I suggest large needles and thick thread of whatever fibre (e.g. cotton, wool) you wish in general for mending and hand sewing projects. It's simpler, far more desirable - not fiddly. It's satisfying. Better a readily available solid string and big needle than no mending and sewing at all.