When last I wrote to you, it was before 4th of July. I'd shared the little addendum with Mary Fons & Jenny Doan - and then I went off the radar. (Well, I had to clean the house. Guests, you know.) But, I had been sewing all along. First off, I made another DOG! A BIG Dog! The pictures belie his expansive size. He's 24" from tail to nose tip. Below is how I did it, and partially, what possessed me.
First, I copied the pattern from the first Hot Dog I made (Soho Purl Pup) from Blog #2. I enlarged the copy to 129%. This isn't a gigantic dog. Turns out, it's actually a "life size" dachshund.
The initial impulse was to create the cloth from patchwork. I thought that would be cute. It is, but in the process, I learned a few things. Here's what I learned:
From 4 1/2 inch squares, the appropriate amount of material turned out to be 36 squares, 18 for each side of the dog body. 6 across & 3 down.
From this I cut 2 body pieces, 4 legs, 1 upper nose, 2 ears.
A piece of material 22" long and at least 8" tall. From this; 2 ear bottoms, 1 underbelly, 4 paw pads.
In the first dog, the smaller dog, I thought a layer of batting added to the ears would give body. That was a good call. I did this again for the big dog ears, but because the ear tops were patchwork (as well as bigger) I stitched across the seams. In other words, I quilted the top layer of the ears. Again, good call. Adds texture and stability.
Now - it crossed my mind to quilt the dog body patchwork as well, but I didn't go that extra mile. Now that the dog is finished and stuffed, I think for the next dog, I will quilt the dog body as well. This will add the stability I mentioned as well as just a little more rigidity once the new dog is stuffed. I'm not sure I have the patience to do this for the small dog, although it would work. But, my fingers enjoy manipulating larger pieces better than trying to turn and stuff the smaller proportions.
I discovered that it took a lot of stuffing to give this dog presence. I got a little lazy and didn't pack the legs as tightly as I could have, and, as a result, they bend a bit and make for a kind of floppy dog. I think it's OK. He does have some character. This is what I've learned though. Quilting the material will help take care of that. In the smaller pattern, some of those seams could get kind of bulky. For a smaller patchwork dog, I think I would just overstick the seams to give them stability, foregoing the quilting with batting.
What else have I been doing? I made a "Miss Turnstiles" sash for the kid's production of On The Town that our local theatre is doing. Not so very much to it. Just takes a little focus and attention.
There is more space at the bottom of the iron on applique lettering because I had an idea that red ribbon in that sweet flower design might look cunning added to that bottom, but, alas, it was overwhelming. Some things I just don't know until I see them in action. I think it still works like this
____________________
Then, TODAY! Remember that blog #1 - Sometimes you just gotta sew? Today I made a stool cover for my quilting stool.
By all accounts, think I made it better!
To tell you the truth, the faux leather/plastic/rubber was kind of annoying on hot Summer days.
One of my favorite features of this stool is the "Swivel" quality. I can sit at the sewing machine, connect 2 pieces of material and "Swivel" to the right to press the seam on the ironing board. a gift to my feet!
Also under the heading: Just gotta sew, was the scrappy batik piece that I had no idea what I was going to do with! Today was the day it became a stool personal-izer. That's not a true word, but it describes the character the stool now brings to the sewing room. Game ON!
Certainly have enjoyed sharing with you again, and encourage you to show me some love by signing up on the website with your email list to let me know you might sometimes be listening. The blog won't always be about sewing. That's just the prism through which I make sense of things. So, sign up. lend me your ear, and come along for the ride! I promise to keep it fun.
In stitches,
J