Dionne’s Draught Excluder 2019 - Part 18

Dionne’s Draught Excluder 2019 - Part 18

Nearly there.

Sew through 3 Layers

I needed to attach the Head to the Body now it was in place. I decided to do the Bottom half first. I am using a Blanket Stitch as usual.

First of all I place the Body and Head on it’s Side. In order to make it secure I am passing the Needle through the Bottom Flap then through the Body and then Top Flap. I do this as far as I can on both Sides

Sew Head Flap

 

I then continue in Blanket Stitch Sewing the Bottom Flap to the Body. This joins the two Sides and now the whole of the Bottom Flap is Sewn and the Body cannot move.

Measure Velcro

To make sure I place the Ears in the correct position I have to have to add the legs. This will make it sit properly. Unfortunately I have lost the other half of my Velcro. Therefore I had to measure the half that I had already Sewn and cut two new pieces. Then I sewed the pieces to the Body.

Pin Ears

I move the Ears into different positions until I am satisfied. I then Pin both Ears in place to double check.

Pin Ear

The Pin is holding the Ear in place whilst I make a start. I keep switching between Sewing the Front of the Ear and the Back of the Ear.

This is because the Pin is only holding the Ear very loosely. After initially Sewing the Front and Back of the Ear to the Body I remove the Pin. I now can Sew the Ear more securely.

Sewn Ear

I have now Sewn one Ear in place. Then Sew the Front of the Head Flap to the Body as Far as the Ear. I then Sew the other Ear in place and do the same.

Two Bunny Ears

After Sewing the two Ears in place and the Front Flap to them I can continue across and Sew the rest of the Flap to the Body.

Easter Bunny

The final part is to add the Eyes. I have bought some Googly Eyes and I Glue them in place. I normally wipe down any gift I give however with the Corona Virus this time I am using Anti-Bacterial Wipes.

Bunny in Situe

After it is dried. I take to my friend and here it is in situe.

Mademoiselle Marionette 2018 Part 7

Mademoiselle Marionette 2018 Part 7

The Back still needs work but I cannot really complete it until I have started the Front.

Circle Pinned Front

I take the other White Circle and pin to the Top at the Front.

Preliminary Stuffing

I then add further pins to secure the sides. Next I add some stuffing inside and then pin at the Bottom. This now roughly mimics the contours of a stuffed Head.

Face Roughly Drawn

Once all the pins are in place I can then begin to draw a rough picture of a Face in pencil on the Circle. If I had drawn the Face whilst it was flat the positioning of it could be askew or proportions wrong when stuffed.

Please remember that I am in no way or shape an artist. I therefore have very poor depth perception when it comes to anything of a 3D nature.

Embroidered Face

I have tweaked the Face slightly whilst embroidering. I had trouble with just about everything but in particularly the Eyes. For some reason when I added the white towards the Nose it just looked wrong. Therefore I unpicked and left the Eyes as they were.

After the Face part was finished I began to add more Loops to make a Fringe and also alongside the Face. Once I was satisfied that I had enough Hair at this point I needed to sew together at the top. I pinned them into position and began to sew.

In Between Circles

Disaster has struck. Whilst endeavouring to sew the pieces together the needle snapped. This is due to the amount of material it was trying to get through. I am not just trying to get through the 2 White and 2 Rough pieces but also the hems. That makes 8 Pieces in total.

I did not want to be impaled by flying needle parts again (which incidentally took ages to find and put in the bin). I had to rethink. Instead of trying to get through all that material I pulled the Face up a little and sewed just the two White Circles.

Blanket Stitched Scalp

I decided that I would use the same Yellow thread to Blanket stitch the Circles together as I could then use the same thread to add more Hair.

I only Blanket Stitched down until it was level with the Cheeks. This is so I can still get my fingers and therefore the needle under the White material in order to continue the Hairline.

Mademoiselle Marionette 2018 Part 6

Mademoiselle Marionette 2018 Part 6

I try to use my time as best I can so whilst the Arms, Legs and Body are drying I am moving on to making Hair. I am going to be using embroidery silks for the Hair.

Making Loops

I take a White Circle that I have hemmed. I find roughly the centre of the Circle as that will be my starting place. I make a knot in one end of the thread and push through from the back.

I decide what length I want to make the Loop. I leave enough thread and then push the needle back through a few millimetres to the side. I am using my thumb to stop the thread going all the way through.

New Colour

There are two ways of keeping the thread as a Loop. You can make a knot in the other end of the thread and cut but this would be very time consuming.

The method I used was to use a securing tack before moving on to the next Loop. This method saves both time and thread. After I have done a row or so I add another Yellow. This will help to mimic shades and Hi-lights.

Pin heads Back to Back

 

The other material is now dry. I pin the Heads back to back and then sew with a Blanket stitch across the top of the Skull. I then turn the material the right way around.

Hair Pinned to Head

 

I now pin but do not sew the White Circle to the top of the Head. I do this so I can check precisely the shape and where the Hair will fall once sewn.

More Loops

I continue adding a few more Loops. I am still keeping them fairly central. There is a very important reason for this which I will mention later.

Double Hem

 

Before I add any more Loops I am going to decrease the Circle. I fold the material over so it matches the original hem width. I then pin it in place and sew around. This keeps the shape whilst making the Circle smaller.

Hair Parting

I have now sewn the Hair to the very top of the Head. I have added a few more Loops but as you can see in the Photo above I have left a gap.

This gap is important as this indicates where the string is going to be attached. I want to add a little more Hair along the outside before I sew in place I am doing it this way because after the Scalp is completely sewn on it will be harder to push through the extra material.

Hair Attached at Side

After adding more Loops I have continued sewing along the Circle on both sides. I am leaving the bottom unsewn at this point so that I can manipulate the thread better.

Mademoiselle Marionette 2018 Part 5

Mademoiselle Marionette 2018 Part 5

After all that sewing I felt like a bit of a change.

Colouring Sticks

One thing I need to do was to colour the sticks I was going to use to suspend the Marionette from. At first I was going to paint them but in the end I decided to use a permanent marker.

Coloured Circles

If you follow my blogs regularly you may recall one entitled ‘Oh What A Busy Sewing Bee I am’. I cannot remember the reason why but there were some circles of the material in the kit. I delved into the remains of the project and cut them out.

Circles Pinned and Cut Out

After cutting the coloured circles out I pinned them to some white material (again left over from the kit). I then carefully cut out the circle.

Head verse Circle

I now have one circle which I will use later with the Head. I now repeat the process and cut out the other circle.

Head Circle Hemmed

I very carefully hem the circle to avoid losing as little material as I can. Believe me that it is not an easy task whilst watching England in the Semi-finals!

I also hemmed the other circle after all it is a case of two halves ahem.

Before I go on making any alterations to the Legs, Head or Arms I will give the sections a good wash to remove any trace of pencil outlines.

Mademoiselle Marionette 2018 Part 2

Mademoiselle Marionette 2018 Part 2

The thing about making something new without a pattern is you are never quite sure what problems are going to crop up. If you have plenty of time you can make lots of templates or rough practise pieces.

The one thing you can guarantee with me is that I never have enough time and consequently I often have to tackle problems as they occur. Therefore if you ever want to copy what I make read all the way through first.

Fold and Pin

I took both cut out Bodies and laid one on top of another. Then I folded and pinned along the Centre fold.

Body Detail Drawn

I roughly drew any sections I wished to remove.

Pinned Cut Out

I carefully cut out the shape. I have used extra pins to secure it.

Two Rough Body Shapes

I removed the pins and unfolded the material with one Body shape beneath the other.

Pin Bodies Flat

I pinned the two shapes together to avoid movement.

Beginning to Pin Hem

Warning - This is when I had a change of plan. I decided I didn’t like the Body shape and with the time restriction I needed to hem quickly.

First Body - Part Hemmed

I pinned and hemmed the Body Part only using straight lines instead of curved. I have also snipped both sides of the neck at the shoulder and where it meets the Head.

Matching Hems Pinned

I copied the shape I now had and folded down the 2^nd Body’s edges to match.

Bodies Part Hemmed

I have now finished hemming the Body sections. I continued by pinning and hemming the Heads.

Two Hemmed Bodies and Heads

I realise that the Bodies look massive in proportion to the Heads but it is not a mistake there is a reason for this which I will get to another time.