The list is sort of shorter. Please try and resist the urge to ask for at least a little bit people.
Next up is Michael Jackson himself. Hopefully actually should be pretty easy. His suit is basically all red with some black bits.
After that Darth Vader - easy and hard at the same time. I may be lining his cape and will be making a removable helmet.
Finally after that the winsome Elizabeth from Bioshock.
After that, a pause methinks.
Thursday, 25 April 2013
10, Tennant, pun intennanted
So the 10th Doctor mark 2 was a significantly different project to the first time I made it. It is, in fact strange to realise that this is the 11th plushie I've made, and that this particular design is where it all began. You can buy the pattern yourself for this one and make one sort of like mine It's by Michelle Coffee on Etsy - 9" Human Plush David Tennant/Castiel PDF pattern.
You can also read my first post on making my first ever plushie in the post "I don't need another blog"
Despite this being the original design I'm afraid that I never leave the pattern completely alone. It may amuse people that despite it being entirely accidental I don't think all of my plushies have eyebrows like the design asks for. I seem to have remembered on the first few and then forgotten.
More seriously, rather than applique the shirt part of the suit on TOP of the blue suit as I did with the first one as that was what the original instructions said, I did what I've done in many other plushies since and cut a v out and put the shirt behind, making it lie more like a normal shirt. I also didn't bother with the complicated shape of the tie in the pattern, I just made what is effectively a long strip of red. It looks fine at such a small scale. I also corrected the shoe colour. Tennant wears MAROON shoes with a blue suit, and WHITE shoes with the brown suit.
I have to say hemming every single piece of the jacket does not get any more fun the more I do it. It's enough for me to give up on using non felt or fraying fabrics altogether for the coats/jackets. But I still like the aesthetic of reusing otherwise unusable pieces so I don't know. I never seem to get the length right. Somehow my plushies have longer arms by a long way than the jackets unless I extend the arm lengths. No idea how that happens. I also sometimes have to make the arms skinnier to fit in the jacket.
This particular brown furry material for the hair looks great but is a bit thick and sometimes hard to hem and sew down. Still I kind of like how it looks. It feels hair-like and is quite tolerant at hiding different brown colour threads when I sew it down.
I really enjoyed the cotton of the suit. It was just a really easy fabric to manipulate and really easy to sew. It's left over from Captain Jack.
So there you go, it's finished and on its way very soon.
For comparison, this is the first one I made
You can also read my first post on making my first ever plushie in the post "I don't need another blog"
Despite this being the original design I'm afraid that I never leave the pattern completely alone. It may amuse people that despite it being entirely accidental I don't think all of my plushies have eyebrows like the design asks for. I seem to have remembered on the first few and then forgotten.
More seriously, rather than applique the shirt part of the suit on TOP of the blue suit as I did with the first one as that was what the original instructions said, I did what I've done in many other plushies since and cut a v out and put the shirt behind, making it lie more like a normal shirt. I also didn't bother with the complicated shape of the tie in the pattern, I just made what is effectively a long strip of red. It looks fine at such a small scale. I also corrected the shoe colour. Tennant wears MAROON shoes with a blue suit, and WHITE shoes with the brown suit.
I have to say hemming every single piece of the jacket does not get any more fun the more I do it. It's enough for me to give up on using non felt or fraying fabrics altogether for the coats/jackets. But I still like the aesthetic of reusing otherwise unusable pieces so I don't know. I never seem to get the length right. Somehow my plushies have longer arms by a long way than the jackets unless I extend the arm lengths. No idea how that happens. I also sometimes have to make the arms skinnier to fit in the jacket.
This particular brown furry material for the hair looks great but is a bit thick and sometimes hard to hem and sew down. Still I kind of like how it looks. It feels hair-like and is quite tolerant at hiding different brown colour threads when I sew it down.
I really enjoyed the cotton of the suit. It was just a really easy fabric to manipulate and really easy to sew. It's left over from Captain Jack.
So there you go, it's finished and on its way very soon.
For comparison, this is the first one I made
Monday, 15 April 2013
Dream a little dream....
It appears to be bad time right now for many people, but fortunately no-one I know or am semi closely related to is OK. I send love to all affected throughout the world by violence and suffering big and small, and offer a small distraction. A short post on my latest creation.
I was asked to make the character known by the multiple names of Dream, Morpheus and Sandman, one of the Endless, most particularly his incarnation in the comics written by Monsieur Gaiman. Not sure why he got a French mister there but meh.
There was a certain level of uncertainty about how to approach the doll as in essence he's rather simple and stark - a white skinned character with black eyes, hair and clothing. The details of what he wears seem fluid from a google search for details. Some have capes, some don't. Details are obscured by the black. There is a sense of flowing and black and sometimes bare feet.
As I started making the doll there was an element in my choices of making it more complex or challenging as well as more interesting and appropriate. I did debate making his helmet but couldn't quite work out how I would do it and although it's known it's not all that iconic somehow.
So unusually as I normally work from basic body, outwards, stage 1 was the coat, which I decided to make in fake leather since I had some! I tried out a new technique for sewing whereby only the shoulders were sewn inside out with the under arm and sides sewn from the outside to stop the ripple effect along the front opening that happens when I sew it entirely inside out. I also decided to try making the sleeves separately. I was as always extremely extremely grateful that it was fake leather and thus didn't need hemming.
This was kind of tough to sew with black thread on something shiny. I had to squint a bit without my glasses and in really strong light. I ended up with the sleeves slightly too long so I hemmed them a bit shorter and compensated by trying to make the arms of the body longer.
So yes, then I got to the body. I had a bit of a dither about the hair because I didn't have any black wool or anything I wanted for hair but I decided to hope someone would come through (at the last minute Mum found some) so I made a black hair base with embroidery for the fringe-y bits ("bangs" in American?)
The sketch shows a belt but I got sidetracked by another idea - to give him some sense of flowing, I had some semi transparent black I'd used before which I chopped about with scissors as it wouldn't tear. It couldn't be added without complications before the body was sewn up as it would get in the way of turning it the right way out. So I made the body basically black with white hands and feet.
Then Dream was right sided out and I added the floaty bits. Finally I got to the hair. I couldn't work out how else to do it, so I cut lengths of wool and sewed them on to the stuffed and sewn up doll. In retrospect I should have stuffed but left the top open to allow for ease of sewing down the wool but I think it's relatively secure, so long as you don't really yank at it.
The fun last stage was that I cut the hair too long and then gave Dream a "shaggy" haircut. This was particularly fun because the requestor had asked for "wild" hair.
So it is now complete. Eyes could have been bigger but I can't fix it now. I'm rather pleased with it.
In amusement afterthought as I was making this it occured to me that it resembled Neil Gaiman himself.
I mean dark shaggy hair, mainly black clothing, long coat? I nearly joke tweeted him that I should make an Amanda Palmer to go with but I didn't.
I was asked to make the character known by the multiple names of Dream, Morpheus and Sandman, one of the Endless, most particularly his incarnation in the comics written by Monsieur Gaiman. Not sure why he got a French mister there but meh.
There was a certain level of uncertainty about how to approach the doll as in essence he's rather simple and stark - a white skinned character with black eyes, hair and clothing. The details of what he wears seem fluid from a google search for details. Some have capes, some don't. Details are obscured by the black. There is a sense of flowing and black and sometimes bare feet.
As I started making the doll there was an element in my choices of making it more complex or challenging as well as more interesting and appropriate. I did debate making his helmet but couldn't quite work out how I would do it and although it's known it's not all that iconic somehow.
So unusually as I normally work from basic body, outwards, stage 1 was the coat, which I decided to make in fake leather since I had some! I tried out a new technique for sewing whereby only the shoulders were sewn inside out with the under arm and sides sewn from the outside to stop the ripple effect along the front opening that happens when I sew it entirely inside out. I also decided to try making the sleeves separately. I was as always extremely extremely grateful that it was fake leather and thus didn't need hemming.
So yes, then I got to the body. I had a bit of a dither about the hair because I didn't have any black wool or anything I wanted for hair but I decided to hope someone would come through (at the last minute Mum found some) so I made a black hair base with embroidery for the fringe-y bits ("bangs" in American?)
The sketch shows a belt but I got sidetracked by another idea - to give him some sense of flowing, I had some semi transparent black I'd used before which I chopped about with scissors as it wouldn't tear. It couldn't be added without complications before the body was sewn up as it would get in the way of turning it the right way out. So I made the body basically black with white hands and feet.
Then Dream was right sided out and I added the floaty bits. Finally I got to the hair. I couldn't work out how else to do it, so I cut lengths of wool and sewed them on to the stuffed and sewn up doll. In retrospect I should have stuffed but left the top open to allow for ease of sewing down the wool but I think it's relatively secure, so long as you don't really yank at it.
The fun last stage was that I cut the hair too long and then gave Dream a "shaggy" haircut. This was particularly fun because the requestor had asked for "wild" hair.
In amusement afterthought as I was making this it occured to me that it resembled Neil Gaiman himself.
I mean dark shaggy hair, mainly black clothing, long coat? I nearly joke tweeted him that I should make an Amanda Palmer to go with but I didn't.
Tuesday, 9 April 2013
This list was supposed to be shrinking!
Only...er some more people asked.
Current list is :
May run out of specific materials at some point. Currently I would like someone to donate more black fabric, preferably black felt would be great. Think I'm OK for brown right now.
Current list is :
- Morpheus/Dream/Sandman
- 10th Doctor
- Michael Jackson
- Darth Vader
- Elizabeth from Bioshock or Death from Sandman
May run out of specific materials at some point. Currently I would like someone to donate more black fabric, preferably black felt would be great. Think I'm OK for brown right now.
A girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do
Much as I make these plushies by choice and I don't mind making them, the least characteristic the doll is, the less interested I am.
As a result Sherlock was not a thrill for me. He really doesn't have a very distinctive look.
So basically all I could do was riff off the whole long grey coat, toned down clothes and give him a side parting and a blue scarf
In many ways it was deja vu back to Edward.
Still it was relatively straightforward to make. The only difficulty I had was the jacket which drove me somewhat nuts as always by refusing to iron into the right shape once I'd sewn it inside out and turned it right way out.
Fortunately the flair looks kind of fun anyway. IT was a real pain to hem each separate piece however, and made me really grateful when I started the next one that fake leather doesn't really need hemming.
Some people have said some kind words about him but the really sweet adorable bit was the friend who I made it for. I sent her an mms with the picture and she rang to tell me it really helped cheer her up as she was having a manky time of it and she'd forgotten asking for one. I am always happy to please. Glad she enjoys it. A handover time to be agreed.
As a result Sherlock was not a thrill for me. He really doesn't have a very distinctive look.
So basically all I could do was riff off the whole long grey coat, toned down clothes and give him a side parting and a blue scarf
In many ways it was deja vu back to Edward.
Still it was relatively straightforward to make. The only difficulty I had was the jacket which drove me somewhat nuts as always by refusing to iron into the right shape once I'd sewn it inside out and turned it right way out.
Fortunately the flair looks kind of fun anyway. IT was a real pain to hem each separate piece however, and made me really grateful when I started the next one that fake leather doesn't really need hemming.
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