Redberry Robot

I decided to surprise the folks over at Weeby Games (well a few knew, as I did request permission ;P ) by creating a doll from their Bubble Pang and Bubble Story games coming to a phone near you! The doll I made is of the main character Cuddles, a helpful little fox with a backpack full of special bubbles for you to use!

Above is  source art from the game that I used as reference for creating the doll. Some parts, like the backpack's details I had to imagine myself. To create this doll, I wanted to try my hand at pattern alteration and development to craft this little fox.

My first mock up (a quickly sewn together muslin version of the teddy bear pattern from the fantastic book Stuffed Animals: From Concept to Construction) was pretty painful to look at, but helped inform me a lot on where to go in creating Cuddles. I marked this muslin mock up on where i'd like to tuck & stretch the forms in the real version of the doll.

Using the mockup pattern as a guide, I got to stitching up the fleece base of the body, head and limbs using freezer paper as my pattern material. Working with machine was so much faster than the hand sewn doll I previously developed from a drawing.

Through the process of developing the doll  I worked on tweaking details like the fluffy cheek poof (as modeled in real life by my cat), and working out the precise shape of the belly panel with freezer paper. Fusible web was a godsend in holding down the face, belly & paw pad details before I hand stitched them on. Next time I'll work on integrating that part into the machine work.

The face was a delicate process, as the eyes are so prominent on this character. I was careful to make sure the fleece I cut out of the eyes matched up with the plastic pupils well before adding. The eyeliner look on the eyes was a little trickier to manage though, as the zigzag stitch (which worked fine on the nose & paw pads) was just too heavy. I started with just hand stitching with black thread pictured above) to give a lighter look, but in the end that was too light, and I went over it again with black embroidery floss. 

So while I had crocheted a blanket some years ago, it had been sometime since I'd picked up a hook and yarn, but the sight my sister's work and of super cute tiny amigurumi like this one helped motivate me back to this craft. Over the course of this week I relearned the magic ring technique and basic gauges, and took on my first amigurumi - a variation on the pixel the puppy pattern from this basic book.

I'm pretty happy with the result - it's a 2 piece pattern where you can take the face part out and turn it around for an awake or sleepy expression. I also used this doll as an opportunity to experiment with a fuzzy yarn (where I had to adapt the pattern because the fuzzy yarn needed a larger gauge to keep from tangling), and crocheting 2 types of yarn at once (for the ears & feet).

Today I wanted to share one of my favorite completely hand sewn dolls (made last year before I finally got a sewing machine). It was commissioned by my illustrator friend Chobi to create a plush version of her Frateroshi character. There were lots of little details, but it was a fun challenge to work on.

Here is the same image (Front, 3/4 and Back view) that Chobi drew for me as a reference. After consulting with her on the best fabric matches based on her illustration.

This is the doll about 3/4 of the way through ( I wish I took some earlier process shots!). I developed the pattern as I went along, and needle sculpted any rough spots into shape.  To ensure it would stay up, I shifted the legs to a sitting position and I weighed down the base of the doll with plastic beads to counter balance the top heavy style of design. The arm's details were tricky, but fusible interfacing helped a lot to keep all of the pieces in place.

In keeping with cartoon style of the character, I opted to make the hair out of fleece (achieved through lots of pinned & needle sculpted layers). Here's a process short when I was trying to sort out the hair/ face layout. I found that creating a stuffed "shelf" of hair protruding from the forehead helped achieve the layered hair over the face look.

The final product! Chobi was quite excited, and felt I got the "muppet/mask style" nose she developed just right. Needle sculpting helped a lot with finishing up the hair.

The holidays flew by fast, but in keeping with getting this blog started, I'd like to share my first take at creating customized cat dolls. I made them as a surprise present for my sister, and though source images were a little tricky as her cats live across the country, I was luckily able to piece together details from photos she posted online. Yay for cat photos on teh interwebz!

Here are my fuzzy little models, Amanda (left) and Sam (right).

To start, I altered a basic 4 legged gusseted animal pattern to create a small basic cat doll out of wool blend felt w/ a fuzzy pile on the right side. This fabric would make a good base coat for the dolls. Here's a shot of cutting out one of sides for the Amanda doll.

After sewing up the basic cat doll it was on to the customizing! I selected a palette of calico colors out of my roving collecting and went to work layering up her coat & facial features. In retrospect I wish I would have doubled up the fabric on the ears (as opposed to just leaving flaps) and a single layer of the felt was a bit difficult to needle felt into on both sides.

In a follow up to my earlier post, here is a making of feature for the Krampus Doll I needle felted. 

It's pure wool roving, so it started out pretty loose.. almost looking like a sad voodoo doll of a monkey.

Eventually I started to tighten up the fibers and extend the limbs by adding on more wool. I love that Needle felting can both additive and subtractive (almost like a woolen clay) when making a doll. Here the leg is starting to shape up.

Now the doll is really starting to take shape - full limbs and of course the Krampus tongue. Some parts are still loose and forming through (like the ears).

As the doll shapes up more I can add more colors, filling in features like the teeth and the horns.

Just add some eyes and feet and there you have it, a Krampus ready to sit on a shelf and scare your kids the old fashioned way =P