Bear Necessities

I am currently working on an order (!), yes, someone is actually going to buy something I have made! Up to now, my projects have been 'trier-outs' to see a) if I could make them and b) if they were any good. As a result they have been presented as gifts - whether the recipients wanted them or not! lol So far the bags I have made have been well received - mainly by my Aunt who you could argue is slightly bias, but would say if she didn't like something so I guess they've been ok.

I have also made a few soft toys - see previous posts - of which most are still adorning the shelves in my office (along with sooooo much other stuff) but I have sold one Nelly, so again, result!

I came across a pattern for a teddy bear - http://www.howjoyful.com/2010/05/howjoyful-bear-tutorial-and-pattern/ - and thought it would make a good new project and challenge so that became the project I would do inbetween doing the hexie quilt (see previous post)

From our exclusive boutique I found a fleece onesie with a small heart design on it - perfect for my project;  cheap which is a bonus and big - even better just in case.....

My first task was to deconstruct it to make the most from the fabric. There was loads!!!  Check it out below....

So now I had the bits, the tedious cutting out of the pattern could begin.  I really, really hate this part. If I could pay someone to do this for me I would.  I hate it because if I'm going to make a mistake, this is where the plan goes pear shaped.  If I can get the cutting right, I'm usually in a good place for the sewing.  More than one mistake on the cutting and I might just as well pack up for the day!

Anyhoo, this time it went ok.  Not sure if it was because it was a new pattern or because I was really looking forward to doing some 'proper' sewing, I don't know but the cutting was ok and I even marked up all the pieces and put them in piles.  Once the scraps were cleared away, I set my stall out..

Coffee, DVD, Ironing board (I decided that the fleece was a little flimsy so was going to add a thin facing to the main pieces) and, of course, Lucy.

I followed the pattern for most of the time but it was a little sketchy in the middle so using the brain cell I have along with the photos, I managed to cobble together two, not bad teddy bears.  Don't look too close at the red one as I think I may have put her legs on the wrong way - i.e. left leg on the right side and vice versa.  However, first time sewing fleece - no major problems and the facing helped; first time teddy bear.  Not bad!  Take a look and see what you think.

The finished bear is quite tall so I might scale down the pattern if I decide - or am asked - to make any more.  Needless to say, there weren't many bits left over.

So the order I am currently getting psyched up for is for two panda bear toys.  I have already made one for a friend who then showed it to a friend who has asked for them.  Not having a pattern for a panda and not being able to find one anywhere online - I dare say there are some but not being tech-savvy, it would have taken too long to find.  So my one brain cell was put to work and using the teddy bear pattern and looking at lots of photographs of pandas I managed to work out where I could manipulate the fabric I was using to make the plain back of the teddy bear into a black and white mix.

I could just have sewn a strip of black to a strip of white to give the two tone back the distinctive markings but pandas don't have straight lines.  I know it is only a teddy bear but in my mind that would have been too easy and - for those of you who have read my previous posts and those who haven't but know me anyway - you will know that I always do things the hard way first and then find the easier route.  This being the first panda was going to be right no matter what then we would see.

So the bits of fabric were cut - black from an old pair of corduroy jeans for texture and white from a baby's blanket.  (I admit these were new ones but I didn't have any white in my stash only corduroy and I felt that wasn't right).  I know, I know, two very different fabrics again but I was able to level the field by adding some facing (again) to the softer material of the blanket.  The stretch on the corduroy didn't pose a problem either due to how I cut it.  There is still a little give but this helps give the panda some extra character.

As I was adding facing to the fabric I needed the ironing board handy so the office was reconfigured to be able to accommodate this as well - cosy!  Eldest daughter just 'eye-rolled' and laughed as she tried to move past giving up and going into the kitchen the other way - lol.

Not sure if you can see clearly on the desk but you might just be able to make out the right side of the back piece in the black and white pieces.  They are sewn together in a curve so the black piece ends underneath the arm of the panda.

As I had faffed about with the four pieces for the back - resulting in 8 pieces in total being sewn because I couldn't quite get my head around the opposite cut for the other side (again not the sharpest needle in the box!) - I did have to have a lay down in a darkened room for a while.  However, once the brain cell had recovered sufficiently, the rest of the 'build' went spectacularly!  The mix of the two fabrics worked brilliantly and were a dream to sew.  Michelle is really happy with her panda and as I mentioned, I have an order for two more. Happy day  :)

Glutten for Punishment

Well for some strange reason I decided that I should return to basics for a while and I started another quilt!  I know, I know.  After the denim one and the pledge that I wouldn't make another one, I must have had a brain storm or mental break and I started another one only this time it was going to be hand sewn and using hexies.

Like I said in the title - glutton for punishment.  Anyhoo, having decided on the size of the pieces, I rallied round looking for thick card and/or thick paper as I knew that the templates were going to get some hammer and would need to last me a while.  The laborious task of cutting out the pieces was a trial but something I could do watching TV or in the car on the way to wherever our walk started.

I thought that I would make it the same size as the denim one - a little bigger than a single but not as big as a double.  I was able to find a piece of suitable wadding at a local market and as there was quite a reasonable dirty mark on the edging of the piece, it was relatively quite cheap - result!

I have made doilies, covers, cushions using hexies before - see previous posts - and only one as big as the one I wanted to make now. ( I am unsure as to the whereabouts of this quilt but have a sneaky feeling we lost it in the various moves when we were flooded out).

As you will know (from previous posts) I am a fabric hoarder and so the search for suitable fabric wasn't hard and didn't take long.  I used a piece of squared paper to try out various patterns and finally settled on one I was happy with and used a variety of different fabrics and colours.  I love the feel of different textures so I mix cotton fabric with upholstery material with denim and corduroy. I know this is not quite the done thing and takes more work to ensure that edges are secure and won't fray but I think it is well worth it.  Whenever I could I made up batches of coloured hexies (for the flowers) and various green hexies for the 'background'.

Anyhoo, once I had a bucket full of hexies, I started by making a long chain of different coloured green fabric hexies to make my outside edge and set the length of the quilt.  This was quite a quick process as only one side of the pieces was being joined.  The second row was more difficult as I wanted to start bringing in the coloured 'flowers' and needed to work out where the coloured pieces needed to go.  DOH!  Head slap moment!  I realised then that I could be more accurate with this process if I made the flowers up first and added them as I went along adding single green hexies inbetween the flowers to make up the pattern.

I know, I know not the sharpest needle in the box!  LOL  This process was even better as I could make up batches of coloured hexies, sew them together to make the flowers and then play with them in the design as I went along.  The hexie flowers could be made as and when and gave me such a sense of achievement as the single hexie sewing was slow and you couldn't really see the pattern or the project getting on.  However, adding full flowers and then single green pieces to bond them together made progress quicker.

I started to put hexies together to make a full flower and made up batches of these.  I also made up batches of green fabric hexies to make up full green flowers which I could also use to fill the bigger spaces between the coloured ones.  Once I had a batch of ten flowers, they were sewn together and placed in a separate 'bucket', when this one was full, I worked out which flower needed to go where and then proceeded to adding them to the quilt.


So, the nights were drawing in, the hockey season was under way and my eldest daughter, Emma, was going to be visiting lots of Universities in the search to find one that ran the course she wanted so lots of Saturday nights to myself and lots of travel and waiting around in which to use to sew hexies. (Right:  hexies being sewn whilst waiting at Nottingham University).


Slow going as I was hand sewing and the different fabrics didn't make for easy sewing either!  Stiff fingers from the effort of holding a little needle and pulling it through tough fabric - I have fingers like pork sausages!! - and blisters on the ends meant that I couldn't sew as often as I had hoped hence it taking seven months from start to finish, but I think it's pretty spectacular (even though I do say so myself, lol).

So, eventually the front of the quilt was done and a decision needed on how I wanted to finish it. Having made and sewn my own binding on the denim one, I really didn't want to do this again so I trawled the t'internet for alternative ideas and found a method of finishing a hexi piece without having to square off the edge. This meant that I could keep the 'stepped edge' of the pieces in the final quilt - great.  Little realising what this would actually involve.  Check out http://badskirt.blogspot.co.uk/2010/05/tutorial-finishing-you-hexie-quilts.html

The search was then on for something to back the quilt with.  I already had the wadding - this had to be cut and pieced as the piece I had wasn't long enough but was too wide.  I didn't want to have to change the shape of my finished quilt front so was quite happy to do this.  The end result was ok and does not show up on the finished piece.

Fortunately my Aunt came to the rescue when I wasn't able to find some fleece or flannel I liked.  She found me a light green, flannel, double, fitted sheet.  I opened the seams on the corners and laid out the sheet, the wadding and the quilt front to make sure they were all about the right size.  B**ger! Yep, the sheet was too small.  Something of a penchant of mine when it comes to sizing quilts! (see First Quilt (proper) part 4).

Once I had calmed down, I relooked at the sheet and worked out that with the first row of green hexies on the back along with a few additional ones in the corners, I could use the sheet.  I made up some more templates, added the green edging hexies to the back of the last row of hexies and added flowers to the corners.  I then relaid the quilt front, wadding and flannel sheet - Success!

The next step was to pin, pin, pin, pin!!!!  Again using the lessons learned from the denim quilt with the pins - (First Quilt (proper) part 7) - I used safety pins in the centre to secure the three layers together and began taking out the templates from the edging hexies.  I reused the thread to secure these to the flannel sheet.  The mammoth job of sewing each hexie to the backing could then begin.

It took the best part of two days to complete.  I made sure that the stitches went from the front to the back and caught the edge of the backing hexies but ensuring that the stitch on the front of the quilt was placed 'in the ditch' of the corresponding hexie.  Hopefully this has resulted in the stitches being virtually invisible.  More blisters and stiff fingers later the quilt was done.

I wasn't fully satisfied that the edging stitches would completely hold the quilt together and so decided that I would, again like the denim one, pick out individual flowers and sew around the outside edge at different points on the quilt.  As it is quite heavy, I felt that this would reduce the strain on the stitches on the edging and also pull the quilt together in the centre.

With a full day to myself, I made a pot of coffee, cleared and cleaned my desk, moved everything within a metre radius (this was a feat in itself if you've ever seen my office!!), set up my Castle DVD, and then threaded Lucy (see Introduction post).

When the coffee tasted awful and I couldn't sew the quilt !!!!! I should have given up then!  It just wasn't happening.  I know Lucy can cope with anything I throw at her and this was not as heavy as the denim one but first the needle broke then the thread and the material was being pulled out of whack so I packed up and sulked!

When I felt a little better, I retried, only this time I tried hand sewing the edges.  I set myself up (again) and started sewing.  Worse!!!  Because there are no 'guides' on the plain flannel backing, I couldn't work out the shapes of the hexies.  I tried several times pinning the flannel to the front and carefully following the 'ditch' of a hexie - fail!  I have now given up on this idea and have folded up the quilt until I feel less frustrated.

I think I will try marking out the shape of a single hexi plotting the corners and feintly drawing a guide line and seeing how that works out.  If successful,  I will pick out random flowers and some single hexies over the whole quilt.  I am feeling more positive about this approach and will, obviously, update my blog with the results.  For now, here are photos of the quilt front and back. Check out the edge!   ;)