Showing posts with label sock creatures. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sock creatures. Show all posts

Thursday, May 8, 2014

In-the-Hoop Stuffies

I am always afraid to try new things.  I really should have named my blog "The Cowardly Crafter." I must be growing up, though, cuz I've been trying new things left and right here such as these in-the-hoop stuffies.  Making in-the-hoop designs, much like using the Silhouette, turned out to be freakin' easy. 
I will look up the designer if you want, but you are gonna have to ask.
I also could also have named my blog The Lazy Crafter for obvious reasons.
I do like them.  They are cute and easy to make on the embroidery machine.  Each takes six minutes of machine time with a few more minutes for the thread changes, doing the ribbon stuff, and sewing up the opening after turning them right-side out.  I did not follow ALL the directions. My ribbons are whatever length looked good to me.  There is a matching applique that I may put on a baby blanket if I get ambitious.
White one is flannel.  Pink is felt.
I like the felt better.  Will try a fleece one soon.
Right now, however, I feel I've overdosed on cuteness.  Is it strange that I prefer Shaz's walking dead sock creatures?


I can make sock creatures, but Shaz takes sock creatures to the art level.  She does lots of different kinds and they are usually cute, adorable little masterpieces.  These, however, are my favorite.  I bought three from her to give as gifts.  I stole this one back from my son's room and put it on my bookshelf.  Don't judge me.  There aren't any in her Folksy shop, OddSox, right now.  I can't imagine why. Okay, maybe it is just me, but if you do happen to share my predilection for the odd, you could go to her shop and ask her to make one.  (No, I'm not making any money off this, no freebies. Just trying to help other people find treasures.)

How's this for contrast.


Hello?  Do I have any readers left?  Should I have stopped with the bunnies?















Monday, September 10, 2012

Tilly and One-Eye at Virginia Beach

They tried to relax on the beach.  They really did.  First the wave hit.

 Stuffies do not like getting wet.

Then the wind pick up--picked them up!
 Still, they were holding out for that day on the beach.  Don't they look like a sweet couple.  Odd, but sweet.
Unfortunately this guy below started moving in quickly.  Tilly does look a bit like one of those giant marshmallows they're selling, and One-Eye could easily be mistaken for some sea creature.  Honestly, this bird was not cowed by my chaperoning a bit.  He was going for one of these little beasts.  I was NOT gonna be chasing a bird down the beach screaming for him to drop the stuffed animal.

Tilly and one Eye will be seeing Virginia from the balcony.


Wednesday, September 5, 2012

Shaz's Sock Creatures Arrived

So here they are all the way from the U. K.

 Are they not the cutest? 
I've been eyeing Shaz's creations for a few years and finally bought these two.  I make stuffies, but Shaz is a professional.  Look at those stitches, all tiny and perfect.  I'm in awe of her beautiful sewing.  You can see Shaz's stuff on Folksy (and she does special orders, too.)
The one-eyed monster is already breaking hearts (of children
who want him but can't have him.)


Love how Tilly is hold onto her tail.

They are guarding my button box til we leave on vacation.

Since they have already traveled so far, I've decided to continue their adventures.  I don't travel much so they will have to do most of their traveling with friends and relatives.  Their first adventure will be with me, though.  They are off to Virginia Beach soon.  

Thanks Shaz!  They are worth every penny. 

Sunday, September 19, 2010

They are Finished! 30 Sock Creatures and One More For Good Measure

Here they are.  I guess I was in a striped sock mood.



The monkey, who my lovely husband named Mango, is made from a pair of socks I got at the sock outlet store.  Some of the socks from there were good, but some "run" when you poke holes for eyes or a nose. That's not good.  The hole grows and grows.  If you are lucky, the eye and backing snap together quickly enough to stem the run.  It's a pain trying to do it though.  I couldn't get the nose for this on  quickly enough and ended up needing to use a felt nose in order to repair it.  

The snakes are from socks purchased at Joann's.  They're not really heavy, but are solidly construction and easy to work with.  I think I just need to avoid the really cheap socks.   BTW, the snakes are names Echidna and Cecrops in honor of the mythological Greek creatures that were also kind of snaky.

So that finishes the challenge!  It's late, but I did it!  Here's a group shot of all the little monsters.  What a rag-tag looking bunch!  Lessons learned:  make sure the sock material is worth all the work and make the challenges much, much smaller in the future.

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

# 28 of the 30 Sock Creatures has Arrived!

So here he is, number 28, Ezcar Goe.  What a time doing this one!  It was not supposed to look like this at all.  The first few attempts were not working for me.  His head was originally his butt.  Then, I folded down the legs and had a giant head, but no body.  Adding various appendages that were originally to be arms resulted in a rather obscene looking creature--fun, but not something I'd be able to put on the blog. 


I had an even worse time getting pictures of this guy.  It's hard to show the face well and also show definition in the rolled back piece.  In addition, The black rolled back piece didn't show well on light OR dark surfaces.  This picture shows the back a little bit better, very little.


You'll just have to take my word for it!  Escar Goe is quite lovely in person.  Or should I say in snail? 

Lessons learned:  1.  It's hard for me to get good photographs when working with black socks.  2.  I really need to get a book on photography.   Any suggestions on that?

Sunday, September 5, 2010

Two new sock creatures are finished at last...

I've been having pretty good luck with my sock creatures, but these last two nearly did me in.  I haven't posted in a while because I just could not get them to be even remotely the way I wanted them.  I have worked, reworked, and reworked them again.  I have tried multiple ways of doing the mouths, ears, and limbs. I tried some new eyes.   And still, they are not what I wanted.

I worked with the baby socks that I used for the cute brown bunny in my last post on sock creatures.  These, though turned out just blah.  How can such cute little socks turn into such boring little creatures?  (I'm feeling intensely guilty saying this.  It's as though I'm a mother saying my kids are ugly.  Is this normal?)  So here they are.

They look sad, don't they?  Even they know they look bad.  I must admit, too, that the picture flatters them.

I tried doing the yarn straight across for a mouth like they do for the original sock monkey design.  It is my own ineptitude that caused the one with the red mouth to look as though it is frowning.  However, that piece of yarn pulled straight across just doesn't seem like a good idea for a kid's toy anyway.  There is nothing holding it firmly in place.  I tried to rectify that on the other one by tacking it down with yarn which is why there is a big black blob in the middle of the upper lip.

I wasted sooooo much time on these two that I just wanted them done!  Lessons learned:  If I do use the yarn mouth again, I will probably try doing really light tacking with matching thread to hold it in place.  Also, working with tiny socks is a royal pain in the butt!

So to name the little beasts--Sadlee and Dullci. These are numbers 26 and 27 of the 30.  I'm really, really almost there!

Friday, August 27, 2010

Sock creatures 24 and 25 of the 30 are here!

I will apologize now for the quality of the pictures.  I am having the worst time with the new Cybershot camera.  I keep accidentally moving the top piece that changes the picture mode. (Does anyone want to buy a slightly used camera?)

In any case--here are the newest sock creatures.  This first one was to have been a smaller version of the pig I did the last time.  Being cheap, I was trying to save a small piece from the top of a sock.  Lessons learned:  1.  You can't change the length without changing the width if you want the shape to remain the same.  2.  You can work with your "accidents" by moving in another direction altogether. This one is, as the painting teacher used to say on the PBS channel, "a happy little accident."  My pig turned into a very nice head.

I like the simple X for the mouth.  Another happy accident was that I forgot to round off  what would have been the back of the pig.  The straight line left what I turned into ears.  (You can just see one on the side in the picture.)  The monkey would be hanging upside down on a vine on the socks, but it works this way, too, for a sweater.  She's also a gymnast--see that awesome split below.  A very small,  pig-headed gymnast had to be named  Petunia Retton. (Y'all do remember Porky's girlfriend was Petunia, right?)


The next creature came from the socks the size of the tiny striped ones here.


Who knew they made tiny, brown-striped, old man socks?  No wonder they were on sale at the sock outlet.
I had the carrot button left over from some long-ago project.  I don't know what I was thinking going with the traditional pink/red bunny eyes on a completely nontraditional striped bunny.  Things I make late in the day seldom make sense, though.  The mouth is kind of lost in the picture, but it is just an orange inverted V.  I had the WORST time getting it even. In any case, this is Fiver, named after the little rabbit in Watership Down.   If you've not read the book, you really, really should.  It is one of my all-time favorites.  Just thinking about it now makes me wish I had a little person to read it to. 

Five more to go!  I will get there yet.

Friday, August 20, 2010

Two New Sock Animals


These are sock animals rather than creatures.  I got both of them from Daniel's Stray Sock Sewing Book--the first one, not Stray Sock Sewing, Too. Here is the lovely white rabbit. 


I love the way the head came out and the frilly neck.  The body, though, is lacking something.  It's just misshapen and I cannot figure out what to do about it.  Next time, I'm going to cut it at the point where the legs go on and sew legs in separately.  Still, he has a beautiful face!  He gets to stay.  

I tried to find out the White Rabbit's name from Alice's Wonderland.  Apparently, it was White Rabbit.  That just won't do.  Someone thought it was Herald, but that, according to someone else, was his job not his name.  The spelling makes that kind of obvious.  I'm going to use it for my white rabbit's name anyway. I like the name and the spelling so this guy is Herald. 

This little pig was done almost exactly as Daniel's version.


I gave mine a curly tail.  I can't imagine why Daniel didn't.  A pig just has to have a curly tail!

Isn't that a great face!  You create a ball with the end of one sock and pull the top of another sock over.  (As I'm looking at the picture right now, I'm thinking those ears would make great horns.)    The idea of putting in balls of stuffing for the legs and sewing them in place was interesting.  It worked well, but I think I might try stacking circles of felt or fleece the next time.  It will be easier to create uniform shapes that way.

These are numbers 22 and 23 of the 30 I should have completed long ago!  I really want to try a few more of these pigs.  There are a variety of ways to do them in the book. There is also a fish made in much the same manner.  I want to try that too.  Now if I could just create a few extra hours in each day! It's nice to get a few things finished, though.

The new job is just sucking up my time.  Without a dedicated desk/phone/computer, I still have to do a lot of the work at home.  I'm not good at setting boundaries, though.  I tend to keep working way longer than I should.  Good news is that it is a year-long grant!  I'll be finished on June 10th!!!  (Lesson learned here is to be sure the place of employment actually has room and equipment for you before taking on the job.) 

Monday, August 2, 2010

Sock Creatures #18, 19,20, and 21 have arrived

I've been playing around with new ways of sewing the limbs on and some pointy ears with this bunch.  Daniel's book, Stray Sock Sewing:  Making One of a Kind Creatures from Socks has a technique for rounding the head I wanted to try.  I am trying to eliminate the no-neck look on some of my creatures.  Daniel's method of gathering and sewing the head into a ball seemed like it might work, and it was better. Al Bino shown below does have a nicely rounded head and some definition in the neck.


His legs just didn't look right so I sewed them into what looks like a kneeling position.  He does look kind of cute that way.

Here was the next try:


I do like this one named Phee Lexa after Felix the Cat whom she does look a bit like.  I am fond of the pointed ears and the cutesy sweater.  I ordered a bunch of different eyes from CR's Crafts online that I used on this batch.  I found this company when surfing the net looking for different kinds of eyes for my creatures.  These were the owl eyes.  The have lovely swirling lines through the gold-colored area.


I'm doing a bit of hand embroidery as well as hand sewing some of the head and limbs on this batch.

My next one was a royal pain.  I HATED IT!  Because I was putting a growler in it, (the thing that makes a mooing noise when you turn it upside down and then back),  I thought the torso needed to be longer. It ended up looking just plain misshapen.   I just could not leave it like that so I took scissors to it cutting out an inch or so in the mid-section and sewing it back together.  She's wearing a tutu to cover the scar.


She's actually much more attractive in person.  She's  Anna Catlova.

For the last one,  I sewed crescent shapes into each side of the head in addition to using Daniel's gathering method for closing.

I think this one was the most successful in getting some curve from head to neck..  Since she's got sculls and crossbones on her arms and chest, she is Lydia the Tattooed Baby named  from the song, Lydia the Tattooed Lady.

Nine more to go!  Then I can do some in other fabrics.  Do go take a look at CR's Crafts.  There are so many fun things.  In addition to a bunch of different eyes and a couple of growlers, I got a doll's wig  and some of the nerdiest little glasses.  Now I've got to figure out how to sew on ears and a nose to hold the glasses up.

Sunday, July 25, 2010

The 16th and 17th Sock Creatures AND pouches

I decided to try a few pouches after coming upon the 3 Bears  tutorial for a "boxy pouch."  These are my first ones, and I will admit they need some work.  However, they are usable. I do apologize for the pictures.  They need some work as well.  The new camera is proving to be a challenge.

This pouch should have been rectangular.  I didn't have a zipper long enough, though.  I did, however, have five shorter zippers so this boxy pouch really is boxy. 

For the second one, I resorted to my usual habit of changing the rules.  I tried to keep the rectangular shape by sewing the zipper in the center and sewing the corners at 1- 1/2 inches rather than the three inches used by 3 Bears.


Lessons learned:  First, I need to use a heavier fabric or use a stiffer interfacing to make it sturdier.  The first one had some light  iron-on interfacing and the second was a mid-weight cotton.  Neither one is really heavy enough, though.  Second, I really need to try this with the longer zippers that were suggested.  I'm just going to have to get to Joann's this week!

On the sock creature front,  here is the first one.


It came about because I wanted to use up some of the scraps, and I do like those little red button eyes.  (I really do need to figure out the new camera.  These pictures suck.) I have named her Skye Bleu Pynk.

The second one is a combination of ideas I found in Stray Sock Sewing:  Making One of a Kind Creatures from Socks by Daniel.



Is she not adorable?  I really should name her after Daniel, so, continuing in the new style of mutilating names and the spelling of names, this is Dan'E-ella.

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Weekend Sewing Complete and Then Some!!

My house may need some cleaning, but I did finish the weekend sewing projects.  First, I finally got around to replacing the too-short handles on the slouch bag.  It is now perfect!



This bag fits around the body perfectly.  It's from Akiko Mano's book "Linen, Wool, and Cotton."  As I mentioned in my previous post on this bag, the only problem with the book is that does not come with an errata sheet.  That is an easy fix, however, if you know where to look online for the necessary changes.  My original post about this bag has the online source.  I love the book.  I love the projects.  I don't love having to find out the hard way that there are errors in it.  'Nuf said.

The next bag is from "Simple Gifts to Stitch:  30 Elegant and Easy Projects" by Jocelyn Worrall. It's the bag on the cover.

Simple Gifts to Stitch: 30 Elegant and Easy Projects


The alternating stripes were more than I could resist.  I was worried that this bag wouldn't be big enough, but the size turned out to be great.


Look at the number of books, etc. this thing holds!   It makes a great library bag.  I know this because it had it's first trip there today.



I think I like it better in the fabric on the book cover.  While I love the pink fabric, the irregular stripes don't show the alternating stripe patterns as well.  I followed the pattern completely--a novel idea for me.  (Okay, okay, ALMOST completely.  The handle fabric is not going in the right direction.  I just didn't want to cut into the large piece fabric to make the handles, so I used a leftover piece going in the other direction.  I have another piece of matching floral fabric.  I want to make another bag using the stripes and floral.)

My last project for the weekend was to do another of the oh-so-late sock creatures.  I did TWO!  These two are numbers 14 and 15.  I am truly halfway there!  I used baby socks.  Instead of being easier as I thought it would be, it was harder working with smaller socks.  Here's the first one.

She's actually quite small except for the head.  That's why I've named her N'Se-Phyllis.  Things learned from this one:  I need to put the eyes farther forward and/or make them larger.  Or, maybe I could sew a line across under the eye area to push the snout down.  It's hard to see the eyes with that big snout.  She's much like one of my previous ones, just smaller.



As so often happens when I have housework to do, I decided to keep working with some of those little socks.  I wanted to try doing some antennae.  That word looks so weird, I looked it up to be sure it was right.  Yes, that is the plural for antenna.  I also wanted to try some octopus-like legs.  So, here's what was born of the venture:


I could only fit four legs on.  I am really happy with this guy.  He's definitely a true creature, a Cycloptopus.  He's named after the cyclops in the Odyssey, hence he is called Beta Polyphemus.

I'm enjoying the heat immensely!  If summers were about two months longer and always this hot, I might consider staying in New York when the hubster retires.......naaaahhhh.  The only time I've ever liked snow was when I was sitting in a ski lodge next to the roaring fire in front of a huge picture window waving to the children as they trudged past on their skis.

I'm hooking up to:

Craft Book Month at Craft Buds