Next few plushies

So I have a few more plushies and in a way I'd really like it if I didn't get any more requests till I'm down to a shorter list. It's a bit daunting knowing the list is 6-7 people long. Still, if people ask, I will put them on the list or else they'll end up unfairly further down the queue.

1. Benedict Cumberbatch / Sherlock

The next plushie to make is Benedict Cumberbatch as Sherlock. There is a limit to what I can do to make him characteristic. I'll make him a side parting somehow, a blue scarf, a dark long coat and I guess he'll wear a white shirt and dark trousers.



2. Morpheus / Sandman

Morpheus is simultaneously very simple and very debatable, I want to make it interesting and appealing. I may well make a fake leather jacket despite the pain of sewing with such a tough material. I'm also not sure what to do about the helmet. I don't want to make it out of cloth, and I'm not sure what I can use. I was thinking maybe a plastic egg like a kinder egg but I think that will be too small. I am wondering if it should be satin skin, or sparkly skin or just white felt. I'd really quite like to have skin that does not require hemming. One image of Sandman has him barefoot. I'm quite tempted by this idea too.


3. 10th Doctor (David Tennant)

After that I have a second 10 to make. Yay the Doctor! This should be a doddle after this many. I will be using slightly different materials to the previous 10 because I use the materials I have to hand and as they are scrap it depends what is available and I think I've run out of the navy blue slightly stiff material that I used first time. I have some lighter weight cotton in navy to use instead I think. I'm also going to change the tie material for similar reasons. The coat will be as before though.


4. Michael Jackson (Thriller)

Finally for this run of plushies I have my second real life person : Michael Jackson. I have some concerns about a doll made in the likeness of a black man by a white woman and not being unintentionally racist. He will be wearing his thriller outfit, his skin will be brown and his hair black. The thriller outfit is red with black.

This is currently my source picture.

I know it is a model not a picture of MJ himself but it is nice and clear and close up, which when designing something really helps. Also, I've looked at actual MJ pictures and the outfit seems accurate. The person who requested this has also asked for him to be non zombie MJ so the outfit will be semi clean. I may extend the skin colour up the arms to give a slight effect of the rolled up sleeves but this will be tough as the arms are not particularly long anyway.

In other news I went to the craft shop for some black embroidery thread and some extra felt and bits and came out with a rather larger purchase than planned. £30 worth. Although to be fair £10 was a gorgeous pair of scissors shaped like a bird and another £10 was a large reel of white thread. So I feel justified.

The king has left the building...but er, not yet...

So far I've had mostly requests for plushies of people who are basically fictional, even if they are sometimes played by live actors. This was a new thing for me to have a real person, if one who is deceased. It was also difficult to know what would make him really distinctive as the person. The white suit seemed the most obvious choice but actually there are several different white outfits worn by Elvis at different occasions, one of which was literally a white suit. This is the picture that appealed to me from a design point of view.

So then I did a brief sketch.

When I finally came to make it thought I started to dither about how sparkly to make it. So I asked the requestor (it is an anniversary present for her husband) and she liked the idea of sparkles, as did some of my friends.

So I just got to it. The main technical difficulty was that for both hair and clothes I was actually combining two layers of fabric. The sparkly silver was too transparent and stretchy to be stuffed, so I had to sew the two layers together before I could do anything else. The same went for the hair as I had one fabric the right opacity but very slightly patterned so I had to overlay it with a second layer to disguise the patterning.

But it wasn't too difficult to do that and what with my computer being messed but by me being gullible and a stupid spammer guy I actually got it done in very short order. I did have some moments of angst at this point as I really didn't want him to look like he was wearing pajamas. So he got a plain cummerbund and plain white edging to his cuffs and neckline. I should really have given him some black shoes but I lost patience I'm afraid.

I thought a plain contrasting colour cape would help tone down the sparkle, but when a friend suggested white with a red lining I decided I had to go for it. This was obviously very easy so the only problem I ran into was ironing it flat at too high a temperature. It WAS nylon and melted slightly. The second one survived ironing at a lower temperature.


I then found I had run out of stuffing but one of my amazing friends at work again brought me some old cushion stuffing so I was saved!

Somehow even though I sew the template the same each time weird things happen to the way they come out, specially when I start trying to fill them with stuffing. I have decided the slightly non straight stance is because Elvis is dancing. No arguments people!

All that was left was to make some sunglasses. I would have loved to make proper aviators but I'm just not that clever so it was just a simple shape.

I hope my friend's husband likes him! I have got another real person coming up soon.

Where are we now exactly?

1. Elvis - for a friend's husband for their anniversary
   He's gotta be in that white suit. Will also embroider on that swirl of hair at the front. He may also have flairs if I can work out how I want to do it.
2. Sherlock / Cumberbatch - for a friend
   Another tough one. Grey coat, dark trous, light shirt all nondescript. He'll have that curly hair somehow and the blue scarf. That's all I can add in.
3. Morpheus - for a friend
   This should be stark in colour but fun, mainly for the hair, which I might do in black wool sewn through black cloth
4. 10th Doctor again - for an acquaintance
5. Michael Jackson in Thriller

It's been a while

So with a decision to make a few more conveniently or inconveniently matching up with my computer's scammer infection Superman came through rather quickly. To be honest it wasn't a difficult one to do and I guess I'm rather more used to making them now.
The requester wanted a mid transformation Superman Clark Kent.
I'd already made my initial sketch.

 So the main bit of research I did was to check the details of the logo, which showed me how your memory is not all that accurate.

I had remembered either a yellow or a red logo just on blue, but in actual fact it is a red logo on yellow on the blue suit.

I am always looking for ways to add in embroidery so I decided I would embroider the logo.
Cloth choices were fun in part because of the lovely people who've donated me cloth (thank you Jane, Sarah, Hilary, Mum). Apart from the felt for the face, none of the cloth was bought, and none of the cloth was bought for this specific project.
Then it was really mostly assembly.

I did have a small debate when I did the face and hair as in some depictions Superman's hair curls up above the forehead or is swept back as in the Adventures of Lois and Clark tv series, where I had a teen crush on Dean Cain.
But I'd been chatting about the fact I wasn't sure Superman had brown hair to the requester and she asked for a more classic "Christopher Reeve" kiss curl. So that's what she got!


Then I was off on my own again.


 I decided that as a surprise Supes should have a removable cape because it was, well, fun. I couldn't remember if the cape had the logo on or what the cape logo looked like. I thought it might be red on red, but my friend Nina came to the rescue with an image source. I'm still not clear if there is a cannon on this as a new google search seems to show some variation. But this image from the DC online game seems to be relatively clear and follow the pattern I used.

i.e. I did a yellow on yellow logo on the red cape.
Magically when I came to make the cape I remembered I'd got some red ribbon the perfect length to use for the tie, so that all worked out really well. I also found some yellow felt which made making the logo so much easier. I regretted not remembering I had it when I was doing the front logo as although it was fun to embroider, it was hard to stop the cloth from distorting. And in fact I just had to accept some cloth distortion even with the hoop.

I kind of like it anyway. As is typical if I am doing sewing I sometimes get certain things stuck in my memory that I associate with the time I was doing sewing. This logo reminds me about being stuck watching "You, me and Dupree" while I was finishing it off. By the way I only saw the last 20 minutes and it was terrible. Although not as terrible as the hours I will not get back from watching the Proposal with Sandra Bullock and Ryan Reynolds. You need to be able to believe the couple fall in love directors! I never did! Both actors should know better as they've done better.

So then he was nearly nearly done.
I don't have coloured card in the house so I appropriated some from my parents today when I went over, the same supply that gave Harry Potter some glasses! Thanks Mummy and Daddy!
So now he is complete, and all ready to be handed over to his owner in time for Easter.