Doctor no 11....yes again

So glancing back at my previous posts forever ago I'm sure you're thinking where's my darn delorean, where's my nursery rhyme book for the niece?

And the answer would be I don't know I got distracted. Instead I've been asked for the straightforward kind of plushies and I've finally made one of them - the 11th Doctor. This is not my first outing with the 11th Doctor. The last time I made one for a friend's daughter.

I have just realised I left something out of my plushie this time - the braces! Ooops. Never mind can add those on top. Done it before.

Anyway, on my second outing I was thinking about what fabric I had to hand in the more or less right colours.

I don't use a lot of felt really in my plushies despite the fact that it doesn't fray and is therefore easy to use. I guess because I don't have a lot generally and I have a looooooooot of other bits of cloth. I was slightly excited this time to get a chance to use a fat square I'd bought ages ago on holiday that was faintly reminiscent of tweed but cotton for the jacket.

I confess I did some cursory colour research but then I just got stuck in. I had to slightly make use of some scraps creatively to create the hair as I didn't have enough of the fabric I wanted.

I probably should have taken more care of the lining up of the pattern of the fabric of the jacket but I like the way it looks.

The requestor had asked for a fez, which I hadn't done the last time.

The last stage involved me realising I'd mised out the braces, I sadly didn't photograph them but they were the same material as the bow tie which was a fun touch.

So there we are, he's done. I like some aspects of this one better than the previous version. Admittedly the previous plushie was much earlier into my odyssey into plushie making. I currently appear to have made well over 20 of the darn things!

I've got to the stage now where I quite like that things aren't perfect, that the legs and other parts aren't even and the fabrics vary so much. I like the challenges that each one brings, even when I make the same plushie again.

I've got a toughie coming up - someone asked me for Imperator Furiosa and I'm thinking about how I can make that arm. Sadly I don't have any more grey pipe cleaners. But maybe I can cover some ones I have of another colour.

One two, skip a few....

So my latest blogpost is about the second project after the Babydoll plushie but I don't have have the photos on hand for the one in between, so I'm writing about it anyway out of sequence, messing with my librarian orderly brain. I know. It hurts.

So the sequence of making was :

• Babydoll (Suckerpunch)
• Hermione Granger
• Oswin Oswald/Dalek

Who is Clara? Why is Clara?

A while back my friend said that her daughter would like a Clara to go with her 11th Doctor as her Christmas present. I said OK and thought very little of it as Christmas was a while away,  and I got on with some other projects and life and stuff. Then recently I was buying presents and I said "What does your daughter want for Christmas." and she said, you agreed to make Clara  but it's OK if you can't now. And I was like "no, no, I'll do it."

The problem I have is that while Clara/Oswin/whatever dresses very nicely I'm sure, it's not exactly iconic or anything. Her Clara the governess is quite iconic I suppose but I'd just made Clara Clayton/Brown who is also in a sort of Victorian outfit and I didn't want to have a feeling of deja vu.

I know Clara is less brightly coloured but still once translated into plushie there wouldn't be a ton of difference.

So I had this inspiration - I would do Clara, well not really Clara, Oswin Oswald who is actually a dalek and I would make a dalek that is hollow for her to go in because she's a dalek - see?

It'll be fine I've got plenty of time I told myself and then started slightly frantically sewing.

Making Oswin

I've got to admit that Oswin's outfit wasn't that exciting and I was much more interested in the hollow dalek. As I was working from my own ideas and not a proper pattern, I wanted to finish Oswin as fast as possible in order to know the dimensions of the space I needed to incorporate into the dalek's body. My plushies are all more or less the same size but it's not an exact science and things do vary. Plus I have not kept any of them so I didn't have one to hand to measure with.

Oswin's outfit also had the convenience of my accidental excess purchase of red felt (I've now got miles of the stuff from my perspective). So with only a cursory glance at pictures of Oswin, I set to work.


Having struggled with longer brown hair with Hermione and given up and put on wool I knew I'd be doing the same this time.

I then started sewing on the wool hair. In my head I though Oswin had a fringe or that Clara did but I hadn't thought too hard about it. As a result I thought I'd done her hair and it looked like this

Doing some research afterwards she has had sort of a long fringe that rarely sits on her forehead.

but the key point is, not as Oswin if you look at the earlier reference image.
I only registered this fact after I'd done the hair. Although I do take mistakes in my stride and of course make choices in my plushies for some reason I just didn't like that I'd got this wrong, so I added further wool to fix her fringe.

Although this gave Clara rather ridiculously large hair it mainly made me feel better.

Oswin the Dalek

With Oswin made, I moved on to the dalek.

Colour scheme

I knew immediately I would not be making the dalek the real colours of Oswin's dalek or even the most common colour that I remember seeing - the sort of goldy colour with black etc.



I didn't really have the right materials to hand and I didn't have time and also I don't know I just didn't feel like it. I had, however a fair amount of grey felt that I planned to use.

I hunted around for other colour schemes and settled on one with a grey base and black details.

I liked this one, so I based my design on this.

Making the dalek in sections - the main body piece

In making the dalek I confess I kind of made it up as I went along. I wrapped a long piece around the Oswin plushie to get the measurement around her and found the piece I had was a bit short so I added a black bit to the bottom and top which also fit with the design but added height.

I wanted the hollow dalek to sort of stand up on its own even without the Oswin inside, so I was prepared for it to need some stiffening so after sewing on the black roundels I ironed on interfacing.

Base of the dalek

I then had to work out the base and the head. The head needed to be all of one piece as it's visible but I was prepared for a much less tidy base. I didn't have enough fabric to use one whole piece so I sewed some bits together to make the base and sewed it in.



Dome of the dalek head

The dome of the head was a bit of a puzzle but I basically had one large bit of grey left so that was the maximum curve I could make. I wasn't entirely sure how to make a dome but I figured a circle of fabric with slits in should be able to be overlapped to work and then sewn down, so I tested it with a paper template. This paper circle was the largest size of circle my largest piece of grey felt would be able to cut out.

I then used this as a pattern for the dome. There was not really enough fabric left for the base of the dome so I used a navy material I had plenty of as I figured the base would not be very visible and it would be better for it to be dark. I made a pattern for the base the right size for the hole at the top of the tube for the base and constructed the dome to curve to match the base. I then unpinned the base and sewed up the dome.

For the eye stalk I used a black pipe cleaner, I cut a hole in the dome and sewed it in place. The eye at the end came after. I also made the two antennae things by rolling small pieces of yellow-white felt and sewing them in place.

I then turned the dome inside out and sewed it onto the base.  I stuffed the dome and sewed up the last part.

I then sewed the dome into the tube of the dalek body.

The dalek now needed some arms. Unfortunately I didn't have any more black pipe cleaners. I did try just using blue ones but it didn't look right when I sewed them in place so I made covers out of leftover black felt.


I still wanted some further detail. To make the eye stalk look more accurate I made the end section using a grey circle folded to curve round and sewn into place, and then added a pale yellow white smaller circle for the centre of the eye stalk. To make the bit before that I had a pipe cleaner in the perfect colour which I just wrapped around tightly to create the blob.


Final details of the dalek

At this point I had found that really interfacing was not enough to hold the dalek up safely without anything inside. So I sewed in some pipe cleaners  inside to give it some extra strength.


This was a real pain at this stage as I also had to cover the ends which are a bit sharp, and sewing inside was a bit arm twisting. Fortunately pipe cleaners are also designed to bend so I could bend them the wrong way to get at things.

I used a similar technique as the end of the eye stalk to make the plunger.


The most fiddly bit was making the other ray gun arm details. The strips of thin grey felt were very fiddly to keep in place and sew into place and would have been much less secure if not for the bands of grey felt circling the arm.


End result is a free standing hollow dalek and Clara!

G[r]eek Alphabet - Z is for Zaphod Beeblebrox

I know what you're thinking. You're thinking poetryghost you're a LIBRARIAN, shouldn't that be B is for Beeblebrox, Zaphod. Actually you aren't cos only librarians think these kind of thoughts but never mind.

I'm not 100% well and to cheer myself up at being not able to go to dance class I thought I'd catch you up on letter Z.

Zaphod is a fun character - fond of clashing outfits but also a bit suave. I decided I would make the colours as extreme as possible but preferably not eyewateringly painful to look at.

I started with the peach background and then added green and purple, notoriously bad colours to wear together. To make it bearable I toned down the green and the purple was darker anyway. I dithered over the letter colour for a while but ended up with dark greenish to contrast everything else going on and to avoid adding more colours to the palette.

I did worry initially about the skin being a beige colour and fading into the peach background but I figured if I gave him brown hair on his heads then that would help to outline his heads

So then I wanted a way to link the two halves of his shirt so that it didn't look like two guys hugging each other. So I created a zig zag across the edges using embroidery.

At this point the glass for his pan galatic gargle blaster was too dark on the dark of the green so I outlined it in white.

I realised that the pale green was also fading into the background too much, so I decided that having outlined one green sleeve in purple I could outline the whole of the green side in purple as well. I also outlined all the flesh in a very thin black line.

So there we are Zaphod Beeblebrox is complete!

Final news before bed - letter A now has a completed back and is completely sewn up! Yay!!!!!!!!!!

G[r]eek Alphabet : X is for Xena, warrior princess

I am well aware that I have followed to powerful women one after the other, but firstly I love both the characters, and secondly, you try thinking of some decent things for X! X-men would have been nice but the logo was quite what I wanted. ANYhoo...

So, Xena, yes, well she is kind of ace. I decided since she dresses is brown leather and I had some brown fake leather I would use it. I knew it would be a challenge but I really wanted to do it.

I tried to get Xena's clothing details vaguely right, so I had some of my usual picspam to help me (thank God for Pinterest).



Because it's hard to sew through fake leather (or real leather, I've never tried) and also tough to sew through multiple layers and other stitchery, I decided I would have to carefully pin things in place and sew through the leather first rather than sewing down the X, then the flesh of Xena's head and arms and then the dress as I would normally.

It had all been so much easier when I used the leather for the A for Athena

Xena does look a lil freaky with no hair but that's cos I couldn't be bothered to use fabric and decided to embroider it instead, ditto the sword.

I had intended that Xena's wrist cover would just be embroidery but in a fit of crazies I decided this would be too complicated and switched back to some more of the fake leather. Embroidering through 2 layers of fake leather, plus cloth (2 ish layers for the X and backing and interfacing) was challenging but fortunately it was a small area. Next I was on to the dress embroidering, followed by the arm bands and chakram, then the X and hair and face.

Final detail which I nearly forgot was the sword being carried on her back. Something I've just realised is I've accidentally put it over her right shoulder, making it easier to take out of its sheathe with its left hand. Mind you I'm sure Xena has done sword fighting with both hands and I'm a leftie also so tough!

I'm now slightly panicking about the more complex design for Y. Don't panic!!

G[r]eek Alphabet : V is for a certain vampire who likes to count

Definitely a Sesame Street vibe going on here people!

I'll keep the picspam count low this time!


The count was gradually built up in layers.

The first layer was the white of his shirt, because I knew it would be coverd by the opera cloak and the edge of the face I sewed it down as part of sewing down the cloak.

I forgot to photograph the middle stage : which was sewing down the collar. Then I sewed down the face and embroidered on the hair and features.

Next stage was the V. The original design had the head on top of this but I'd forgotten and I didn't mind that it didn't happen in the end. The V is two layers : one yellow and one very transparent green. This wasn't actually enough. You can see through the two layers to the shape of the count's shoulders but I don't mind too much because the V is still very clear.

With all the details done, one incomplete vampire ah a aaaaa, two incomplete vampires ah a aaaaaaaaaaaa, 3 incomplete vampires ah a aaaaaaaaaaa, FOUR vampires!

Thank you to the friend who suggested this, it was a great idea. V was a tough one as I didn't want anything scary like V for Vendetta. Or too obscure like Sherlock Holmes' violin.

G[r]eek Alphabet : T is for Tardis and always knowing where your towel is

So howzat working out for ya? Two very nice SF references in ONE square of fabric, I''ll admit I'm pretty pleased about it.

My first debate was as usual a colour one. My original colours for this square were :

Background : Navy blue (quite dark navy)
Tardis : Royal blue (slightly light one)
Towel : Pale blue
Letter T : Undecided

While the three blues all blended together they blended a little too well really for good visual clarity. I want these designs to be very straightforward to read, for a child to read. I want them to be able to see the letter and to see what the pictures are.

So I immediately thought I would bring in some bright colours, the towel became red felt, and the letter T became bright yellow. Admittedly this was also not a stretch for me, I love yellow and will take any excuse to wear it or use it.

The next thing I wanted to think about was related to some interactivity I had hoped and planned to add into this square. Most of the squares will be simple designs sewn on, but some of them I hoped I could add things that open or other aspects. I'd managed to add in an opening lid to the luggage already. Here I wanted to make the Tardis have openable doors. But if they doors are open, what is going to go inside them?

I sent out a distress signal on Facebook, Twitter and Blogger. I warned people of the spec. This is a very small space. Much as I'd like to put your favourite doctor, I'd be hard pressed to fit him in recognisably in a space 5.5cm x 3 cm. 

Some of the serious and less serious suggestions were :

• Screwdriver (sonic one assumes)
• Tiny smurfs
• Fez
• Swirly time vortex
• Stars
• The baby's name in Gallifreyan
• Console room (which one)
• K9
• Doctor Who logo
• The word "run"

My favourite was probably the stars but to fill the inside of the Tardis with more dark in a design already having blue on dark blue I felt was not going to work. So instead I went with a golden colour.

I did debate doing a 10 or may be 11 style console room in part.

But ultimately there was just too much detail to be realised.

I also did debate the baby's name in Gallifreyan thingy. But I just didn't quite fancy it although learning Gallifreyan was quite fun.

Then I decided it would be spirally time vortexy. I was stuck with the yellow goldeny colour by this point. And I had a bunch of things that went through my head.

Not least the Van Gogh episode (s5 ep 10 "Vincent and the Doctor").
But also the scene where Rose, having looked into the heart of the Tardis is all shiny and full of Tardis knowledge (s1 ep 10 "The parting of the ways")


I was a bit frustrated by failing to find an image of Rose looking like this with more than just her head and shoulders in view. But I don't think I'm missing any useful swirly-ness so never mind.

I also looked up for time vortexy pictures that were more yellow/reddish spectrum

But this was totally a retrospective justification.

Sorry about the pic spam but this is I'm afraid my creative process, stick with it.

When I started making the Tardis I had some technical challenges to stop the doors being too thick and the edges not fraying, so I cut a large blue ribbon in half and used the non fraying edge as the inside edge.

I also had to simplify the design as I began to see it was just too much to fit in all the details. To keep me relatively accurate, e.g notice on correct side, right number of panels, I used more images as reference:


By this point I'm sure you're begging me to show you the darned sewing!! So OK, I'll give you something alright?

 Mostly at this point it looked messy. To keep the brightness of the yellow ribbon I had to put on two layers of ribbon : pale yellow under bright yellow. At this point I thought I'd test out my Picsart app's draw on a photo thingy and make sure the red towel would work, plus see how giving the Tardis a white outline to make it pop a bit would work.

 

There was obviously a lot of tidying to do and slight adjustments. One of which was the realisation that the top bar of the T had got too high and when placed correctly would come very low over the Tardis, So after some debate I put the Tardis lamp OVER the letter T.

I also decided that the towel would flap freely below the railing. And what about the inside of the Tardis?

Swirly space spiral! I had debated having black stars but decided they might not be clear what they were and look like weird dots or odd shapes. All in all it came out pretty darned well.

But what about the Towel? What's that all about?

Ah my dears, nerd fails on your part. This is a Douglas Adams Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy reference. One should always know where one's towel is. At all times.