Baby bear is for Lukas and so he had to be baby friendly.
I used safety eyes, and he has no joints or anything else to worry about.
The fabric is very soft acrylic fur fabric, which should be grob-snobble resistant.
The nose was very tricky as the bear was so soft and the fabric so soft too.
He’s a real cutie and the bears not bad either.
Continuing my mission to learn how to make clothes better, I bought 2 lots of relatively cheap fabric to experiment with.
The pattern is a McCalls, number M6964, Size F5, 16-24. I cut out the 18 thinking i was giving myself some margin for error.
The first was made from light weight Viscose and had very little give. I used the overlocker to edge all the pieces but stitched it together with the machine. The seam allowance and the lack of give made it a snug fit.
Also the lack of give meant that the neckline turned out all wrong. The pattern is for stretchy material so I thought I would make the neck edging longer. But it just made the neck edging stick out awkwardly. So I super-cheated and folded it forward and top sewed around the edge again.
Looks OK and it gave a little with wearing.
TAKE 2
Much stretchier fabric and I stuck to the pattern with the neck edging.
This time i used the overlocker to sew the whole thing, this gives about a centimetre extra on each seam and with the stretchiness it fits great.
I consulted Annette and she said I had to stretch the fabric as I sewed it, to make the neck edging fit, and it did!!!
Top sewing the neck and double top sewing around the cuffs and bottom finished it off beauitfully.
The fabric is light and a bit pajamery, but perfectly OK for everyday.
Jackie bought some of this wool and made a really groovy pair of socks and I could not resist buying some when I found a ball in Jenny Wrens wool shop in Ipswich.
It is OPAL Happy with Silver Effect. 4-fach (4 ply?) Pullover & Sockenwolle. Farbe 9094 Part No. 1340.
The wool knits into the pattern itself, no brains required.
I love how jazzy they are and the silver freck appeals to my inner magpie.
My friend asked me to repair her trusty old favourite bag, as the lining had given way. This one was a joint effort with myself and my husband Mick.
The weight bareing straps also needed some attention.
So first we used Gaffer tape on the inside of the bag to repair the holes.
Then we sewed the weight bareing strapp back into place and added a few lines of stitching for good measure. Fortunately we have been given an old Singer sewing machine, which we intend to use for sail mending, but has come in very handy already for other projects. It is quite amazing how well this machine penetrates thick material. In this case 4 layers of leather.
I then made the lining out of light weight Viscose material. If you use something too heavy it makes the bag to heavy. Simply 2 pieces of material measuring just more than the total width of the bag and 10cm longer. Then I mitred the bottom corners to add width to the shape, and made a zip pocket on the inside.
Now the tricky bit, hanging the lining inside the bag. Much cajoling, pegging and unpegging, until it fitted snuggly. Then another 2 handed job to sew the lining into the bag. One row of stitching on each side of the bag, we had to leave a gap where the straps were.
I then hand sewed the lining to the very top edge of the bag using blanket stitch.
Bag lining.
Bag Front
Finished item.
I would now give it a good polish with leather food, but the owner may prefer the used look.
Job Done!
