Cy Bear here and so glad to be back with you once more. What a difference a week can make - in contrast to last week, we've had a lovely day, with a lot more sunshine and we've been promised a heatwave (all the way from Spain apparently - wherever that is),
Also, having posted the parcel containing Daniel Tiger 2015 on Monday, Isobel has managed to get on with some much needed replacements for our shop (www.Etsy.com/shop/COLDHAMCUDDLIES). She's still managed to do a stint each afternoon working on the latched wool rug project, and has cut out and sewn four different versions of foxy heads each evening after her night time meal. They are now all at the stage of requiring eyes fixing in and being stuffed, and then the fun stuff (as far as Isobel is concerned, anyway) begins - that of dressing the Ladies.
Here is a selection of the fabrics that may, or may not be used in the fashion stakes.
The next two photos are a close up of these:
The fabric on the left here is actually purple and white poplin, but for some reason or another, whenever Isobel takes photos of any Cuddlies made with purple fabric, the colour always comes out looking a lot more blue than purple.
She'd already made three bodies for the Lady Foxes earlier this year - when she made the Gentleman Foxes and Wolves (which we wrote about in a post on 23/03/2015). They've been sitting in a plastic bag waiting to be worked with since: they are now looking like this.
She then cut out and completed sewing four sets of heads, tails and ears - they are all different colours, and three use plush fabric. The fourth, an experiment, is made with a light brown chenille fabric, which Isobel found difficult to work with, since it frays very easily. Also, because it doesn't have the "fluffy" look of the plush fabrics, the head, tail and ears all look smaller. So, the body which will be made tomorrow, may have to be a bit smaller too, so that it doesn't look out of kilter.
Here are the chenille and chestnut brown pattern pieces ready for their individual treatments. You will see the paw pieces still unsewn - because Isobel hasn't yet decided which fabrics will be used to dress which Cuddly and and the paws are sewn directly onto the arms before they are attached to the frock top. When the chenille toy is made, he will become a Coyote - all our previous ones have found homes over the past few months, so in a way, we are beginning again. The Chestnut one will, obviously, become a Fox - and then we have two more (shown below).
The grey one will become a Lady Wolf, and the one on the far right will become another Coyote.
We've made Gentlemen Coyotes in the past - dressing them in straight trousers (as opposed to jodhpurs that we use for our other male dressed Foxes and Rabbits), and the chenille one will definitely become one I think. Somehow, Isobel feels that Coyotes look better dressed in "country and western" outfits. The Coyotes also don't have leather boots, although they do have leather shoes. The head, tail etc of the one on the right, is made with a plush fabric described as "Oatmeal" which can look a little yellow in certain lights.
However, it's the nearest to a light brown plush fabric that Isobel could find locally, so we're going with this to see how it turns out. When she saw it in our local haberdashery outlet on Saturday, she really liked the look of it. She reasons that if it looks a bit odd when finished, the toy can always become a "Fantasy Fox" if worst comes to worst. However, I think this one could look rather nice as a Lady Coyote, so we'll have to wait and see what happens when Isobel gets going with her sewing machine, needle and threads.
Hope the next time I'm with you, there will be some finished Fox, Wolf and Coyote Toys to show you. It's great that using the same pattern, we can produce three different Animal Toys. In the interim, here's wishing you all a great week - and hopefully some lovely warm weather for us all to enjoy.
Your Good Friend - Cy Bear.
She then cut out and completed sewing four sets of heads, tails and ears - they are all different colours, and three use plush fabric. The fourth, an experiment, is made with a light brown chenille fabric, which Isobel found difficult to work with, since it frays very easily. Also, because it doesn't have the "fluffy" look of the plush fabrics, the head, tail and ears all look smaller. So, the body which will be made tomorrow, may have to be a bit smaller too, so that it doesn't look out of kilter.
Here are the chenille and chestnut brown pattern pieces ready for their individual treatments. You will see the paw pieces still unsewn - because Isobel hasn't yet decided which fabrics will be used to dress which Cuddly and and the paws are sewn directly onto the arms before they are attached to the frock top. When the chenille toy is made, he will become a Coyote - all our previous ones have found homes over the past few months, so in a way, we are beginning again. The Chestnut one will, obviously, become a Fox - and then we have two more (shown below).
The grey one will become a Lady Wolf, and the one on the far right will become another Coyote.
We've made Gentlemen Coyotes in the past - dressing them in straight trousers (as opposed to jodhpurs that we use for our other male dressed Foxes and Rabbits), and the chenille one will definitely become one I think. Somehow, Isobel feels that Coyotes look better dressed in "country and western" outfits. The Coyotes also don't have leather boots, although they do have leather shoes. The head, tail etc of the one on the right, is made with a plush fabric described as "Oatmeal" which can look a little yellow in certain lights.
However, it's the nearest to a light brown plush fabric that Isobel could find locally, so we're going with this to see how it turns out. When she saw it in our local haberdashery outlet on Saturday, she really liked the look of it. She reasons that if it looks a bit odd when finished, the toy can always become a "Fantasy Fox" if worst comes to worst. However, I think this one could look rather nice as a Lady Coyote, so we'll have to wait and see what happens when Isobel gets going with her sewing machine, needle and threads.
Hope the next time I'm with you, there will be some finished Fox, Wolf and Coyote Toys to show you. It's great that using the same pattern, we can produce three different Animal Toys. In the interim, here's wishing you all a great week - and hopefully some lovely warm weather for us all to enjoy.
Your Good Friend - Cy Bear.
