I know, I know, it's been a while.  Well it's actually been a few months since I have done any sewing.  Since the Surprise, Surprise bag for a friend and her mates in August, the only sewing I have done is to shorten hubby's trousers! Things have been difficult what with one thing and another but losing my sewing 'mo-jo' has been the worst thing ever!!

I'm not really sure when it started or why, but the passion for sewing seemed to disappear overnight.  I wonder if I had finally gotten over losing my mum and don't need that particular connection anymore.  'Maybe' is my answer but I really want to sew; it's just I have no 'get up and go'! 

I damaged my finger - snapped the tendons in the end of my right-hand middle finger - which you may think was a minor inconvenience.  Believe me, it wasn't!  I could not believe the problems wearing a finger splint would cause.  I wasn't able to do anything of any interest for two months!  I know! Ridiculous!!  Tying shoelaces was virtually impossible and washing my hair - as short as it is - was a nightmare.  Looking back now, maybe this is where the rot set in; when my mo-jo disappeared.

My mum always said "the less you do, the less you want to do" and this was certainly the case with me.  Someone once described me as "all duck, and no dinner";  meaning that I was all or nothing.  I do have an obsessive streak - I think we all do somewhere - my fabric hoarding is testament to that and because I couldn't do any sewing, because it was just too difficult (being right-handed) or awkward or not perfect, I gave up.  I realised that I needed a proverbial kick up the a**e but didn't know how.

I briefly managed to get my head out of my (cough, cough) rear end (!) when I made the Surprise, Surprise bags but quickly retreated back into my sorry-ar*e ways.  My reverie didn't stop me buying or looking for fabric though, which confused me as I could see what it would look like when I had finished with the fabric.  However, I couldn't get my head around the fact that I would have to do something with it in order for it to become what I saw in my head! Sounds stupid, I know but that's how my mind worked.

You will know, if you have read any of my previous posts, that I have an old Singer, hank-crank, sewing machine. I love it dearly, but for many years I have dreamed of having a treadle sewing machine.  I think my fear of using an electric one at the time fuelled this 'need' for one as I thought I would be able to control the speed of the machine with my feet easier with the treadle than that of the pedal!   A bit like patting your head and rubbing your tummy, I thought.  Therefore, when we have been going to antique fairs and the like, I have secretly been looking for a machine.

We did see one in a small fair in a village hall; complete with accessories and manual but felt, at the time, that it was a little expensive and the seller wasn't sure if the machine worked or not......  I wasn't prepared to buy a machine without knowing if it worked and certainly wasn't going to spend a lot of money on one which couldn't be used.  Anyhoo, we left, machine-less and  I carried on looking.

I then caught a virus infection which is still causing problems 3 months on - another story - which affected my mind set again.  I was just so poorly I couldn't do much of anything 'normal' nevermind non essential!  I moved my laptop onto the dining room table so that I didn't have to see the fabric, machines and pattern folders.  I now work from the table and only use the sewing room/office to file away the paperwork.  It hurts and irks me to see all my supplies sitting waiting to be used.

So I was trawling the t'internet one day, and came across a beautiful treadle sewing machine.  It was in full working order and looked stunning; as if it ad just come out of the factory!  It was up 'for auction' and the starting price was quite reasonable.  There was a week left to run so I placed a bid.  I was soooooo excited.  I was checking in on the bids seemingly every hour lol.  There were two other bidders but I soon out bid them and so I was in 'the lead'.  However one of the bidders turned out to be a seasoned player and waited until two minutes before the time-out to place his last bid.  I lost out, needless to say.

Disappointed and now convinced that everything happens for a reason and the reason was that I didn't need another (!) sewing machine because I was done, I resigned myself to not having a treadle.  Until........

Full Frontal

I was informed - via the ebay 'elves' - that there was another machine up for bids.  I thought long and hard and visited the machine several times until I placed my bid.  I held my breath and then surprise of surprises, the seller contacted me and asked if I could up my bid slightly?  So I bid slightly higher and it wasn't long before I received confirmation that I was the proud owner of the treadle!  The seller - I later found out when we picked up the machine - wanted a quick sell and didn't want a bidding war.  I was soooooo happy!  The machine had been used albeit not recently so there was no problem there but it would need needles and probably (definitely) a clean and polish.  Photos of before shown here:

Treadle wheel

Inside - where machine
folds down into

Front Pocket before

Back view of machine

Front view of machine

Once we got the machine home - and had had a total office/sewing room revamp to find room for it - I set about looking online for advice on how to clean the metal work and then clean and feed the wood.  I didn't want to just polish the wood and metal because I felt that the wood could do with some special treatment.  There were a few scratches on the top - which the seller had told me about - and I was hoping that the cleaning and feeding would reduce if not remove them completely.

I found a recipe for one such liquid online and duly set about collecting the ingredients: linseed oil, alcohol, turpentine, in specific quantities and then shaken (not stirred, lol).  The smell in wonderful and the effect it had on the wood was just unbelievable!

I had collected a 'set' of videos from Youtube showing a guy doing what I was about to do.  It looked easy and his narration of each step was clear although at times his filming was a little 'dodgy' as he was finding it a little difficult filming and 'doing' at the same time.  However I was feeling particularly confident so set forth and started taking the machine apart where I could.

First job was to remove the dust bunnies.  Over the years of wear, lint collects in the nooks and crannies especially underneath the feeder teeth.  Oiling compounds the problem by compacting the lint and dust until the teeth cannot move properly.

There were two screws which needed removing so I could get a clear look.  Unfortunately I could only get one of the two screws undone which meant I couldn't get in with tweezers and brushes.  However I did manage to use the canned air and brushes so can only hope that I got all of the crud from underneath.  This was the only problem I encountered and like my dad always used to say - "there will always be one screw/nail/nut you can't get". So I put the top back on and moved onto the next bit.

Each piece of machine I was able to take off, was placed down on the table in order, cleaned and oiled where required.  The sewing machine main body was oiled using the machine oil - NOT WD40! - and the specific holes in the machine where oil needed to be put.  The underneath was cleaned with metal polish and then oiled, again in specific places and only one drop as per instructions.

Silver Side Panel

The silver side plate couldn't be removed - I don't have the confidence or know how to remove the bits where the cotton is threaded through - so I did what I could do polish it up along with the silver 'disk' on the back of the machine which I was able to remove.

All the wood was cleaned using the finest wire wool with the linseed oil concoction.  The dirt was ingrained.  Obviously there were years and years (and years) of use, dust, grease, and polish giving the wood it's aged 'antique' look; however wood needs feeding.  I use beeswax on my table and chairs every 6 months which feeds and polishes the wood so I needed to treat the wood on the treadle with the same care.  The 'potion' was to clean and feed it and it did an excellent job, (smelled great too but you have to love the smell of linseed oil!).

Needless to say the machine looks fantastic.  I am now waiting for a new belt to complete the project.  Unfortunately I have been let down by the supplier so it looks like it will be after Christmas when I can get it.  I might just look it the existing one to see if I can temporarily repair it so I can trial the machine.  Can't wait!

Top - now scratch free

Inside - where
machine folds into

Here are some after photos of the machine, all dressed up and ready to go lol.

stand now clean

Back of machine

machine ready to rumble!

Front of machine

Surprise, Surprise Bags

I know - even before I start - that there are going to be a few comments about this bag design and I need to say at the outset that they were made for a bit of fun; not to deceive anyone enormously or cause offense or be used for any other reason than for the one they were made for.  I made them in good faith and for a laugh and I am not responsible for their use for anything other than for what I made them for!  That said, I will now show you the bag.

I was asked, initially, by a friend to 'customise' her shopping trolley so that alcohol could be 'smuggled' into a venue.  The trolley was brought to me  to look at and measure up and for a whole two weeks, I tripped over it, looked at it and mainly shook my head as I couldn't think how I could 'sew' something appropriate.  I eventually came up with a cardboard box, which could be placed in the bottom of the trolley and a lid made out of black material to hide the bottles in the bottom. 

Looking at it, I felt disappointed that that was the only thing I could come up with and that the trolley would be really conspicuous!  I got my thinking head on and worked out that I could maybe come up with a bag design with a false bottom which could hide a bottle.  If each girl had a bag, there was a potential for 5 bottles of booze going into the venue and it wouldn't matter if two or three of them were searched and the booze confiscated as there would still be the remaining bottles for that night.  Bags I can do: the false bottom I wasn't sure about and the how to get the bottles in and out surreptitiously was going to be the challenge.

I thought long and hard and began to wonder if I could somehow put a bottle into the bottom of a bag, underneath the lining, so that when the bag was opened, the bottle couldn't be seen.  On paper, the design was simple - just make the lining shorter than the body of the bag.  I then needed to work out how to get the bottle in and out of the 'space' easily enough so as not to be seen.

I finally came up with a basic tote bag pattern, shorter lining but with a concealed zip in the bottom seam so that the bottle could be put in and taken out easily.  Not having done a lot of 'zip work', I checked out my Pinterest boards, found the relevant tutorial and got to work.  As this was just a mock up, I picked some fabric I had a lot of and hadn't cost a lot and set to work.

I can virtually make a tote bag in my sleep so the main task wasn't difficult; it was the setting of the zip which was the challenging bit.
However this too was a breeze!  The tutorial was so easy to follow and everything just fell into place.  The bag was made in a few hours and ready to take to bike night for my mate to see.

She loved it!!!  So much so that the trolley project was abandoned there and then and an order placed for a bag for each of her mates.  Happy day!

After a little more thought, I changed the design of the bag slightly.  It would mean more work for me but I felt that this second design was more fun.

I found some vintage looking material for the bags - each one was to be different as I do not make the same bag twice - and some felt for the recipients' initials which were to be added to the bag.  The theme of the weekend was 'old biddies' and each person had their own old lady costume.  I made sure that the material was of a relevant 'type' and set to work.

The zip opening had to be measured exactly along the seam: too low and the bottleneck would pull on the zip; too high and the alcohol wouldn't pour easily into the glass.  The measurements for the bags were the same so the cutting was relatively easily (if not tedious!) and I ensured that the initials were placed sufficiently into the body of the bag so as not to end up in the seams.


What a lot of fun I had making the bags!  I put some cardboard in the base to which I added some bubble wrap just as a little added protection for the bottles.  Each bag has internal pockets and a contrasting lining and can be used on a 'normal' shopping day if required.

The finished bags were a huge hit and the girls had a great time - no one suspected and all booze was consumed.

It had been awhile since I had done any sewing and it felt as if I had my mo-jo back. 

Red Rhino Found (but NOT red!)

Day One

Finally bit the bullet and set about making my own pattern for Lee's Rhino - see Hunt for Red Rhino post.

I had a picture in my own mind as to what it should look like and had a couple of patterns I could use as a foundation but both would need significant 'faffing' and joining together to get how I needed it to be.  The rhino - Ronny, made previously (see post) - pattern is for a horizontal one and is far too big for what I needed and my Psycho Ted pattern had the wrong shaped head, ears, and body but was the right size.

Using copious amounts of scrap paper, swear words and a large pencil eraser, I drew out a head pattern basing it on Ronny's.  I cut out the pattern in some scrap cotton for the trial and was in the process of pinning the 'yolk' piece (middle piece between the two head pieces) to the head when I realised that the back of the head needed shaping on my pattern.  As Ronny is horizontal, the back of his head is attached to the body so didn't need shaping.  The one I am trying to make has to have a back of the head.  Bu***r, strike one.


Strike two came with the realisation that the yolk for the Psycho Ted wouldn't do as there was no shaping for the wider nose and rounder head bit
between the ears.  How do I get myself into these things?

Remodel number three was done with a piece on the back of the head, shaped nose and longer bit underneath the chin.

Having recut the scrap cotton, I reservedly pinned the two head pieces to the yolk and hand-sewed them together.  There was a little tweaking required but all in all not a bad job!

However, I then realised that to get the full effect I should have added some ears before sewing up the seams and I would also need to work out sizes for the horns.


I hope you can see where this is going?

I have stuck the head on a stick (right) for a quick piccy.  Doesn't look quite right yet, but there are body parts missing!


Using the original Ronny horn pattern, I scaled down the front horn and redesigned the smaller of the two completely just as a 'doo-fa'.  I attached the horns, added an ear - paper pattern not yet made - and added a group of black-headed pins as an eye.  Hey presto!

Finally looking something like ......  This is still in the draft stages but pleased so far.  Just the ears, body, and a tail to make a pattern for now........... lol

Day Two

It doesn't look like it but the material I have to make the final product is an old blouse (not mine) and the colour is 'ecru' - Lee's choice!  For those of you who don't know, ecru was a shade of beige-brown which nylon tights and stockings were back in the day (!!) that was supposed to look natural.  I have tried several different backgrounds and colours to try to get the colour in the photo right but nothing seems to be working so you are just going to have to believe me when I say that it is ecru!  Looks like pink but it isn't!! It's a bit suedey and is great, I have found, to sew with.


I was asked to make the horns silver, but that isn't a colour I 'stock' and one I have struggled to find in an appropriate fabric so gold is as good as it's going to get.  I quite like the way the horns have turned out.  The fabric is some left over from a friend's black and gold shopper I made for her for Christmas.  It's very much like the gauzy stuff you get around flower bouquets, but again, it's ok to sew but be careful you don't sew too close to the edge cos once it starts fraying; it breaks up like glitter and you get covered!!

So the pieces have been sewn together and are now waiting for assembly. The head is done and the horns look even better on :)

The 'inside' of the ears and end of the tail have been done with the gold to 'tie in' the colours and I have four lovely black buttons for the joints.  Freddie Fix-it was made with proper teddy joints as it was for a little kiddie but as Lee is over the age of 21 (just, lol) I think I can trust him not to put the buttons in his mouth.  Also Psycho Ted had button joints so there is definitely a theme going on... lol

Day Three

Day of reckoning!  The pieces have all been sewn together and he looks brill (even though I do say so myself).  The colour looks great, though I had reservations in the beginning.  The gold is a good contrast and considering I didn't really have a pattern, I'm really chuffed.

There is one last 'accessory' to add - the third horn.  Again no pattern but that hasn't been a problem before.  This has to be red - again Lee's decision.

I don't have a lot of red either but remembered that I had used a red scarf previously for some accents on a bag.  I dug it out of my 'stash' and have made up the bit.  As this is to be removable, I have also added some Velcro.


As the Rhino hasn't been given the ok by my Quality Control department - my Aunt - I will leave the adding of this until she has seen it.  At nearly 91 years of age, I believe that it's a little too far for her imagination to stretch!

Lee picked it up last night and he loves it!  Happy Bunny

See you soon   :)

Bob the Tank Bear ?

I was asked to make a teddy for the grandson of Psycho Ted's ' (PT)dad as the grandson, Daniel, liked PT but was a little scared of him.  I was given a list of requirements - white, soft, blue eyes, pink 'highlights' and a theme of Bob the Builder or Thomas the Tank Engine. Brain overload! So I waited a few days for the ideas to slow down long enough to catch one and then set to work.

I had a large white 'fluffy' dressing gown in my fabric stash which I had wanted to make a sheep from - don't ask - as the fabric was just right and realised that the softness of the fabric and colour would be just right for this project. PT's pattern was used but I cut out the fabric slightly larger than the pattern as I didn't know if it would fray and as I didn't want this to happen - who does?! - I made the seam allowance larger.

I had settled on the Bob the Builder theme as there seemed to be more scope for making accessories and I decided to place the ears a little wider apart as I was hoping to add a yellow hard hat.  I also drew up a sketch for a tool belt and some tools to put in the belt.

The fabric sewed like a dream, no problem and the bear was made quite quickly.  He spent the next two weeks on the end of my desk whilst I worked on the accessories.

The belt was an easy do and the felt worked really well.  I added some velcro onto the ends so the tools could be taken off if needed.

The tools were a little more complicated inasmuch as my fingers are quite thick and don't do well at 'delicate' stitching.  However I managed to cut out a hammer, wrench and a screwdriver.

The fabrics were an absolute pain due to fraying but I worked out that if I used a small amount of fabric glue on the edges, it sealed the threads and allowed me to sew the seams a little better.  It was faffy though! lol

I was really pleased with the bear and the accessories but the hard hat was giving me nightmares.  I had already made a bonnet for Boner Bear so knew that I would need a larger sheet of felt, diluted fabric glue and a whole bag of patience!

The first modelling went alright (left) but there were far too many creases and I couldn't work out how to get rid of them.  I tried again, wetting and re-shaping the felt around a different item but unfortunately the felt dried too quickly and I wasn't able to ease the creases out before it dried.
Not wanting to stress out the felt any further, I am ashamed to admit it but I threw in the towel and had to present the bear without the hat..

I am pleased to say that Daniel likes the bear and has christened him Freddie Fix It.

Another satisfied customer but I am still frustrated about the hat!

:)

Hunt for Red Rhinoceros (can't be red though)!!

Ok.  So having made lots of Panda teddy bears, a Psycho Ted and Boner Bear (yes, that is exactly what it is!!), I have now been tasked with making a 3-horned (!) rhino.

Having lost countless hours looking for a pattern, I finally came across this one on the Craftsy site: www.craftsy.com/sewing/patterns/rhino-plush-sewing-pattern/115977

I cleared my desk, found some fabric - tired onesie and some leftover fleece from a teddy bear made for Psycho Ted's 'dad's grandson' - and set to work.

We got off to a bad start as I couldn't get my head around one of the instructions but then, after a chat to my daughter, Emma, I suddenly realised I had cut the pieces out of the fabric before gluing pieces of the paper pattern together to make longer pieces.  Confused?  So was I to start with!  Anyhoo, finally got my head around it, glued the pieces, recut the fabric and set off again.

The making of the toy was actually then quite easy.  My machine has just been re-serviced and has come back better than ever!  I say re-serviced because it had gone to my 'usual' engineer but had come back a little noisier than it had gone and had developed a new problem of thread snapping at the wrong moment - if there ever is a good moment.....  So I had found someone new and taken my machine which had a little 'metal fatigue' which was quickly sorted and as I said, come back better than ever!

So as I was now in the zone, I don't have any photos of Ronny being put together but the pattern pretty much shows it all - just in an animal print fleece, rather than a grey image on the paper.  Here is the finished photo of Ronny.

Can't quite decide which is his best side so you get two for the price of one :)

However, on further conversations with 'my customer' - and at this point I think it would be fair to say that most of them have taken place when we have both had a couple of sherbets (!!) - I realised that Ronny wasn't going to do; he was the wrong shape.  What I mean is that Ronny needed to be in the vertical position rather than being horizontal.

B***er!! :(  back to the drawing board.

Please look after this bag.....

The local Scout group has a jumble sale twice a year and so we had the first one for this year on Saturday.  I help out sorting the stuff coming in, selling women's clothes, bedding, curtains etc and anything left which is still saleable is taken to a local Cancer Charity shop - our Ladies-that-do- exclusive boutique!

So sorting through the bedding I found a lonely Paddington Bear pillow case.  There was no quilt cover and there was just the one.  I told one of the other ladies that if it was still there at the end of the sale, I would buy it and take it for my 'stash'.  Anyway, the jumble sale was busy and lots of stuff was sold but unfortunately no one wanted the pillowcase.  I divid up my 25p and took the cover home, washed it with some other bits I had found and then added it to the growing pile of fabric (yet again) under my desk.

I had finished my Tigger Tote (see previous post) and was feeling motivated to keep going so took out the pillowcase and studied it.  The picture is pretty big on the cover and to make a 'normal' 18"x18!" tote, I would lose a lot of the picture background.  I didn't want to lose a lot of that as it made a great scene.  I looked at my collection of shoppers and came up with a plan.

Invariably on a 'Ladies that do' Friday, I am asked for toilet rolls by either family or the guys at the garage.  This means that I have to collect a pack of 18 toilet rolls to carry some distance from the shop to the car.  More often than not, this was a pain as the plastic handle on the pack or even the packaging itself split before I had got back to the car resulting in my swear box being filled when I get in!!!  So I had made myself a bag which would take a full pack of 18 rolls.  This solved the problem of the handle breaking and/or the packaging splitting.  It also covered up the fact that, yes, I was buying another packet of loo rolls!! lol

This particular bag is great but the handles are a little small to put on my shoulder, but long so I have to wrap them around my fingers.  Not really a big problem as the rolls don't weigh very heavy, but when I am shopping 'normally' I prefer to use a shoulder bag for heavier shopping.  I needed to make sure that the handles on my pillowcase bag would enable me to carry the bag on my shoulders.

I measured the straps from my 'shower curtain, fold up' bag as the length of those is perfect and cut the straps for this bag to the same size.  I used a contrast colour fabric for the straps and to deepen the bag (to take the full packet of rolls) and to reflect the colour of the straps, I added a 4" bottom panel. This made the bag a good 21"x21" with a fair piece of the full Paddington scene on both the front and the back.

All the pieces were cut and a lining cut from an old cot sheet.  This is a great weight of cotton and I needed a white lining due to the white background on the pillow case.  The pieces were pinned together and when sewn, all the seams pressed flat.

The bag was made using a basic tote pattern - these are 10 a 1p on Pinterest and Allfreesewing where I look for inspiration - so I will not go into details.  Suffice to say, again everything went swimmingly!

I now have two great new bags from an old sweatshirt (Tigger bag) and a jumbo shopper made from a pillowcase for 25p plus 50p for the cot blanket.  Role on Friday so they can go on their maiden trip!

:)

So here I am (finally) after a long time it seems... Not having a great week but it's that time of year :( I need to keep busy and having worked yesterday there is no office work to do so I looked around to see if there was anything I had put to one side as a 'must do later' project and came across an old sweatshirt.  I loved the top but it doesn't fit me anymore (less said about that the better...) so I had put it into my 'things to do' pile.  I didn't want to throw it away or put it in the jumble as I love the Tigger picture on it and thought it would - no surprises here - make a bag.

I got rid of the sleeves and to make the bag square, I added some of the black lining I was going to use for the straps and lining to make up the 'missing' corners.  I could have cut the top square but that would have meant losing the writing on the top and I didn't want to lose any of the design.  No pictures as I was 'in the zone' - sorry!

Once I had sewn the corners onto the front and back, I cut out the lining and straps.  I have perfected the straps I use on my bags to a 4" strip, folded, unfolded then edges folded into the middle and then folded again.  It makes for a comfortable and sturdy strap.

So when I had all the pieces lined up, the sewing machine was given a severe talking to - still throws a wobbly now and again - and set to work.  Everything went so well, I couldn't believe it!  No catches, no thread snaps, no caught fabric.... perfect!

The bag has the design on the front and a plain back.  The lining stops the bag from stretching in any direction (as sweatshirt material wants to do when it wants to!!!) and the black top corners tie in the black straps.  Well chuffed!
And as I keep saying, you can't have enough bags! lol

:)

Psycho Ed

During a rather excellent night in the local pub, the conversation was turned to my teddy bear making 'skills' and one of the guys - Pete* - wondered if I would be able to make him a bear.  You can, I assume, imagine the ribbing he got about this. Now, we had been in the pub quite a while and the company, conversation, Guinness and atmosphere were all first rate but somehow the 'theme' for the bear went from a friendly, not cuddly, 'man-bear' to a 'psycho' bear.  The ideas came fast and thick until I really didn't know whether I was coming or going and what I had really been asked for.

In the cool light of the next day, I thought about the conversation from the previous evening and began to search through my hoard of fabric for something suitable, something to trial my ideas with and a pattern to base the main body on.

The pattern was relatively simple as I had already trialled a pattern in denim.  As it was a trial I hadn't wanted to use any of my stock of teddy eyes so had picked some buttons out of my stash.  I was really pleased with the final result and had totally enjoyed working with denim (again) and the simple to follow pattern.  However choosing a suitable fabric for the real thing took ages!

I finally selected a black velvet and red toweling-ish type cloth.  I used the cover from a pillow I had used to stuff some draught excluders with as interfacing to stabilise both fabrics.  The toweling was cut for the feet soles and inner ears.  I found some 'monster' eyes I had in my stock and so I began.

I made up the head pieces first as I wanted to see what the eyes looked like.  I tried one 'normal' brown teddy eye, and a monster eye with and without a white disc.  I hated it!  Yes, it was scary but not in a good way!  The eyes were not right, the ears were too big and the colour combination didn't work either.  Back to the drawing board.

I went back to my hoard and found some grey corduroy.  Much better!

I reused some of the bits of velvet for the inner ears and foot soles and made the main body from the grey.  (The other bits have been added to my scrap box).  I resized the ears and resolved myself to the fact that the monster eyes were just too small.  Choosing a pair of brown eyes I put them to one side, then cut out the pattern pieces.  In the next half hour, the arms, legs, ears and body were sewn together.  (Apologies for not having photos - got a little ahead of myself and forgot)

I then concentrated on the head.  The nose piece is a little fiddly but my foot control has improved considerably so with a lot of pins and slow going, the head took shape.  I trialled different shapes and colours for the discs around the eyes too.  However, and I am sure you won't be too surprised to read that black looked fab, especially against the grey corduroy.  The eyes were placed, the head stuffed and ears added.  As this was to be a psycho teddy, the mouth needed to be 'special'.

Using paper and pieces of white fleece, I tried out different designs for the mouth.  Each was pinned to the head to check out how each looked and then photos taken which were then sent to my eldest daughter, Emma, for her opinion.  Finally, a design and size were agreed and then added to the head.

With all the main pieces of the bear now done, I set about putting them all together.  Using an upholstery needle, the arms and legs were fixed to the body and buttons added for the 'joints'.  I have not done this before but found the task very satisfying especially as the joints work and the arms and legs are posable.  The head was simply ladder stitched onto the body - Pyscho Ed was nearly done.

During the original conversation in the pub, Pete* had gone off the deep end completely and stated that Psycho Ed should have a dagger in his paw!  So now I needed to come up with a dagger!

I looked for an image of one I thought I could replicate, found one and then converted this image to a scrap piece of Bosal (foam fabric stabiliser). Scrap pieces of velvet and corduroy were used for the handle and blade respectively and then glued and sewn to the piece of Bosal. I used my pinking shears to give the blade the serrated effect.

I felt that Psycho Ed needed something else. Searching through my stock of bottles, I played around with some red nail varnish and scrap corduroy.  The blade became bloodied!

Again using Emma as a sounding board, we agreed that 'less was more' and that I just needed to run some varnish along the 'teeth'.  Job done.

Once the glue had dried, I hand stitched the dagger to his paw and my work was done.

I am really, really pleased with my latest project and hope that Pete* is as just as impressed. Here he is ........

I am not sure if Pete* wanted me to use his real name and as I cannot contact him at the time of updating my blog, I have changed it to spare his blushes!

See you later :)