Snip, snip the scissors go

Elephant is a little embarrassed by her lack of nose.

I enjoy the whole rag pet making process, but there are bits that I like less than others. Like for example, cutting fabric. I'm even less keen on stuffing; I guess that any part that's hard on your hands isn't up there among my favourite parts. I do treasure my scissors though, they are after all my most important tools along with my sewing machine. And I have quite a few pairs too, each pair dedicated to particular materials, since cutting the wrong thing with the wrong scissors will blunt them in a blink. Out of all of them, my pinking shears are my favourite pair, since they save me so much work and bother finishing raw edges.

On the other hand, I absolutely love to pick out belly buttons for the rag pets. I have big jar full of buttons and I love rifling though them all, looking for that perfect button. I tend to buy one or two extra buttons every time so as to add to the jar. Yet despite this, I never seem to have the kind I need, much like with sewing thread! Although I admit that I am a little addicted to buttons and so I will never have enough of them no matter how many I have. :) I've been a button addict ever since I was a kid. I remember playing with my gran's button collection, happy as a pig in muck. My gran had a really fantastic treasure trove of buttons and I hope that some day my collection of buttons will be just as grand.
Two of the Terrific Trio have old, vintage buttons I had set aside for them and one has a button I bought especially for her.

Comments

[Holly]

I think my least favourite part of softie making is pattern designing. I need to keep fiddling until I come up with something perfect, like your rag pets.

Stuffing is always slightly weird for me, mostly because it's even more weirder for people around me who give me bizarre looks as I shove my hand up a teddy's bum.

You should get into some vintage button swaps or trades sometime! It'd be fun :)

[Kitty Vane]

I quite like pattern drafting, which is funny since I didn't much like it in school. Then again, drafting patterns for softies is a lot different from drafting for humans.

Apparently I make angry faces when I'm stuffing. :D I guess it's because it takes a fair bit of effort to pack the stuffing in tight enough. I too have my hand up various bums, but I also use a very sophisticated and advanced stuffing tool (i.e. an old chopstick) to pack the stuffing into arms and legs and other bits that are a little hard to reach by hand. I've been meaning to ask my mum (she's an OR nurse) for some hemostats to help with the stuffing and turning.

I've been thinking about taking part in a button swap, but the problem is that I don't want to let go of any of my buttons! :D