Rag Pets

Happy Twin Day!

Today, 2.2., is Twin Day. Being a twin myself, I'm very grateful that there is a day that pays tribute to being one half of a pair, part of a set and never quite simply being just a me but a we instead.
I had planned on making a special pair of Rag Pets to celebrate Twin Day, but as they say, the best laid plans of mice and men... I did finish putting Jane and John Doe the rag-deer together, but things didn't quite go as I thought, and the poor deers are left waiting for their clothes.

Not that I'm especially going out of my way to celebrate the day, there's no party planned, and no special stuff organised asides from me making Jane and John.
I did send my brother a "Happy Twin Day"-message though, and our parents sent their love to us too. Today it's simply enough for me to send happy wishes to my brother, without whom I doubt this day would mean very much to me at all. :)

Happy new bear!

Say hello to my workroom buddy, Olivia!

I finally, finally finished her a few days back, having had her sitting on my desk for ages, waiting for me first to make up my mind as to what size eyes to give her and then to find the right size eyes in the rather paltry selection available here.

I made Olivia during a teddybear making course I took last autumn. This was the same sort of course -with the same teacher- as the one where I made Bluebeary, except this time the theme was great big teddybears. Once again, it was nice to be reminded how fun crafting with others can be, and how good it is to sometimes do something a little different from what you usually make.

It's funny how much of a difference eyes make when making soft toys. As I was working on this bear, I kept thinking it'll be a he and even had a name picked out and ready and everything, but then when I put in the eyes, it turns out that this is a girl bear after all! So there was nothing for it but to come up with a new name and give her a bit of blusher for her cheeks.

I've been reticent about posting any photos of Olivia before now, since I was thinking of giving her to my mum as a Christmas present, and I know mum follows my blog and I didn't want to spoil the surprise, but in the end I simply couldn't bear to part with her (sorry mum!). Olivia keeps me company at the workroom and is always game for a bear hug or two! :)

Yay! It's Giveaway Day!

It's that time of the year once again, and Giveaway Day has come once more! I'm chuffed to be taking part in what has over the years grown into a week-long event of holiday spirit and generosity, so without further ado, here's the, ahem, star of my giveaway! :)

(I really wanted to take a photo of Stella atop a real tree, but it's been nothing but rain, rain, rain and drab grey here, so this is an artist's representation of what she'd look like sitting on top of a Christmas tree.)

This is Stella the rag-star and she's eager to get to grace the top of someone's Christmas tree.
Stella is made out cotton, and she's stuffed with rags and polyfill. She has little button eyes, an embroidered mouth and pretty blushy cheeks. There's a bit of elastic on her back, so she can be easily strapped to the tip of a tree. She's about 15 cm long from prong to prong.

I'm giving Stella to one lucky person who leaves a comment on this blog entry as to what their favourite way to decorate for the holidays is. I'll assign a number to each commenter, with the first person to comment getting number 1 and the second number 2 and so forth. Then, come the 16th (that's this coming Friday) I'll draw a number at random to see whose tree Stella will fly over to (it doesn't matter where in the world you live, I'm happy to ship internationally).

For me, it's hard to decide which is my favourite bit of holiday decor, lovely Christmas lights or the tree with all it's trimmings. Although right now, I'd have to say that the lights are the best thing, since winter has been a very dark and drab time over here this year, so all the shining, sparkling and twinkling lights that have appeared everywhere really do brighten things up a lot!

Be sure to check out all the other blogs taking part in Giveaway Day as well, there's a whole lot of long, long lists of them over at the Sew Mama Sew blog. :)

Edit on December 16th: Commenting is closed and I'll promptly pick a winner now. A great big thank you all who took part!

License to sew

In primary school in textiles class we were all given these rather spiffy "Sewing machine driver's licenses" when we had learned how to operate a sewing machine properly. I had of course learned how to work a sewing machine a few years before this, as my grandmother taught me how to sew when I was about 6 or 7.
...my handwriting could have obviously done with some more practice at the time though. :)

I truly appreciate everyone who has taught me the ins and outs of sewing, from my gran and my primary school teachers to Mrs. Earnshaw who taught textiles when I was in secondary school (she along with my grandmother were the biggest influences in me choosing my career path) and all my teachers when I was in Savonlinna studying to become a costumier. All my teachers have added to my love of sewing by sharing their own passion for it, and I am grateful for everything they taught me.

To share some of the vast amount of sewing knowledge that was given to me, here's a little tutorial on sewing perfect corners. I learned this while in Savonlinna, and this trick makes making tidy corners so much easier and quicker.

First sew one side of whatever it is that you're making. I'm using a contrasting thread here to show the stitches better, but it's of course best to use thread that matches your fabric.

Fold the seam allowance forward along the stitch line and pin it down (or simply hold it down if you can't be bothered to fetch your pins from the other table like me).

Sew the other edge of your project, making sure the seam allowance of your previous edge is sewn down too.

Fold the seam allowance down like you did before.

I find it's good to hold the seam allowances in place when turning your piece, so that they'll stay nicely stacked and won't get all rumpled in the process. It does help to have small fingers that don't get in the way when working with smaller pieces.

Turn your piece right side out.

Ta-dah! You've made a really nice corner!

I also made a video of this process, you can view it here: video!
The best thing about making corners like this is that they're strong and durable because there's no need to clip the seam allowances, and the very tip of the corner is always nice and sharp.
So, go forth and conquer those corners and spread the love of sewing everyone!

Hooray it's Giveaway Day!

This is Frosty the little rag-cat snowman. He's made out of soft, snowy white velvet and stuffed with rags and polyfill. His eyes are little buttons, his nose is made with carrot orange thread and he has three coal black buttons down his front. Frosty wears a plaid flannel scarf around his neck to keep him warm.
Frosty is about 32cm from the top of his head to the tips of his toes, and is smaller than regular Rag Pets, but he makes up for his diminutive size with oodles of personality!
(You can see more photos of Frosty over at my flickr, just click on any of the photos here and you'll be transported there.)

To celebrate the spirit of Christmas and the joy of giving I'm taking part in Giveaway Day, and I'm giving Frosty away to one lucky person who leaves a comment about what their favourite Christmas or winter time song is, or about anything Christmassy or wintery really, on this entry between today and the 17th of December. Each commenter will get a number, with the first to comment being number 1 and the second number 2 and so on, and then come the 17th, I'll randomly draw a number to see who Frosty will go home to (I'm happy to ship anywhere in the world, so it doesn't matter where you're from).
Be sure to check out the whole, long list of wonderful crafters taking part in giveaway Day over at the Sew Mama Sew blog as well!

I listen to Christmas music a whole lot come December, so I have many a favourite holiday song. I really like "Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire" and "White Christmas" and the whole of Tori Amos' "Midwinter Graces" album, especially "Winter's Carol", a video for which I wanted to post here but said video doesn't allow embedding so you get a link to it instead:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tqc4HRIXCmo
The video features scenes from an American production of "Snow Queen", which is a wonderful story and perfect for this season, although I prefer the Finnish version of the movie from 1986 better (which can be found in it's entirety on Youtube, starting from here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M-2Y4k1t2LA).

17.12. Edit: Commenting is now closed, and I'll be announcing the winner shortly. Thank ever so much to all who took part!

Blood, sweat and bears

I took a teddy bear making course where we used recycled materials to make our bears last weekend. It was loads of fun, and surprisingly, a whole lot of hard work too! All the muscles in my hands were hurting and my poor fingers were pricked like pincushions by Sunday! Despite all the blood and sweat shed, it was a whole lot of fun to make something a bit different from what I usually do. It was also nice to simply sew with other people, I'm so used to my hermit ways at the workroom that I had forgotten how enjoyable crafting with others can be too.

And here's what I made:

Bluebeary used to be my favourite pair of corduroy trousers that were so old and worn that they weren't even good for lounging around the house in anymore. I got them second-hand from a friend when I was in my 20's and I wore them a whole lot in school because they were so cute and comfortable. The last time I wore these trousers was when a good friend of mine had moved to live just down the street, and a bunch of us got together to paint her wall. This is why Bluebeary has a few little purple spots here and there. I like that all the memories attached to the trousers, along with a few new ones too, now live on in Bluebeary.

Having tried my hand at making jointed soft toys, I've been thinking of making a jointed Rag Pet. I'm currently working on how to alter the Rag Pet pattern so it'll work with joints, but still keep the usual Rag Pet simplicity and look. I'm also planning on making a few more traditional type of teddies; I think I may have gotten bitten by the teddy bear bug! :)

Stuffing and some other stuff

After reading Hop Skip Jump's post about stuffing and Peng Peng's recent post about re-stuffing her friend's old soft toy, I'm inspired to post about stuffing too, since I find stuffing to be rather interesting stuff.

I mostly use rags; old sheets and other bed linens I get from friends and family (and in a pinch from secondhand shops), that I tear into strips. The fabric of old sheets is super soft, so the more worn and threadbare they are the better!
I also use either polyfill or cotton batting. I get my polyfill at the big local fabric store, it's super cheap and super nice too! It has good loft to it, and gives plushies a nice light, "springy" feel. My cotton batting is from NearSea Naturals. It feels ever so lovely, and it even smells nice! It packs in a bit tighter than the polyfill, and gives a stiffer feel.
I'd love to use wool for stuffing, especially during the colder months of the year, but I've yet to find some at a reasonable price. I find that wool as stuffing gives pretty much the perfect mix of polyfill's and cotton batting's feel. It packs in tight, but still stays soft. So far all my stuffing wool has come from Tallinn, and I'm wanting to make another trip there for more wool and other supplies. That, and it's a gorgeous city with super cafés and restaurants and always worth a visit no matter why!

I got a light tent as a birthday present from my dad. It's really brilliant, and while I'm still leanring how to put it to use properly, I'm very happy to have the use of it now that the days are getting shorter and darker. My pieces for Plush You! were the first to have a whirl in it.

4 years of Rag Pets

It's been four years today since I made the very first Rag Pet as a present for my best friend's daughter on her naming day. (You can see Molly, the first ever rag-cat here: photo!) These four years have really just flown by, and even after all this time, I'm still loving making Rag Pets and my love and appreciation of soft toys has grown all the greater too.

I think I'm not even a year old in this photo, taken by my dad. My grandmother made both me and my brother a pair of teddybears when we were born, and I do believe that my lifelong love of soft toys got started then and there! Gran also taught me to sew when I was about six years old, so I could make my own soft toys and she wouldn't have to hop behind the sewing machine every time I came up with an idea for a toy I wanted.

As a kid, when all my friends would push about baby dolls in their toy prams, I would proudly cart around a soft toy in mine, and I slept with so many soft toys in my bed that it was a wonder I fitted in there among them at all! Then, in my late teens – early twenties I believed that I was much too grown up for soft toys, yet I still slept with a little stuffed cow I had made for myself. I would have been mortified had anyone found that out though.
Now, in my thirties, I've come to the conclusion that you're never too old for anything you enjoy and once again hold my head up high amongst my plushies and I'm proud to be a toy maker.

I'm going to be making Rag Pets and soft toys for many, many years yet to come, and I hope that I can share the love for soft toys with many, many people all over the world! :)

Foresty fabric everywhere!

Thank you so much to everyone who took the time to vote on which theme I should go with for my PlushYou! pieces! With all the votes tallied, "Forest" came out on top (with "Circus" a close second) and even though I change my mind as often as I change my pants, I'll be sticking with this theme now. :)

I've made sketches and made my mind up as to names and now all I need to do is pick what fabrics to use...

I'd never say that I have too much fabric, quite the contrary, I think I never have just the fabric I need, but at times it is a little hard to pick only a few fabrics from the piles of plenty. I have already managed to prune my assortment a bit though, and I'm sure it will all come together in the end, especially since I have a pretty clear image in my mind of what I'm wanting to do.
And I always have BooBoo at hand to help me with things too.

(BooBoo isn't actually very much of a help, laking thumbs and getting hair on everything and all, but she's super cute, so it all balances out.)

Oh hello there!

It's been a while since I last popped by here, but I'm trying not to feel bad about not blogging all that often. Tartx has a really great post about blogging without obligation: http://www.tartx.com/blog/?page_id=233 and it's a philosophy I fully support. I don't want this blog that's so very dear to me to become something of a burden, and I don't want to have to churn out posts if I don't have a reason to post.

This post does have a reason, and that reason is a super one: I'm going to be exhibiting at PlushYou! in Seattle this fall! I'm really chuffed to be a part of the show again, and to get to share my work with the world. :)

I'm famously bad at making decisions; I will take forever to pick what to eat at a restaurant, and then change my mind once more while I'm ordering and choosing what to wear can take ages and many a wardrobe change before I make it out the door, wishing I would have worn something else instead. So I'm hoping you lot would be able to help me to make up my mind as to what theme I should go with for my pieces. To that end, here's a little poll:

a) circus
b) forest
c) space

Leave a comment with your vote as to which theme would be best, I'll tally up the results, and hope not to change my mind too many times over! :)