Burda Style For people who sew

Description

My gentleman friend had a bag of leftover fabric scraps; mostly cotton with a wide strip of fuzzy faux sheepskin for good measure. He said I could have it all, if I used some of it to make a gift for him. ‘Something funny’ he said.
Not one to disappoint, I took the Simplicity 2921 pattern I’d used to make a unicorn, and made him a cotton stuffed animal. Once again I used the basic horse pattern, and with the addition of two little wings, voila! The horse became a pegasus.
This project was both easier and harder than the unicorn experiment. I was familiar with the pattern; knew to stuff this toy less. That meant the shape was better. But cotton is a little less forgiving than fleece, especially when sewing the hooves and muzzle. And my improvised wings are pretty abstract…just wing-shaped rectangles with stuffing and some feather-lines. But the overall effect was cute. And I’m very proud of they eyes. I didn’t think buttons would make very nice eyes on this toy. So I dug out my felting needles and using a bit of brown and white wool, made two expressive little eyes.

Material Notes

As I said, fleece is easier to sew with than cotton. I lost track of all the little folds I had to pick out, where I’d accidentally bunched up the fabric as i stitched it. And it’s easier to see the stitch line on the back; unlike wigth fleece the thread doesn’t sink into the material. But overall things were good. The fuzzy faux sheepskin made a surprisingly cute contrast fabric. For the mane and tail, I used bits of handspun wool and silk yarn that I’d made ages ago, and had lying around. The eyes are felted wool, and I’m most proud of that part.

Difficulty

Intermediate

Categories

Season

Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter

For

Children

Garment Type

Toy

Style

Geek, Other, Romantic

Material

Cotton, Other, Silk, Wool

Credits

Simplicity 2921

http://www.simplicity.com/p-1827-crafts.aspx