I have always wanted to make a soft toy and
Cotton Kiwi's sock monkey tutorial has been on my 'to do' list for a while, but this week I was inspired by a gorgeous book I stumbled upon in the library,
'Sock and Glove' by
Miyako Kanamori. There are instructions for all kinds of animals but I had to make the elephant, I thought the trunk and crinkly ears were so clever.
It took a bit longer than I expected as my handsewing is not quick, but it was like a book I couldn't put down and the only tricky bit was attaching the ears. Apparently the body was a good enough toy all by itself as it was kidnapped for a while...
I had a little teddy bear t-shirt that happened to fit so of course I had to do a mini-version of my
alphabet tees (it looked so cute on the sewing machine that I had to stop and take a photo!). My daughter had decided it was a girl, and called 'Elephant' (of course), but when she saw the shirt she told me it was 'not e for elephant, e for Eeyore'.
The drawstring pants are from a pattern in the book, I should have fitted them before sewing because they came out as hipsters (I used a really big sock), but they are still functional, complete with hole for the tail.
I love this book and I must admit my first instinct was to copy the whole thing before I returned it to the library, but then I figured if I don't believe in ripping off music or movies, I should also support a really clever crafter - so I have a copy on its way from
www.bookdepository.co.uk (love their free delivery!).
To see what other craftiness has been going on this week, have a browse through
kooyotoo's My Creative Space.
