This lovely little number was Lou-Lou's favorite winter dress. It has been worn to the point of no return. Stains, tares, and a growth spurt has rendered it unwearable. Lou-Lou loves her cloths and does not relinquish them easily so i have come up with a solution, recycling this old girl . Truth be told i also have developed an affection for the dress, every chocolate soy milk stain, drop of pink nail polish, and smear of blue paint represents a season of her life that will never return. I must admit that i fussed every time she produced a stain, this disappointment has now been replaced with a bit of sadness. As i wait for her to grow out of this messy stage of life i watch her personality and body grow into the big girl shes been longing to be. I now long for my little messy baby girl.
The First step is to draw out what ever kind of critter you would like to make. I am making a Bunny. I freehand drew with a washable marker, i uses these a lot as that my girls are always leaving them lyeing around and they wash out with water, if you are not going to wash your creation do not these instead use an air erase marker.
Next sew it up! I used a stitch on my machine that is for sewing heavy weight knit fabrics. It worked great. I then cut out what i had sewn leaving openings for stuffing.
Here is what it looked like when it was all cut out. This was the hard part now time for the fun stuff!
Stuff the body parts but do not over stuff. I removed half of the stuffing before sewing bunny together, the over stuffing distorted the body shape and made her a little scarry looking. I sewed on the head first, this always seams to bring things to life. You don not have to get fancy. I found the sweater fabric very forgiving.
I used mismatched buttons to attach the arms to the body. By looping the thread through the shoulders i was able to keep the arms somewhat movable.
Next I contoured feet by simply stitching a little fold into the end of the leg. This is super easy and adds a great deal of detail.
To add a little bit of fun to the floppy ears (which is an essential part of a bunny) After stuffing i ironed on a little pink fabric applique style and stitched around the applique using a straight stitch. this created a slightly quilted look which turned out to be great.
Now to put a little soul into this bunny i chose the eyes form a collection of buttons which once belonged to my great grandmother. I painted black centers and sewed them on tight.
The final steps are the most fun of all, creating personality with nothing but string and scraps.
It turns out that Lou-Lou was actually very excited that i had turned her favorite dress in to a toy. She carried her to the store with us and told every one that Her bunny was once her favorite dress. This got me quite a few looks as that most people couldn't imagine what she was talking about
The First step is to draw out what ever kind of critter you would like to make. I am making a Bunny. I freehand drew with a washable marker, i uses these a lot as that my girls are always leaving them lyeing around and they wash out with water, if you are not going to wash your creation do not these instead use an air erase marker.
Next sew it up! I used a stitch on my machine that is for sewing heavy weight knit fabrics. It worked great. I then cut out what i had sewn leaving openings for stuffing.
Stuff the body parts but do not over stuff. I removed half of the stuffing before sewing bunny together, the over stuffing distorted the body shape and made her a little scarry looking. I sewed on the head first, this always seams to bring things to life. You don not have to get fancy. I found the sweater fabric very forgiving.
Next I contoured feet by simply stitching a little fold into the end of the leg. This is super easy and adds a great deal of detail.
To add a little bit of fun to the floppy ears (which is an essential part of a bunny) After stuffing i ironed on a little pink fabric applique style and stitched around the applique using a straight stitch. this created a slightly quilted look which turned out to be great.
For the puffy tail, cut a circle, and do it up yo-yo style. Stuff and sew.
