I’ve purchased a new book of patterns, Invasion of the Plush Monsters by Veronika Alice Gunter and John Murphy. It’s been out for a couple of years, but I only just spotted is a few weeks back whilst browsing through the craft books on Amazon. It’s quite similar to John Murphy’s Stupid Creatures book, though the patterns are generally a little more complicated and you aren’t limited to using just socks as your core material. The illustrations are excellent and the instructions are very clear. Even if you aren’t an expert in sewing/monster making you will find the book easy to work through. As well as just monsters, some of the creatures in here are also bags, purses and even slippers. Once I’ve completed the projects I’m currently working on, I’ll be jumping straight into this book for inspiration.
February 10, 2010
Plush Monsters
Posted by sockymon under Socks | Tags: Books, John Murphy, Monsters, Patterns, Socks, Veronika Alice Gunter |Leave a Comment
February 8, 2010
Harry and Chums
Posted by sockymon under Socks | Tags: Monster, Pattern, Felt, Harry, Colours, Moleskine |Leave a Comment
Thumbing through my patterns, I’ve found a very simple one for a character called “Harry.” It’s pretty flexible so I should be able to make a few different versions. I’ve got my Moleskine notebook with me, so I can do some doodles before I pick a particular design. I’ve got an idea to make a little family of these, so I’m looking forward to this project. I might need to get some more felt squares because the ones I’ve got are more ‘Autumn’ colours and I think these should be much brighter.
February 3, 2010
Don’t Go Over the Edge
Posted by sockymon under Socks | Tags: Felt, Market, Pattern, Tree |Leave a Comment
I’ve now drawn and cut out all the felt pieces I need to make my tree shaped man. I made myself some templates out of paper and pinned them to the felt first. Normally I’m a bit more slapdash, but since I’ve not used this pattern before I thought I’d resist the urge to do everything freehand. I traced round the templates with chalk, then cut them out (being careful not to go over the edges) and luckily I didn’t have any mishaps. I still haven’t found any fruit shaped buttons but I might have a look around the local market later today and see what I can find.
February 2, 2010
The next pattern I’ve got my eye on is a tree-man with a trunk for his body and the leaves (kind of) as his hair. The brown felt I didn’t use for Squidgey will be good for his body/trunk and I’ve got some dark green felt that I can use for the hair/leaves. I’ll probably cut out felt pieces for his face, but I want to find some fruit shaped buttons to sew onto the leaves. It should make him look more like a tree, hopefully. I’ve been considering using small bells or more felt pieces but I don’t think they’d be as effective. I’ve seen strawberry shaped buttons before, but that wouldn’t look right since they don’t grow on trees. I’m hoping to end up with something that looks like it’s from Animal Crossing or Super Mario Land.
February 1, 2010
Recently I made my periodic pilgrimage to the sewing stall at my local market to do some shopping for supplies. I was running short on felt squares so I splashed out and got about a dozen different colours to make some new monsters with. The first pattern that I decided to get to grips with was for ‘A Lonely Dollop.’ (This title is a euphemism because it’s a smiling poo) Luckily I had two different shades of brown felt to choose from, so I went for the slightly darker one. The pattern suggested cutting out white felt for eye, but I had some big round buttons that I thought would stand out more. He’s a happy little monster and I’ve called him Squidgey. Not sure where to keep him… the bathroom, I suppose…
December 23, 2009
Halloween at Christmas
Posted by sockymon under Socks | Tags: Felt, Monsters, Sock |Leave a Comment
My latest plushy little creation is called Mr. Skelly. He’s a soft, felt skeleton-man who looks a bit like one of the characters in the Zack and Wiki video game for Nintendo Wii. I didn’t have a pattern for him, just an outline of the general shape, so I drew the pattern myself on paper. A bit of pinning later and I was able to cut out the body, arms and legs. Well, at first I cut out the front and back of the legs, but forgot that I’d need a front and back to the arms. I counted 4 pieces and in my head I thought that tallied with the number of limbs he needed. Oh well… Once I had all the right body part, putting him together was pretty easy. I gave him enough stuffing to keep him fairly firm so that he’d stand upright but still leaving him cuddly. I’ve not made any monsters out of felt before, but I’ve got a few rolls of the stuff now and I think it should give me scope to make more than just sock-shaped ones.
September 16, 2009
More Plush Pals
Posted by sockymon under Socks | Tags: Books, Monsters, Patterns, Plush |Leave a Comment
Recently I’ve been reading a book called ‘Softies’ by Therese Laskey, a book I discovered in a store in Helsinki. I didn’t buy it at the time as the exchange rate meant that I couldn’t justify the large number of Euros it would have cost me. Luckily, once I was back in England it was easily available for a reasonable amount of pounds. The book is spiral bound, which is handy because it is quite thick and holds an envelope full of patterns attached to the back page. Unlike most of my books, this one isn’t exclusively about making monsters – there are a few conventional creatures in there like bunnies and dogs. There are even things like pincushions and paperweights that can me made out of felt, so there’s plenty of variety in here. The instructions are clear and there are lots of high quality pictures to guide you through each project. Everything in here has layers of humour and charm slapped over it. I’m particularly looking forward to making a ‘Lonely Dollop’ who is a little brown blob of poo – perfect for a stocking filler this Christmas

Softies