Meng Long – The Fierce Dragon Panda Bear

After perusing my usual crocheting web sites, I noticed that many people were crocheting amigurumi panda bears in various shapes, styles, and sizes. All the panda’s looked so cute that I decided I wanted to make one too. So, this is Meng Long. His name means fierce dragon but I don’t really find anything fierce about him. I think he turned out super cute, and is just adorable.

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Meng Long’s pattern came from the book Amigurumi Two by Ana Paula Rimoli. I used the “toys in pajamas” pattern. I have made this pattern a couple of times and just love it. It crochets up quickly and easily and the end results are  always cute. I really like the shaping on the hands and feet of this pattern.

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The time limiting factor in Meng Long’s construction was the details on his face. Did I want to use felt or crochet rounds for the black of his eyes? Did I want to add white felt to the eyes as well? Did I want to crochet him a muzzle or just use felt for his nose and mouth? If I crocheted a muzzle, did I want to use a plastic nose or embroider a nose to the muzzle? I finally decided to stop asking questions and just try a few things out. So, with that, I got started.

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I liked the felt on the eyes better than the crocheted rounds right off. And I decided on blue eyes early in the process even though I know that pandas do not really have blue eyes naturally. The white felt on the eyes was a must. It took a long time, with lots of trimming, and several tries to get the felt shapes I wanted for the eyes, but the end result was worth the time and effort. I crocheted a muzzle but it took only a couple of minutes to decide that I did not like it with the muzzle. I decided I wanted him to be cartoonish cute, and not look very realistic in the end. I embroidered  his nose square, but the husband said to add the point at the top of the square. After adding the point, I agreed with the husband. It looked better that way. The crooked smile I made him with was my idea though.

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After the face was designed,  Meng Long just needed to be stitched together. The stitching together of the parts went smoothly. I did not rush the process. I took my time to do it right, which kind of made it fun to see him come together. I decided to stitch his arms and legs closed and then stitch them to his body. This way he can sit down, but it is harder for him to stand. This is ok because I designed him as a toy to be  played with, and not a decoration to be displayed.

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Meng Long is having a great time in the sewing room playing with Sarah and the other amigurumi’s hanging out in there, but he needs a home of his own where he will be loved and played with.

How Much Fun Can One Yard of Fleece Be?

After enjoying the memories of the jacket I made for my nephew so many years ago, I decided it was time to make another one. As I dug through my patterns looking for the pattern I used make the nephew’s jacket, I ran across McCall’s 3387. I bought this pattern ages ago and made two sweatshirt fleece jackets from it for my nieces also many years ago. The sight of this pattern brought back many even more great sewing memories, furthering my excitement to make another jacket.

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I started in the stash and quickly found this piece of polar fleece I had purchased on sale at Joann’s. I bought this piece to make baby blankets with, but because the design was not very babyish, I only bought one yard. So, that quickly determined that I would be making a size 3 jacket. I traced the pattern and cut it out quickly, excited to get the sewing underway. I did take the time to wash and dry the fabric before I started cutting like I always do. I’ve read that polar fleece does not shrink but I just was not willing to take the chance. I decided not use use interfacing on it either because I felt that the polar fleece could stand on its own.

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The sewing process got off to a rough start when I made the pockets backwards and I had to recut out new pockets. Luckily, I did not mess up the fronts of the jacket or I would not have had enough fabric. Because of this little bump, I decided to read the pattern guide fully and follow it a little closer.  With that, the sewing from then on went like a dream. Polar fleece is so fun to sew with! It behaves so well while being sewn together, holds a fold and does not stretch or stray like so many other fabrics. My serger did not even complain about sewing on it. I totally enjoyed sewing this jacket together. I thought that the zipper was going to be a challenge, but it went in easily with no hassles. The only change I would make to the construction of this pattern is at the hem. I would have finished the hem at the zipper differently than how the pattern guide directed.

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The finished jacket turned out great. I had a wonderful sewing experience from start to finish and as always, I learned one or two things during the construction, especially when it came to the pockets. I am excited now to make more jackets and I now see my polar fleece stash in a whole new light. Instead of just blankets, I see a whole new world of possibilities in my current stash. I want to make the other two styles of jackets in this pattern next. I am also flooded with ideas of variations of this pattern. Plus, over the years, I have purchased many jacket patterns in various styles and sizes that I have not tried yet. I can’t wait to get started.

Sarah B

This is Sarah B. The B, of course, is for brachiosaurus. She is my latest completed amigurumi project.

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Sarah’s pattern is from an old book my sister gave me. It was published back before the term amigurumi became popular. This book contains the pattern for 4 dinosaurs, with each patten having a larger adult version and an smaller baby version. I decided to make the adult brachiosaurus first.

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When I first read the pattern, I thought to myself “No, way. This pattern is too weird.” But I decided to make some changes to the pattern and give it a try. The pattern called for two hooks with the main hook being a size K. I don’t know if I even own a size K hook, no less used one to make any amigurumi. Wouldn’t a larger hook make larger holes in the crocheting for the stuffing to come out of? To fix this, the pattern called for two strands of yarn to be used at a time. I have never done this before either. If I followed the pattern, it said that my brachiosaurus would be 27 inches long. What?!? That is over 2 foot long. I want a brachiosaurus, not a monsterasaurus. Plus I only had one skein of yarn in the color I wanted to use. About ready to fold up the pattern and say forget it, I decided to use a size H hook with 1 strand of yarn and see what I got. If I did not like the results, I would just abort the project.

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So I got started with one of the feet, my H hook, and a single strand of yarn. I followed the pattern and got the cutest little foot, so I crocheted on. I followed the pattern and made 4 feet, the tail and the body. I continued to follow the pattern through the head to the neck. At the crook of the neck, the pattern calls for the rows to be half hdc and half slip stitches. I had a really hard time crocheting this part. Although I followed the pattern, if I make another brachiosaurus, I will modify this part of the pattern to make it easier to crochet. At first I was not sure how to crochet the head bumps and thought about just leaving them off, but I gave the pattern a try and they turned out to be very simple to crochet.

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The eye lids were not that easy. The second hook the pattern called for was to make the eye lids. Since I had used a size H hook for the pattern, I got out my F hook for the eye lids. I followed the pattern and got an eye lid that was too short to curve around both eyes but too long for one eye. I undid this eye lid and made a shorter one to fit around just one eye. I did not like the height of this eye lid so, I started again, and just slip stitched across instead of sc. I liked the results in the height but length was still wrong. The next try was the charm. I got the length and the height I liked, so I made a second one the same way.

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Unfortunately, one of the biggest challenges in making this brachiosaurus was the yarn. Well, to be fair, not the yarn but its dark blue color. I had difficulty seeing the stitches and had to turn on extra lights while crocheting and sewing. Certainly not the pattern or yarns fault, but disappointing to me none the less.

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As mentioned on another post, the sewing together of this brachiosaurus was made much easier with pins, so the sewing together was not the dreaded chore it has been previously. I did spend some extra time on the details. I tried several different looks, head bumps no eye lids, eye lids no head bumps. I finally decided on both head bumps and eye lids. I embroidered her mouth and nose with black yarn as the pattern called for with the dark blue yarn but you could not even see what I had stitched. So I dug through the yarn stash and found this nice gold yarn to match the eyes and the end result is much better.

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As I crochet an amigurumi, it takes on a personally all its own, sometimes quickly in the crocheting and sometimes not until the very end. From the first foot to the finally eye lid, this dinosaur turned out so cute and took on a feminine quality almost immediately. I struggled with this a little. Dinosaurs are boys, not girls, but Sarah is all girl and I have just fallen in love with her. I do not have a place to put her so I must find her a home, but I will have a more difficult time parting with her than some of the other amigurumi’s I have made.

From Box Number Two…

With my first mystery box of fabric shirt done for myself, it was time to make the husband a shirt. From the second mystery box in the closet, I pulled this large piece of blue interlock knit out. Once again, I don’t know where or when I bought it, but I am sure I fell in love with it then as I have again now. It is a beautiful piece of fabric with a great soft feel and stretch.

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I cut the husband’s shirt out and then applied the interfacing to the fabric. The interfacing did not give me any hassle, which was nice. Do you think I have finally figured out the trick to applying interfacing? Or is the interfacing just teasing me, and will bubble and curl even more than normal the next time I use it?

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The sewing process for the husband’s shirt went smoothly. Before I opened up the mystery boxes from the closet, I had started a shirt for the husband but had not yet finished it. So as long as I was sewing the new blue shirt, I decided to finish up the first shirt at the same time. It is made from a ribbed green knit that has tons of stretch. Needless to say, with the stretch, the green shirt took more time to finish up than the blue one took to make. I only thought that I used a lot of pins on my shirt to keep the fabric from stretching. It was not even close to the number of pins I had to use on each seam of the husband’s green shirt to keep it from stretching too much.

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Embroidering designs on the shirts became a little more challenging than I expected, well at least on the green shirt. The only difficult part of embroidering on the blue shirt was picking the design. After looking at many designs, I returned to the my first choice, the Peanuts Snoopy as a World War I flying ace. It stitched up nicely on the shirt and it looks great. I love it, of course since it is Snoopy. Hopefully the husband will like it half as much as I do.

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The green shirt was made for the new Haunted Mansion design I had recently digitized for Halloween, but with the stretch, I just was not sure it was going to work out. Luckily over the years, I have learned and remembered some hard learned lessons, so I hooped up a scrap piece of the green fabric and tried the design out first. Due to the stretch, it did not work out. I hooped another piece of green scrap differently this time, tinkered with the design, and tried again. Still it was a No go. Disappointed, I looked though my designs and found a design I just loved, but have just never put on anything until now. So, I present to you superhero Tootsie Roll! The stretchy fabric still gave me a hassle with this design but since it was smaller, stitched from up and down rather than side to side, and had a much lower stitch count, I was able to make it work without too many problems. I think the design turned out cute and I like the chocolate buttons I chose on the shirt with the design.

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Now the dilemma, I want to finish sewing up the fabric from the boxes, but I am anxious to get into the stash and find a piece of fabric for another shirt to put the husband’s Haunted Mansion design on. So, what to do next?

And In Box Number One…

Now that I had a corner of my sewing room closet back in order and a pile of fabric for Good Will ready to go, I turned my attention to the the four pieces of fabric I left out from the boxes. After laundering the fabric, I decided to make me a shirt with the first piece.

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My shirt would be made from the blue print piece. I don’t remember when I bought it or were it came from, but I really like the colors. The fabric must have some lycra in it because it has a stretch in both directions. This made me cut very cautiously because I did not want to stretch the fabric out as I cut it.

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During the cutting process, I realized I did not have quite enough fabric to complete the shirt I wanted to make. But eventually I determined if I cut the back upside down, I would have just enough fabric but then the stripes would not match. I decided to go for it anyway! Since the shirt is just a t-shirt style to hang out in and the print is kind of funky, I figured it would not really be noticeable to anyone other than me anyway.

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I had to use a few extra pins in the sewing process to keep the fabric from stretching out but for the most part the sewing went together quickly. The fabric was nice to work with and I just kept in mind not to rush the process.

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With the shirt finished, I have wore it a couple of times and I just love it. I was concerned that with the lycra content that the shirt would be too warm, but it really isn’t. It is very comfortable. And it is very nice to have yet another piece out of the stash and being useful.

Tweet

It’s out! Ana Paula Rimoli’s third book, Amigurumi Toy Box, is available for purchase. Yes, I have purchased the book and have made one of the patterns already. The patterns and designs in this book are just as wonderful as her first two books. The animals in this book are smaller in size than her other books but I believe that was the idea behind the “toy box”. Most of the patterns use a smaller hook than the patterns in her other books. Looking through the book, the first pattern I wanted to make was the snake but I became side tracked by the cute little bird.

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I realized several months ago that I had never crocheted my mom an amigurumi. Of course, she has no need for a teddy bear but I knew that there were lots of designs out there that she would like. While studying the snake pattern in the new book, my eye kept wandering to the little bird on the next page, so I started to crochet the bird instead of the snake.

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The pieces of the bird crocheted up easily and the sewing together went quickly, once I figured out the position of the head to the body. With only a little bit of felt details, the bird was done. Because the construction was so quick and fun and the result was so cute, I started another bird for my mother in law. To spice the construction up a little, I switched the colors of the birds. Soon enough, I had four birds made for family and friends.

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With the birds made, I needed to get started on the stumps so they had some place to sit. I ended up crocheting only one stump. The patterns made up quickly but I grew bored knowing that I had to make 3 more stumps. Dragging my feet and complaining about crocheting stumps, the husband reminded me about the $1.00 wooden birdhouses we saw at Joann’s the last time we were there. What a great idea, but I am not a painter so the unpainted birdhouses presented a problem. The husband came to the rescue and painted the birdhouses for me with a white base and a spray of blue accent. He also cut out a dip in each roof for the birds to sit.

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The birds looked so cute on the birdhouses that I quickly abandoned the one stump I had made and put all 4 birds on a house instead. I think they turned out really cute and the recipients of the birds seem to like them too.  Now it is back to the book to make the snake, then the dolphin or the unicorn or the polar bear, but what about the hot dog? I am so excited to crochet them all.

Blue

While cruising the amigurumi photos on flickr, I saw a picture of a giraffe made in shades of blue. Since I have a co-worker expecting her first boy, I decided to make one of them for her.

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This giraffe’s pattern is from How to Crochet Adorable Amigurumi from Gourmet Crochet. It is a pamphlet rather than a book with 12 designs. The patterns are written simply but with very little detail. The pattern left you wondering how to crochet or sew several of the parts together. More pictures of the finished project, back and side shots as well more front shots, would have helped. I would not recommend this pamphlet to a beginner, but it you have been making amigurumi’s for a while you can fill in the blanks without much problem.

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This pattern worked up quickly and it was fun to crochet. The only thing I would change is the first row on each piece. Most of the larger pieces have 7 single crochets for the first row. In my opinion, this makes too large of a hole that can not be hidden by the yarn tail. This was less of a problem on the legs where the next rows did not increase in count quickly, but on the head and especially the muzzle, the hole was bigger than I like. In fact, after crocheting the muzzle, I dislike the size of the hole so much that I thought about making a new muzzle and adding an additional row making  the first row 4 count, and the next row 7 count, then on to 14 count and 21 count. I did not remake the muzzle in the end because I was getting low on that particular color of yarn. To remedy the big hole, before stuffing, I placed a small piece of felt inside the muzzle to cover the hole. Luckily the yarn of the nose and mouth help to cover the hole as well.

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The ears were a little tricky to figure out. The pattern gave instructions, but I am not sure that I did them right. In the end, I just kind of made up what looked good to me.  After crocheting the tail as the pattern called for, the husband said it was too thin, so I ended up making up a pattern for the tail as well.

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At first, I was skeptical of the end results. The giraffe was not working up as cute as the picture on flickr or as the  picture in the pattern looked, but as the little giraffe develops, he has grown on me quickly. I now think he is very cute and I am excited to give him to my co-worker.

.WOW! BEST MORMON MOMMY BLOG!

 

 

Monorail Blue

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Well my husband is a huge train fan, and an even larger Monorail fan. I think at this point we have ridden most of the Monorails on the planet, multiple times. So for his newest blue striped shirt that I made him he said he wanted a Monorail on it. The Mark VII Monorail Blue from Disneyland to be exact.

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A Monorail?

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Was he kidding?

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Did he think I could just find a Monorail embroidery design on the internet somewhere, download it and just stitch it on his shirt? No, you cannot. So I decided I would need to digitize one to use from scratch. It’s painstaking work. Which would probably take longer than it took to create the shirt in the first place.

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Oh well, he can never make things simple, but I always enjoy the challenges he puts in my path to create something cool, new, and most of all fun!

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So I went through my Disney Pins and found one that had a suitable Monorail on it that I could use.

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There was only one major problem with it. It had Tinkerbell on it and he greatly dislikes Tinkerbell. So I decided the only thing to do was to use the pin as the basis of my design and figure out some way to remove the Tinkerbell from it.

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This was not easy. Since Tinkerbell was going, all of the fairy dust she was sprinkling on the pin had to go too. That wasn’t easy to remove either.

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It might have been quicker to just redraw the whole thing by hand.

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But in the end I think it turned out ok. What do you think? Did it turn out ok?

BS

BS – Bibs and Sleepers.

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I ended up being able to do some creative stitching at the side seam and foot to save the original sleeper I mentioned in my previous post.

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Thank heavens for the small piece of fabric that you sew to the bottom of zipper. It became the extension that I needed for the crotch piece. As I sewed the other foot together, it was messed up too. So, the feet on this sleeper ended up being smaller than on some of the other sleepers I have made. I don’t think that anyone will notice though and it should not affect the wearing of the sleeper. I am pleased with the end results of this sleepers although it was a challenge to get there. The other sleeper sewed up great and was fun to make.

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They say it takes less time per sleeper to sew two sleepers at once. I don’t know if that is true. Yes, at first as you stitch the sleeves, you can sew and serge from one sleeper to the other without cutting off, but after that part comes the details. Zippers, ribbing, feet, seem to take the same amount of time whether you’re making one or two or more sleepers. So, in my opinion sewing two sleepers at once might end up saving 5 minutes or so. Oh well, I guess that is 5 minutes that can be used somewhere else.

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Of course, with all the embroidery supplies already out for the sleepers, I figured I might as well make some bibs for the babies too. I love to make bibs because it gives me the chance to stitch a usable sample of a design. The Mickey and Minnie design that I picked out ended up being so cute on the bib that I can’t wait to put it on a shirt for me.

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If you want to see my original baby bib post you can find it HERE.

Don’t Mess With A Good Thing

After a long dry run caused by the Christmas holiday and all that entails, I have turned my sewing machine back on and I am loving every minute I spend with it. Although I was told that my next project was to be a new shirt for the husband, there are babies on the way to co-workers and soon. So, I got out the sleeper pattern and started to cut.

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Several years ago, Mom retraced her copy of the sleeper pattern for me because my copy was getting so shaved and sliced from so much use. Although I have used this new copy a couple of times, it is not quite right and you needed to do a little adjusting of the pieces as you sew. So this time, I decided to make the adjustment at the cutting table and make permanent  changes to the pattern. As I sewed the sleeper together, I was pleased with the changes I made to the sleeves and shoulder, but something went terribly wrong with the crotch and the foot with the zipper.

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Flustered, I returned back to the pattern but I could not see what had went so wrong. I decided I needed a fresh look and so I got out my original copy of the pattern. Now, not the one I adjusted years ago for stripes. It is still working well. As I cut this sleeper out, I made adjustments for missing seam allowances and cut off toe pieces and as I sewed this sleeper together, the pieces fit as they should. I still can not figure out where the re-traced copy is off or where my adjustments are off on the first sleeper, but I did decide that my time was too valuable to spend working on this problem, and that I should just switch back to my original pattern. I am going to go back and re-trace my older copy especially with my new adjustments and make another new pattern. Something just is not right with that other copy and is just not worth figuring out what.

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Now I just have to figure out if I can save the first sleeper at the sewing machine, or if I need just start again at the cutting table and make a new one. Wish me luck!