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Showing posts with label animals. Show all posts
Showing posts with label animals. Show all posts

Wednesday, October 21, 2020

Bringing JOY to Misfit Socks... Fairfield World's 80th Birthday Celebration

 

Welcome to the Party! Fairfield World is celebrating it's 80th Birthday with a special online party... 80 Days of Poly-Fil®! I have been so excited to share my project! My new little friend is tooting his horn to keep this party going!

Fairfield World has gone all out for this event and generously provided two 32 oz bags of Poly-fil® to create with... that is a LOT of stuffing! It's been a while since I've made something fun and whimsical. The last thing I made was my very own "Elf on the Shelf" sitter. Since quarantine life, I have been tackling the honey-do list which includes clearing out the drawers and closets. 

I admit I'm a sock-baller. It's just practical. But I have found that I have an endless supply of socks. Mostly ankle socks and a bunch of cute fun patterned ones that never ever have been worn since being banished to the drawer (it's just way too hot for boots here in SoFL). 


In my sock menagerie is a pair of "Original Rockford Red Heel Socks" with a pattern to make the world famous "Sock Monkey" and a super cute elephant. I received these as a Christmas gift with a Sock Monkey t-shirt (which has been artfully altered) many moons ago. The universe has spoken! With this pattern and an abundance of Poly-Fil®, I have everything on hand to bring some JOY to my collection of misfit socks.


In today's project I have used: 1 pair of long socks; scissors, Fairfield World's Poly-fil®; the Original Poly-fil® Stuffing Tool; colored hair elastics; repurposed ribbon; quilters pins; sewing needle; embroidery floss, buttons, yarn & thread in coordinating colors; thimble; sewing machine; felt; parchment paper; permanent marker; and Red Heel instructions.


First thing you want to do is make sure you wash and dry the socks. They will most likely shrink a bit and the final project will be clean and ready for gifting when complete. Turn socks inside out to prepare for pattern cutting.


I am bringing out my sewing machine to help take care of some of the stitching. This project can be done entirely by hand and is a great project for kids. I'm having fun figuring out what critter a pair of socks wants to be.


Flatten out each sock following instructions 
and mark measurements with quilting pins.


First I mark out the legs on each sock.
These will be sewn on the sewing machine.


Each sock size may vary from pattern. I am prepared to alter things with a piece of parchment and a permanent marker. I trace the shape of the sock and sketch out the placement of ears, mouth and trunk.


The first sock will be head, body & legs in one piece. I sew 1/4" to one side of center down to bottom (elastic open edge) of sock. 


Here is the first stitched line. I learned to have patience in sewing an inside out sock. The fuzzies like to jam in the feeder.


I turn around and sew back up 1/4" 
from on the center pinned line. 


Next I stitch along bottom of open end of sock
to close it up forming bottoms of feet.


Legs are sewn, leaving approximately
a 1/2" gap in the center.


Now I can just cut up the center to divide the legs. I cut about an inch up past my stitching to allow for turning rightside out.


Head, body and legs are ready for stuffing with Poly-Fil®.


Now for the second sock! I pin my pattern to the sock and repeat the steps to sew the arms.


After stitching, I cut the arms away from the other patterned pieces.


Two arms ready for stuffing!


In modifying pattern to work with size and shape of my sock, I have also simplified my sewing. I use the same process to sew around and create a matching pair of ears.


I sew a straight line to form one edge, then turn 
and follow along to form a wide "U" shape.


I repeat from the other side resulting in 
two rounded rectangle shapes for ears.


I cut down the middle between the stitched lines to separate both ears. I gently cut unsewn edge to open ear for stuffing and around the edges removing bulk and excess when turned right side out. 


For the trunk, I sew this freeform rather than cutting and sewing a small piece. I mark shape with quilting pins for a line to follow on sewing machine.


After stitching, I cut trunk piece away. I have a section of sock left that I can use for accents at the end if needed.


With all the pieces sewn and ready. 
Turn everything right side out.


I gently turn head/body/leg shape right side out because I purposely left a smaller hole to be hand-sewn closed. I was not sure how much the sock knitting would fray also. The sock is pretty forgiving as it is stretchy and durable.


I start with just turning the legs and feet to prepare for stuffing.


I have all my pieces ready to stuff with Poly-Fil® using the handy Poly-Fil® Stuffing Tool that comes nestled inside the the middle of the package roll.

**A TIP** take out small amounts of Poly-Fil® at a time. It will get everywhere and you will never be able to get it all back into the bag – IT GROWS!


The simple pattern instructions call for circles of cardboard to be placed inside the ends of feet. I'm using felt rounds the same size as my spool of thread. The socks I'm using are thin and the felt will help keep the flat size at the end of feet.


I cut 2 circles for each leg. I will layer two for per leg and secure in place when I stitch on button accents at the bottom of each sole.


I stack two felt rounds and press flat into the bottom of each foot, making the stitched line fall at about the center, then stitch a button onto the outside. When stitching button, I thread up and through the felt circles to tack in place and this will also help secure the button.


Now it's time for the FUN part... STUFFING! First the trunk comes to life. I use the handy Poly-Fil® Stuffing Tool to coax the stuffing down into the tapered point. I found using a swirling motion helped prevent clumping and keeping a smooth surface.


Next the ears.


When stuffing the head/body, I used a light blue 
fabric wrapped hair elastic to mark the neck.


Everything is fully stuffed and ready to assemble. 


I start by sewing closed the base of body and legs with a whipstitch. I'm not the best at hand-stitching, so I did my best turning edges inward as I stitched to conceal the thread. The imperfect stitching adds to the quirkiness.


One ear on. I went around twice with stitching
to get things good and secure. 


Look at the personality with just ears and legs! So CUTE!


I sewed the top of the trunk closed a bit before attaching to head. I also stitch the top of the arms closed. I also added a fun detail by stitching the tip of trunk into a closed curl to give it a bit of whimsy. 


I stitch the trunk onto the head, followed with the mouth. I mark the placement for eyes with quilting pins. He's ALIVE!


I find that finishing touches are the best and my most favorite part. This is where you add all the personality... and you can go on and on adding fun, quirky details. I kept it simple to let the pops of color in the pattern shine. I sew on mismatched shape buttons where I marked the eye placement with pins.


I'm all about the little details. So after stitching to head to secure buttons, I then ran some additional thread between the two eyes to pinch the shape of the head, adding more character. Have fun and add the details as you like.

My handmade sock elephant is complete!


I don't know what to name him but he certainly is FLOPPY in front of the camera! I really enjoyed making this cutie and have a whole menagerie in the works. I hope you enjoy this project and are inspired to create your own sock critters. There are loads of patterns for all kinds in webland. 

What animal would you make with Poly-Fil®? 

Pop over to Fairfield World more more inspiration on their website HERE.
For project ideas visit: fairfieldworld.com/project

Follow the #Fairfield80 on Instagram to see all the creative makes for Fairfield World's 80th Birthday Celebration.

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Thanks so much for visiting! Stay tuned... I have a few more sock critters in the works for holiday gifts. Sb :) 

Friday, September 4, 2015

Papier-mâché Animals on Parade... a #Cre8time Collaboration with #MixedMedia Friends



Hello friends. I know I've been a bit quiet... I'm not able to burn the midnght oil creating all night, every night like I used to... though I am still creating - with reckless abandon!


Grab ahold of your seats!!! It's that time again - time for another Cre8time Collaboration hosted by the amazing Tina Walker. She came up with another fabulous challenge for a bunch of us mixed media junkies... an altered papier-mâché animal collaboration. You know I was all - in!!!

I am so excited to share my whimsical creature that is a twisted and taped bundle of recycled newspaper, packing papers, paper towel tubes, WIRE HANGERS {yikes}, topped in a hoarded cherished jar of purple chalkboard paint.


I started out by cutting up and bending two recycled wire hangers {from dry cleaning} and began building up my creature with rolled up newspaper wrapped in masking tape. Feet done!


This body is stuffed with loads of newspaper, tissue, recycled paper towel tubes and I decided to add a couple craft matchboxes. I taped these together to create a trio of mini drawers.


I reinforced and secured edges of drawers with a good beading of hot glue. This also helps keep the moisture from the wet gluey paper from warping and dissolving my boxes.


I cut up another hanger and bent into ear shapes. I hot glued this to a stiff recycled paper tube {I think it was one from saran wrap} and taped on balls of crumpled paper to create the head shape.


Then its on to the laborious task of papering my creature. I used a mixture of 1/2 PVA glue to 1/2 water. I mixed it in a big pyrex cooking dish and began soaking and adding on torn sections of recycled tissue paper, newspaper and packing paper. This took several hours since this critter is so large. I set it aside to dry overnight.


It's really coming along and OMG... it's got a personality!!!


I added some brads mounted in discs of paperclay for eyes, and molded a bit of paperclay to the snout to create indentions for the nostrils. When papering, I must have been sniffing the glue - I only thought to give my new friend a BIG happy smile - LOL!


When clay additions were dry, I painted the entire figure with a purple chalkboard paint that I picked up on clearance ages ago. I painted on layers in a drybrush fashion so that I didn't affect the papier-mâché. Due to monsoon storm - this isn't drying as I expected. I'm going to have to wait a bit longer for this to be dry so I can take some chalk to it and doodle up my new studio mascot... a super cute donkey!! I will share as soon as I can - this paint is still glossy and a bit tacky - which seems ODD for a chalkboard paint.

I need make a point to give credit to another artist who provided me the inspiration to make this critter. An amazing mixed media artist I follow on FB - Karen Kradel Fincannon, who makes wonderful sculpted critters.


I have had this screen shot in my phone for quite a while and I'm pretty pleased how my donkey came out... though her lil' guy is so STINKIN' cute!!! Thanks Karen for sharing your wonderful art online to inspire us all.


Can you help me name my
new studio donkey mascot??
Please leave a comment with your suggestions.


Thanks for dropping by - please enjoy the Animals on Parade! :) Sb
Please follow the links below to see
what the rest of the gang has created...

Tina Walker - Our HOSTESS!

Laura Mooney

Michele Kosciolek

Christy Strickler

Albion Gould
http://albiongould.com/mixed-media-deer-head/

DeeDee Catron

Melissa Johnson

Mitra Lee

YOU ARE HERE... Susan M. Brown {sbartist}