Dino (part 2)

Well I rejigged the pattern I had made and made the neck a little more vertical.  I searched my stash(es) of material to see if I had any blue material - not something I was aware of as most of my material is old curtaining, pieces of end of roll, bits picked up at rando and blue isn't a colour I go for.

Anyhoo, I happened upon a piece of cotton that I found in a basket of off-cuts which had white spots on and it coincidentally was the right size for the pattern - yeah I know right?  Everything happens for a reason.

I didn't think that the cotton would be strong enough to be man-handled as I thought the toy would be so I continued on and managed to find a piece of lining cotton.  Pieces of felt were also brought out and compared until I had the right colour - red - for the scales, feet pads and eyes.  All done, I set about cutting and sewing.

I doubled up on each of the body pieces - two spotted front and back, two lining pieces to match - I wanted to be doubly sure that he was strong enough to put up a fight with a 7 year old.  As you can see I corrected the shape of the neck to make him stand taller rather than look as if he was eating off the floor, then it struck me, I could have used my giraffe pattern! DOH!! Anyhoo it was too late by then and I was pleased with my solo effort so no harm done.

The felt was a real pain to sew with!  I hadn't used it before and the fibres kept getting caught in my needle.  Fortunately, as I was using Lucy (my hand-crank), I was able to stop and start lots of times to clear the clog but eventually (and with a few more coppers in my swear box), the toy was done.

When I stuffed him I tried to make sure that it was done evenly and tight in the neck again to help make it stand up.

To be a little different, I trawled the t'interweb and was able to find a small teddy growler.  This is a small cylinder which, when tipped to one side, growls.  I remember a lady made me a large teddy bear with one of these inside when I was little and I loved it.  I thought the little lad would and also it would be 'different'.  It came a couple of days later and I was able to put it into the tummy before I finished the stitching.  

I love my Dino!  The finish is clean, the stuffing was smooth and the material suited the project.  The only think I wasn't happy with was the growler.  It worked intermittently and it was a little on the quiet side - not that I wanted to frighten the little guy, but I wanted more of a roar than a meow. 

Anyhoo, I loved it and apparently when the little lad received it, he never let it out of his sight all day!! I would call that a result.

See you soon  :0)