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

I don't really need another blog but..

....here I am writing another post for the first time in years. I am thinking it is a good place to waffle about my latest sewing commission.

Things I'm going to write : about my plushies, about fakeness, and geek girlness and online misogyny and then I might get bored. So there you go.

So for etage numero un (a small bit of French for no reason) I will let you know how I ended up with a list of plushies to make, that is a bit long.

Currently I have been commissioned 11 times. Six have been made, one I'm not sure what they want yet and I'm at a standstill because of a missing fabric.

It all began way back when a friend asked the universe (well twitter anyway) if someone would make her a Doctor Who Quiet book. I woulda but it had no pattern at the time and it was kind of huge. So then she found this 10th Doctor / Castiel plushie pattern and I foolishly said I'd make her one.

If that was all I wouldn't have a list of 5 more plushies to make right now.

 The first thing was I decided to make it with fabric scraps, not entirely felt. It makes it more fiddly but also more interesting for me.

I decided to use embroidery where possible and also, most foolishly, not follow the instructions and make it inside out and then turn it right way out. This lead to a slightly skinnier plushie than I'd actually planned.

But he was still pretty awesome

 And when she got him, I think she was pretty happy.

He's since had adventures and everything.

But I had started something. Two friends immediately asked for other characters. And then finally someone actually asked for one for a child....