rabbit and sheep greetings pattern…

Marion emailed me the other day, telling me that she had already tried the turning technique I attempted to show you last time.  Wow, Marion!  You are fast!

She said that, while the technique worked, she ended up with so much extra backing fabric that her piece ended up looking like balloon after she stuffed it.  There’s a good reason why this happened…. yep, I forgot to mention something.

just a little extra

You may be able to see in the above that once the pieces are turned there’s just a little, like a very tiny bit, extra backing showing on each side of the punching.  I measured this excess and there’s about 1/8 inch to 1/4 inch extra on each edge.  So, that means that the initial fold of backing fabric I talked about last time is only about a half-inch to start with.  Here’s the photo from last post showing the first fold:

first fold

So, if you were to make that fold and measure just one side of it, it would measure about 1/4″.  Not very big at all.

The other thing I didn’t tell you was that I stitch down the extra fabric after turning but before stuffing.  Usually I “hide” the extra fabric in the seam between the punching and the backing.  Unfortunately, I don’t have any photos of that, and I’m pretty sure by this time your head is spinning ~ I know mine is!  (my golly, this process is hard to explain!)  Just remember, something has to be done with that extra backing fabric or the piece might look a bit swollen.  Also, just because I hide my extra fabric doesn’t mean anyone else has to!  I like the look of exposed seams, too, and think they add to the primitive feel of things like Rabbit and Sheep Greetings.

On to the pattern at last!

rabbit and sheep greetings

rabbit and sheep greetings reversed

You can use this pattern in whatever medium you would like.  Please give me credit for the design.  This pattern, and all my patterns, are for your personal use and are not to be sold or mass marketed either in pattern form or finished pieces.  You are welcome to sell up to 10 finished pieces from this pattern.  I’d love to see pictures of what you come up with!

I haven’t stuffed my pieces yet, but right now the rabbit/sheep measures approximately 10″ tall x 7.5″ long.

Now, I have lots to do today, namely….

otis, ellis

…snoozin’ with my peeps!

embrace the joy that is today!

 

rebecca

 

starting to finish…..

I’m starting the finishing process on my Rabbit and Sheep Greetings make do, so I thought I’d share some of the details because “turning” a punched piece can be quite a challenge.  Here goes:

Above is the finished punched piece.  I’ll be sharing the pattern with you as soon as I find a blank piece of paper and a sharpie.  (how is it possible that there is not ONE unused piece of printer paper in this house?)

After I finish the punching and aging, it’s time to find a backing fabric and pins.

a bit of ticking and some long pins

Now, place right sides of the punched piece and the backing fabric together….

two rights will make a right!

Here’s the part that makes the world of difference for me.  I make a fold in the backing fabric over the narrowest part of the punched piece.  In this case, the fold goes vertically along the rabbit’s ear….

see the fold?

Then, I take that fold and fold it over itself, again, so it’s a very narrow little roll….

a roll of backing

(the above picture is not of the rabbits ear, but the roll concept is the same.) This little roll of backing fabric won’t, hopefully, get caught in my sewing machine needle.  Now, I pin that roll to the punched piece…

pinned and ready to stitch

Having this little roll of extra backing fabric, after everything is stitched together, makes turning so much easier.

Now to stitch ~ be careful NOT to stitch the roll itself….

stitching

In the above, you can see that I stitched around the piece twice. (I don’t usually use white thread, but I wanted it to be visible to the camera so you could see the stitches.)  That’s because I put a LOT of stress on the piece as I turn it right side out and I don’t want any seams bursting.   You can also see that I’ve snipped the edges all the way around the perimeter, except by the sheep’s belly, where I haven’t stitched at all.  The belly is where I’ll turn the whole thing right side out.

Now unpin the roll…

roll unrolled

See how much room there is, now, for turning?

Turn….

That’s actually the rabbit’s arm I’m turning in the above photo.  Even with the extra backing fabric, turning is still challenging….

 

…but much easier!

ta da!

Now everything’s turned and ready for stuffing.  You may notice in the above that the ends of the sheep’s legs are not stitched closed.  That’s because I want to put wood dowels inside the legs to anchor the stuffed piece to the rocker or whatever I decide to use as a base.

I’ll share the pattern with you, if you’re interested, as soon as I get some paper…. maybe next week?

 

In the meantime, have a blissful weekend!

 

rebecca

 

did you hear?….

Oh!  Thrilling news!  Lori Brechlin, Notforgotten Farm, has a line of Valdani colors coming out!  Woo Hoo!

Otis, did you hear the glad tidings?

 

“what?  lori has Valdani?” ~otis

 

“this news is worth coming out for!” ~the oatbran

 

Visit Lori’s blog, here, for colors and update!

 

rebecca

’twas the night before christmas….

Well, not exactly.  I mean, here it is, the middle of January…. not exactly the night before Christmas or anything like it.  In fact, I completely missed Christmas and New Year’s, here, in the blog-o-sphere… ah me.  However, it’s never too late to send warm wishes, so, Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, and Happy Holidays!

Naomi wrote and asked me if I’d ever published the Valdani colors I used for Robin Leuschen’s, “‘Twas the Night Before Christmas” punch needle.  Do you remember that project?  Here it is:

I never did share my palette with you, so just to set the record straight, this is the complete list:

jp6 (muddy pots) ~ Santa’s outfit

5 (ecru) ~ Santa’s beard and trim, stars, reindeer’s antlers

6 (natural) ~ berries on the vine

p4 (aged white) ~ vine, moon, 1822, Santa’s face

h205 (ancient gold) ~ reindeer, sleigh runners

p5 (tarnished gold) ~ words, reindeer collars and reins, sleigh

h212 (faded brown) ~ eyes

m1001 (vanilla sky) ~ background

The lamb’s tongues around the edges are the colors used in the design.

You can find Robin’s patterns by visiting her blog, Bird in the Hand Prims ~ click here.  She has some fabulous new freebie patterns on her site right now!

 

My camera isn’t working…..  well, it’s working, it’s just not WORKING.  I mean, I can take pictures with it, but they come out very unsatisfactorily (which reminds me of the grades I used to get in High School :~>), so I don’t have any new photos to share.  Time to shop!

 

Several of you have asked about how I age my pieces (thank you for your interest!).  As soon as I get a new camera, I’ll try to put something together to show you!

Until then, wring every bit of enjoyment out of each possible moment!

 

rebecca