This week, I’m finalizing patterns and processes and taking instructional pictures with the intention of putting a group of in-the-hoop plushie patterns on Etsy in a week or two. The orcas, I think, will go here on the blog so people can try out the technique and decide if it’s too fiddly for them. I’m […]
Month: April 2019
Prototyping in the hoop
Using the embroidery machine to sew plushies has had an unexpected side effect. My pattern drafting has always tended to be very geometric and mathematical, but the ease with which I can go “eh, let’s see what happens” and float some squares of fabric in a hoop means I don’t spend as much time carefully […]
In-the-hoop pug plush
Back to the minky, and an entirely-in-the-hoop plush pug.
Doing things you shouldn’t do on an embroidery machine
I’ve been doing those things again. Not things that might break the machine (probably!) but rather, “things that might be easier to do on a conventional machine,” or “things the manufacturer really didn’t consider you doing and so the user interface kind of works against you.” Those kinds of things. Okay, some of them are […]
Pachyderms!
The next in the collection of plushie patterns is a “flopsie” elephant — or in this incarnation, a mastodon. The embroidered face on this one comes from the cartoon mascot for the Mastodon social-network software, and its ears are smaller than the elephant version. At least, one ear is smaller… somehow the one on the […]
Orcas!
I’ve been learning my way around Etsy, and have made a couple of sales (two plush dragons). I still think my future there is mostly in pattern downloads. This one was another spur-of-the-moment: I made a black and white dragon (er, one of each), put a piece of black minky down on top of a […]
Embroidered Jayhawk face freebie
My sister’s husband and in-laws are bigtime University of Kansas fans, so when I needed a little something for my brother-in-law’s Easter basket it was a good excuse to digitize a Jayhawk. The more usual full-body side-view ‘Hawk is a bit complicated for a quick design, but the minimalistic face view fit the, uh, bill. […]
Antique sewing bits – awls and tomatoes
As you can perhaps tell by the last entry, I’ve been spending some times buried in notions and things. I’ve been going through some of my late mother’s sewing supplies, adding them to mine where I can. Sometimes I can tell this isn’t the first time it’s happened. The awl is probably a grandmother’s, but […]
Non-lumpy plushie tails
I’m gonna let you in on a little trade secret. Fiberfill is bad for plushie tails. Both Mew and the black panther have long skinny tails (though I managed to photograph the panther WITHOUT ITS TAIL IN VIEW). If I stuffed that kind of tail with fiberfill, it would be a lumpy string-of-beads sort of […]
Dragon drop
The dragons have dropped, and the larger queen immediately sold. Okay, it was a Mastodonian and I kinda expected it, but it was still kinda exciting I still have a few more critters to list, but the dragons were the most complicated listing. Today was a little busier than I expected with non-Seams stuff, but […]