Felt Doll

Remember when I made a book? And then made a doll of the character of the book?

Well I made another version of the doll because the first one was too tricky to replicate.

For the second version I made it a bit smaller and used felt so I didn't have to deal with turning the parts inside out.

The dress is made from some fleece I found at the Scrap Store. It was the perfect colour and there was quite a bit of it.

I took a while trying to decide how to do the decoration on the dress. In the first version I used fabric but that wouldn't work on this smaller scale. So for the dots I painted them on with pink fabric paint and for the lines around the edges of the dress I sewed on pink embroidery thread.

I made a paper pattern for this doll so I'll be able to make lots and sell them alongside my book at the craft fairs I'm doing in a few months.

My book is still available to buy on Amazon if you're interested.

Character Doll

Remember how I made a book that's now for sale? Well I've also made a toy version of the main character to act as a mascot when I'm selling the book at craft fairs. 

This was the first time I've made a toy like this so my method involved a lot of trial and error.

I made a paper pattern for each of the body parts and then got sewing and stuffing.

Sewing the limbs to the main body was pretty tricky and things looked a bit creepy for a while.

I used felt for the hair and shoes, and drew on the eyes, mouth and nose.

I used the only purple fabric I had for the dress and stuck on little pink dots to match the illustrations.

I love how this little doll turned out and I think she will look great sat next to a pile of books for sale.

Felt Minion

Last week I went with my friends to see Despicable Me 2. I hadn't seen the first one but you don't need to to enjoy the film - because of these guys. The minions.

I think they should've done away with the main storyline and just focused on the minions.

Those guys are hilarious.

To make my minion I sewed a yellow felt tube with circles either end. I over stuffed it so the circles would dome. Before I attached one of the circles I sewed some black embroidery thread, knotted on the back, for the hair.

Then I spent way too long trying to make the overalls, so let's just skip that bit.

For the arms I rolled up some yellow felt and sewed it down the side. The hands are two matching pieces sewn, and glued, together then sewn to the arm. To cover up the stitches I glued a strip of black felt around the wrist.

The legs are rolled up strips of denim with felt feet glued on. 

The goggles are gift ribbon (stroke of genius on my part) with a strip of black felt stuck all the way around. For the eyes I just used brown and black felt tip pens on white felt. I think it would have looked better if I'd have stitched the eyes, but ain't nobody got time for that!

Then I used a Sharpie to put the finishing touches on the overalls.

Oh minion, I'm not sure what to do with you now.

Maybe I'll sit you on my desk and you can encourage me to fill in job applications.