Bear and Pup Soft Toys

Sewing:

I finally got around to making some new soft toys this past weekend. These are simple little toys you could make as a great gift for a little one - you can make them geared for a boy or girl just by choosing the base fabric. 

The differences between Bear and Pup are the placement of their ears and also the length of their legs - Bear has short legs and Pup has longer legs. 

I hand appliquéd their faces and for the eyes I used small buttons I already had in my collection of 'extras' from clothes I have collected over the years.

The paws are simply a little back stitch.

Happy creating!

Caity x

Simple Personalised 'Sleepie' Blanket

Sewing:

The weather is only just starting to get cooler here in Queensland and with the change in weather comes the need for a warmer blanket for kindy.

Over summer Thom has been using a cute little appliquéd blanket his Nana made him but come these colder days he needs something a little more.

So a few weeks ago I thought I might make him his own personalised blanket. Apologises in advance as I didn't take any photos while i made it. It was late one night and it just completely slipped my mind!

But I have included my basic instructions here and if you need any further instructions or help please let me know! 

To make my blanket I used a large piece of soft wool blanketing I had been hoarding for a few years - it really is amazing what you can find in your cupboards when you clean then!!!

You will need:

• 1 piece of wool blanketing (or polar fleece would work well too)
• 1 fat quarter of contrasting fabric 
• vliesofix
• Light weight flannel same size as wool blanketing

Instructions:
1. Cut the wool blanketing and flannel to the desired 'blanket' size you want. As a guide mine is 43" x 53" (110cm x 135cm).

2. Iron the vliesofix onto the back of the contrasting fabric and trace out your letters. Remember from my post here that you need to ensure you trace them out on a mirror image for them to sew on the right way!!!! 

My previous post also has some good links to sites where you can download free fonts to use.

3. Now cut out all your letters and arrange them on the front of your wool blanketing. A good reference is to place the lettering about 1/4 - 2/3 of the way down the blanket.

4. Iron each letter in place with a hot iron.

5. For this next steep you could either hand sew or machine sew - depending how much time you have.... I chose machine sewing as this blanket will be going to kindy and will most likely need to be washed pretty often!

Machine/hand sew around each letter. I used a smallish zig-zag stitch.

Also note in my blanket I added an additional panel across the front of my blanket in flannel(this is simple to do and if you want to do this make sure you add it at this step before you assemble the blanket).

6. Once you have sewn all the letters on you can pin together the backing flannel.

To do this lay the wool blanketing down face up and make sure its nice and flat. Next lay the flannel down (face down) so the right sides of the fabric are together. Pin all around and leave a little gap approximately 8" (20cm) wide so you can turn through the blanket.

7. Sew around the blanket, using a 1/2" seam allowance and clip the corners. Then turn through tot he right side. Press the seams with a hot iron so they sit nice and flat and pin down the opening. 

8. Stitch all around the blanket (about 1/2" from the edge) to finish off the blanket including the opening and you are finished!

Have a great week and I hope you get time for plenty of sewing!


Caity x