Plush Monsters

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.

 

Doodles

Taking my notebook around with me has proven to be quite useful. I did some rough sketches for templates and last night I picked my favourites, which I’ll make into monsters. The first one I’ve started on is a square shaped character with short, wide feet like a Womble but no arms. His body will be made of orange felt, but I’m not sure which buttons to use for eyes. I do have some proper googlie eyes that I could use, but I like the way buttons create more personality. They give a more ‘homemade’ look as they’re not really eyes but the way they’re placed makes your imagination see them as eyes. I’ve got plenty of chunky round buttons but something makes me think that square ones would work even better. I’m not sure, but I’ll rummage around the bottom of my sewing box and see what I can find.

 

Harry and Chums

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.

 

Green and Leafy

Finally finished making my tree man. I used a blanket stitch to attach the two halves I’d already made, but it didn’t look quite right. As frustrating as it was, I unpicked all the stitches and started again using a tight back stitch. This time it came out looking a lot more tidy. I initially over stuffed him, so I had to take some of his filling out to keep him soft. Once I sewed up the hole at the base of his trunk he was complete and I’m very happy with him. Since he’s so top heavy he isn’t stable enough to stand upright but that doesn’t matter. I could always stand him in a plant pot, or lean him against a house plant – either would do for me. The buttons I used to decorate his leaves look perfect, so I’m very glad about those. This does of course mean that I’ve finished another monster, so I need to start thinking about what to make next. I’m going to start rummaging through my books of patterns to see what takes my fancy.

 

Picking Up the Pieces

My trip to the market was a success! I managed to find some round, yellow buttons that look a bit like Golden Delicious apples (to my eyes…) for my tree man. I also found some white flower shaped buttons that will make good blossom to dot around his leaves too. Last night I stitched together the trunk and leaf parts, so now I have just two halves to attach to each other. I also added the facial features and fruit so things are coming along nicely now. The buttons I’ve used for eyes have a green and white swirl pattern on them, which I found quite interesting. The mouth is shaped from offcuts of felt left over from Squidgey.

 

Don’t Go Over the Edge

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.

 

Mr. Tree Head

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.

 

Squidgey Poo

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…

 

Halloween at Christmas

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.

 

More Plush Pals

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