Time to throw in the T-owl 2022

 Time to throw in the T-owl 2022

Another last minute idea. Only this didn’t come out so well.

What Design

 

It was my friends 40^th Birthday coming up as in less than 24hours and I couldn’t find a single card that I like not even on the web. I decided to do an Owl which is one of her favourite Animals.

Rough Circles

 

Firstly I have to say that I am not a good Drawer. Therefore I need to start from the very Basics. Therefore a Rough Draft would be prudent. Firstly I Drew 2 Rough Circles. One on Top of the other. I now have a badly shaped Snowman.

 

Adding Face

 

Okay I now have Ears, Nose and Eyes. Something doesn’t look right but I can’t work out what at the moment.

Add Wings and Claws

 

I added some Claws though as it is an Owl I suppose I should say Talons. I also Drew some Simple Curves as Wings.

Elongate Wings

 

As I needed to make the Wings more realistic I Elongated them by adding a few extra Lines. The former Lines would be rubbed out later.

Add Curves

 

I added some Curves to give me an idea of Feather Spacing.

Feather Lines

 

I added more Lines to give more detail for the Feather Sections.

Wake Up

I added some Eyelids, a Mouth and a notice saying Wake up.

I now had an extremely Rough Draft and a Concept. I was going to have a Sleepy Owl on the Front of the Card.

All Steam Ahead 2021 – Mad Hatter Preparations Part 2

 All Steam Ahead 2021 – Mad Hatter Preparations Part 2

Since there was a great deal of Preparation I am going to try and get it in some sort of order. Ideally one blog on Preparation and the next one on what I did with it.

Chalk Circles

 

I started with my usual find something Round and Chalk a Circle around it.

Cut out Circles

 

I Drew and Cut out 4 Circles to begin with. This is because I needed to work out what I needed to do.

Half Moon

 

First of all I decided to Fold the Circle into a Half Moon Shape.

Cheese Triangle

 

I then Folded the Half Moon into what I thought looked rather like the Cheese Triangles you buy in shops. I Snipped off the Corners either side of the Pin at an Angle.

Double Snip

I unfolded the Cheese Triangle and got the Shape above. It was a start.

Middle Snip

 

I Refolded into the Triangle Shape. This time I Snipped out a Triangle in the Middle. I then opened it up and Refolded along the opposite Fold. Then I Snipped another Triangle out.

(Please note that the pictures may show slightly different stages due to some photographs not coming out properly.)

Original Cog

 

I had now done all the Snipping out. However I wasn’t entirely happy with it. I decided to try another tack.

Square Cut

 

This time instead of Snipping at an Angle I made a Square Cut.

Square Snip

 

I then went on to the next part and Snipped a Square-ish Shape out of the Middle.

Cog Corrections

 

This time I got what I wanted. A lovely crisp Cog Shape. Looking at the above photograph you can see all the different attempts that it took me to get it Perfect.

A Tale of Two Masks 2020

A Tale of Two Masks 2020 

This time I am trying something a little more complicated. I am going to try and make One Mask into Two

Lucky Circles

 

I was sorting through my bags for some Black material when lo and behold I found Two Circles already Cut out. That’s a Lucky start.

Match Hem

 

I Hemmed One Circle and proceeded to start the other. Now I do generally like to try and get things roughly equal but in this case I need to be more precise. Therefore I Pinned the Circles together so I could Match up the Hems correctly.

Orange

 

Next I needed to make an Orange Circle. For once I didn’t have any material handy so I have had to nip to the market to pick up some Orange Felt. I tried drawing a Circle in Chalk but it wouldn’t show up. Therefore I have used a Biro instead. 

Orange Snip

 

Once I had my Orange Circle I Folded in Half and Pinned it. I Snipped a Triangle out of the Centre. This is going to be a Nose. 

Eye Opener

 

I am having real trouble trying to get things equal. The Felt is a little thick and the Cutting isn’t getting through evenly. I had to do a lot of reshaping on the Mouth.

The Eyes are awkward to do because of not being central. I decided to Fold over the Top of the Circle so I could Snip there.

Yellow Backing

 

Sometimes I can be too frugal with my material. I wanted a Yellow Backing but every time I sewed I found that it was either too small or the Stitching showed through.

Yellow Circle

 

After several attempts I gave up and Cut out and Sewed a Large Yellow Circle.

Perfect Pumpkin

This is much better. The Yellow shows through correctly after I have placed the Orange on top. A pretty Perfect Pumpkin.

Dis-Mask-Trophy 2020

Dis-Mask-Trophy 2020

We have all had problems with projects. However this one was such a corker I felt it deserved a blog of its own. I have entitled it ‘Dis-Mask-Trophy’. This is a play on the word Disastrophy. According to the Urban Dictionary it is a slang word devised from the combination of the words Disaster and Catastrophe.

Circles for Starters

I started with the basic Mask shape and wanted to embellish it. I decided that I would use Circles.

Full Circle Hemmed

 

I cut out and Hemmed the Circle. So far so good.

Circle Parts

Next I cut out the remaining Circles. I cut two in Half and one into Quarters. I then Hemmed them as I had the Full Circle.

Pinned Full Circle.

 

I folded the Mask in Half. I then found the Centre and Pinned the Full Circle to it. I made sure that the material on both sides was Equal.

Pin Half Circle

I slipped one of the Half Circles Underneath the Full Circle at the Top.

All Half Circles

I then slipped the rest of the Half Circles Underneath. It took quite a while to get them aligned how I wanted them. Once I had I decided to Pin them in place before the next step.

Sew Full Circle

I Sewed the Inner Edge of the Full Circle with a Tacking Stitch removing the Pins as I did so. This left the rest secure but still mobile.

The Quarters I was going to add in-between the Half Circles. In case you haven’t worked it out yet I am endeavouring to make a flower. I will be adding Embroidery detail once I have finished the Sewing.

Dis-Mask-Trophy

Glad I checked how it looked before continuing. It is one of those ideas that is great in Theory but Disastophic in practice.

Dionne’s Draught Excluder 2019 - Part 7

Dionne’s Draught Excluder 2019 - Part 7

I am now moving onto the Tail End part of the Draught Excluder.

Hemmed Tail End

Taking one of the black cut out Circles I Hemmed it with a simple Tacking Stitch

Attach to Top

 

I began by making a few Tacking Stitches to hold the Circle in place. This will stop it moving around whilst I do the next piece.

Part Sewn End

From where I attached it I Blanket Stitched the Circle to the Excluder. I Sewed 90 degrees in both directions. Thus leaving half of it still Unsewn

Double Thread

Taking the Pom-Pom I had made I Threaded the needle with both Threads of Wool. I then proceeded to Sew the Pom-Pom to the middle of the Circle. I also Sewed through the Pom-Pom as well as the material in order to give it extra strength.

Gathered Excess Material

Now the Pom-Pom is Sewn in place I can continue to finish Blanket Stitching the Circle to the Excluder. I found that I have Excess material. Therefore I have to gather the material prior to Sewing.

I do this by putting the needle through the Excluder as usual. However each time I make a Stitch I take a little Extra material from the Circle part.

Tail Added

I have finished Sewing all the way around. By using the Double Thread and Sewing through the Pom-Pom it has stayed in the Centre of the Circle rather than dropping.

I can now begin to Stuff the Body.