Um. I seem to be playing Elf.

[capri0mni]

So, a year and a half ago, I got the idea of making a "Group Hug Snuggly" -- a physical stuffed animal to grab hold of and hug whenever I feel the urge to type *hugs* in reply to someone online, and also to grab and hold whenever someone sent that reply to me.

As an added boost of snuggly magic, it will have, slipped inside the stuffing, little tokens-- each one representing / dedicated to one of those friends (back in the day, they raised their [virtual] hands and asked to be included*).

The thing is, I always wanted to make an original design teddy -- either a "monster" teddy or an "alien" teddy. So I didn't want to use any of the sewing patterns available for download online.

And mathematical / geometrical thinking is one of my weakest intelligences, so translating the 3-D shape I imagine in my head into flat shapes I can cut out of paper has been making me flail for a total of 77 weeks.

Late last night, I realized I had paper towels, scissors and glue, so that I could experiment and see what sorts of flat shapes turn into what sort of round shapes. That's what helped me figure out how the whole thing works.

And now? I'm making it up on the fly. The main thing is: I figured out how to make sure critical seams match up. Anyway, I might actually have all the fabric pieces cut out and glued together by the time I go to sleep (I use temporary white glue instead of straight pins -- and then, stitch over it). And my next project may be a "how-to," because I can't be the only one who loves hands-on, but blanks at the figuring-out.

I don't celebrate Christmas. But spending the day before making a childhood symbol by hand seems oddly appropriate.

*It's not too late if you want in...

Comments

[spiralsheep]

I realized I had paper towels, scissors and glue [...] I use temporary white glue instead of straight pins

Oh, good ideas!

::HUGS::

;-)

[capri0mni]

Thanks! Yeah, the glue especially... The less I need to rely on small-and-easy-to-drop-but-impossible-to-pick-up objects the better (especially if those objects can cause bodily injury).

If I trusted the advertising/packaging on "permanent" fabric glue, I'd skip sewing needles altogether. But I don't.

::Hugs back::

(Semi) random tongue-twister (or rhyme, at least):

I need not your needles,
They're needless to me.
For needing needles is needless, you see.
But should my neat trousers need to be kneed.
Then I'd have need of your needles, indeed.

[spiralsheep]

I love the repetitive-meditative action of hand-sewing hems and seams (and mending), and can manage it, but I loathe pinning so I rarely make anything large or complicated enough to need it. You've certainly offered a solution to that problem. And, no, I wouldn't trust "universal" or "permanent" fabric glues (with a few chemical exceptions that I doubt are available for normal home use).

I haven't encountered that excellent tongue twister before, ha!

[capri0mni]

\o/ I gave you a solution, and a new silly thing? Yay!

I also glue my paper forms to each piece of fabric before I glue the fabric together, with the paper on the out(wrong)side. That keeps the fabric from flopping, and also acts as a needle guide, 'cause I can feel if the needle is not going through straight. Anything to keep frustrations to a minimum.

[pebblerocker]

I think making experimental versions and seeing how the parts go together is probably the best way of learning how to make three-dimensional things. Also perhaps you can look at other soft toys and trace where the seams go, how the shapes are divided up around the creature's body and how they fit together.

It's possible that a downloaded basic bearlike teddy pattern could turn into something sufficiently alien with some alteration to the shapes of ears and paws -- depending on your vision and how many limbs your alien needs to have!

I would be happy to contribute to your snuggly hug, but I know I'm notoriously unreliable on things like this that don't have a specific deadline and require steps that are outside my usual round of jobs. "Send something to capriuni, at some stage" is the sort of thing that slips... So I don't want to promise and fail to deliver, but maybe I can be an optional extra?

[capri0mni]

This is why I bought a full yard of fabric, in case I decide that half-way through cutting the pieces, I need different shapes altogether.

As for what kind of bear I want to do, I've decided I want to make a version of my fictional character that I illustrated here:



He's from a "secret life of toys" story, where he's a "monster" teddy like the monsters from Renaissance literature: A magical creature born/created mysteriously whose body is a mix of different animals (as in a dragon is a mix of a lizard's scales on a horse-like body, with bat's wings on its back, and eagle's talons on its forelegs).

So I'm trying to come up with a design where, if it were made in a factory, in a company that makes lots of different plush animals, the computer program that feeds the different pattern pieces down the conveyor belt somehow got scrambled. So I hope to end up with something like teddy bear torso with (say) a crocodilian snout, one long rabbit ear, and maybe funky forearms, and a funny tail.

I want to do this because I've thought about this character fictionally for years, and I'm writer's blocked on it, and having a physical object will a) give me another bridge to the character, b) ideas for the story may come to me while I'm sewing, and c) the eclectic mix is a good representation for my circle of friends.

But that also means sewing a design with lots of small pieces, and therefore, more opportunities for mistakes. Hence the extra fabric.

You're not alone... That's why I've switched my tactics: people who want in on the hug but can't send me something (quite a few people have moved house since this started as an idea) can give me a word they want to represent them, and I can write that down on a slip of paper and fold it up, and tuck it into the poly-fil. :-)