Baby Rattle - Bear Set

A little baby gift I made for a new little baby boy. For these I actually found free patterns online with a google search. This set is a bear rattle with a bear squeak toy made with blue and maroon fabrics. For the rattle I added a bear face, but I left the flat bear squeak toy faceless as I liked that it was reversible.

Last year I made these Baby Rattle Tools, that included a squeak screwdriver, a rattle spanner and a rattle hammer. So I had leftover squeakers and rattle inserts to make this bear set of baby toys. I still have more squeak and rattle inserts left for more future makes, which is handy.

I finished each bear toy with a tag sewn into them to give a more professional look and to also tie them together as a set. For these tags I used a ribbon with colourful baby feet printing. The finished size for the rattle is about 9 inches and the squeak bear is about 8 inches.

Rainbow Goddess Dolls set2

For my Rainbow Goddess Dolls, I have been using recycled materials. This means that some of my plush goddesses are a slightly bigger then others as some materials I have used have a stretch to them and some don't. Because of this the average size for each goddess doll is about 8 or 9cm tall and feature embroidered colours meanings on each.

These are the second set of five Rainbow Goddess Dolls, all totally hand-stitched and hand embroidered. The meanings for each colour is embroidered onto each of the coloured goddess dolls. These colour meanings are- Green = Nature, Blue = Fidelity, Indigo = Infinity, Purple =Magic, Lavender = Serenity. I just have the last five Rainbow Goddess Dolls to share.

Dinosaur #1

This is just a simple enough little dinosaur that I made as a gift. The pattern was a free pattern I found online while doing a google search for sewing pattern. The soft brown material I used for the body has a nice stretch to it, allowing for a plump and rounded dinosaur figure, and the scales along its back bring a nice bit of colour to this otherwise bland dinosaur.

While the body is made from a soft and squishy brown fabric the back scales and feet pads are from a more stiff colourful material. This was done to allow the scales to stand upright on their own and to ensure the feet to remain flat while standing. The dinosaur was given a pair of black safety eyes before being stuffed and sewn shut.

The finished size for this plump little dinosaur is about 18cm from head to toe and about 29cm from nose to tail. Although this size will vary depending on the material used, as I mentioned I made this dinosaur with a stretchy material so it was stretched out a bit while being stuffed. This was a simple little project to hand sew and the end result is super cute. I can imagine a number of these little dinosaurs, all in differing colour. 

Rainbow Goddess Dolls set1

These are my Rainbow Goddess Dolls, all up there are fifteen of these little plush goddess. I made a goddess doll in each colour and embroidered the colours meaning onto each goddess doll in a Pictish Swirl because I thought it looked more magical that way. Each little goddess is about 8 or 9cm tall and is stuffed to make them soft and handable.

These are the first five Rainbow Goddess Dolls, all totally hand-stitched and hand embroidered. The meanings for each colour is embroidered onto each of the coloured goddess dolls. These colour meanings are- Yellow = Energy, Orange = Opportunity, Red = Blood, Brown = Soil, Pink = Romance. I still have ten more Rainbow Goddess Dolls to share in the future.

Hermione Iron Bead PATTERNS

As Hermione is my favourite character from the Harry Potter series, I decided to design some iron bead Hermione figures. The first Hermione piece I created, the one on the left, has pink cheeks, a yellow and red Gryffindor scarf, grey jacket, black skirt and shoes. I wasn't so happy with how her hair turned out so I tried again. The second Hermione piece I made, the one in the middle, I am much happier with. Her hair is big and fluffy, as fluffy as iron beads can get, and she has a red Gryffindor patch on her black jumper. The last Hermione piece I designed is Hermione in her Yule Ball gown.

For these, my two favourite Hermione iron bead figure I have provided the patterns. These patterns are also wallpapers but I have also included the same Hermione images as simplified wallpapers. To better view the patterns just click on the picture to enlarge it. To download as a wallpaper, click on the picture you want and "Save Image As" to save to your computer or alternatively you can select "Set As Desktop Background"

Venus of Willendorf Pocket Dolls

After making my little god and goddess pocket dolls I wanted to make what is probably one of the most well known goddess like feminine figures, the Venus of Willendorf. For these figures I used a more earthy toned material with white embroidery highlights. The pattern was created by simply taking the basic outline shape of this figure and the highlight were added to define curtain details of this figure.

The smallest Venus figure measures only 5cm tall, with the larger measuring 10cm tall. The finished figures were maybe not as rounded as I would have liked, but I think that was due to the material I used having little stretch width wise creating a figure that is more leaner then the original. Something I'll keep in mind the next time I make one of these. Despite this, though, these little figures turned out quite nicely.

Three-Headed Dog - Fluffy

This precious little three-headed pup is nowhere near as ferocious as his gigantic cousin Rubeus Hagrid once cared for. Being so sweet-natured and magical, he fits right in with my ever growing family of fantastic beasts. Despite his friendly nature, I have a feeling he will grow up to become a formidable guard dog, just like many others of his kind.

This was a simple enough creature to make with the body being a basic shape. However it is the three heads that really making this a unique and adorable design. For each head I used black safety eyes along with a black safety nose. Keeping the finished look more simplified then the pattern actually intended, however as I was making this to a smaller scale and sewing by hand I didn't want to make things too complicated for myself.

This three-headed dog measures about 6cm tall and about 12.5cm from middle nose to toes. To make him this small I actually reduced the original pattern size by half. The pattern used for this three-headed dog comes from Choly Knight's Cerberus Plush Sewing Pattern found HERE in her etsy store. Choly also has a lot of great FREE patterns available on her blog Sew Desu Ne?.

Baby Niffler - Pumpernickel

It has been a while, but there has finally been a new addition to the magical creatures residing in my home. The baby niffler Pumpernickel has made his first appearance and is now playfully making himself at home with his brothers Persimmon and Pistachio. I'm now in more danger then ever of losing my bright and shinies to these mischievous but adorable little critters.

As my first two nifflers were on all fours, I decided to make the remaining two in a slightly different body shape. So to create this baby niffler I started with a basic pattern shape that was for a sitting critter. This then had to be heavily altered, allowing for a longer tail, a wider head, a pouch, the hands and feet, and the altered snout. I then had to allow for Pumpernickel's unique markings.

This little sitting niffler turned out to be trickier to sew together then his brothers on all fours, especially when it came to attaching the little feet to the legs. The hands and feet themselves were just as fiddly as the first two nifflers I made, and also just like the first two nifflers, this niffler has little magnets sewn into the hands.

To finish his look, Pumpernickel was given blue safety eyes. The hands and feet for this niffler are stuffed, along with his snout, head and tail just to give definition to those areas, however the majority of the body is filled with plastic pellets to give him a little more weight and flexibility.

This little niffler turned out to measure about 9cm tall and 10.5cm from tail to toe, allowing him to fit in comfortably with his brothers without looking too big or too small. I think he turned out super cute and hope to one day soon complete my baby niffler set with Pumpkin.

Pocket God & Goddess Dolls

Another quick and simple project this week. Similar to my pocket witch dolls, these are my pocket god and goddess dolls. These two totem figures are only 6.5cm tall and because I liked how this floral material turned out for the witch dolls, I decided to uses that same material again for these pocket dolls. These were again fast to sew together and a little fiddly to turn and stuff.

I love the simple design of these pocket dolls, the standard type shape for the male figure and the robust round body for the female figure. The pattern for these little god and goddess pocket dolls came directly from a set of cookie cutters I own. I simply traced the shape of these cookie cutters onto fabric, sewed, stuffed, and was done. These are so cute and I'm tempted to blow up the shape to a larger size to make cushions.

Harry Potter Wand Bookmarks Framed Set

A few months back I made these colourful iron bead wizarding wand bookmarks. These were for the characters of Harry, Ron and Hermione, Dumbledore, Voldemort and Bellatrix, and Neville, Luna and Fleur. As I already have quite a few bookmarks I found I wasn't really using these and they were just left in a sad little pile on my desk. I wanted to do something fun with these and thought they would look cute displayed somehow and this is what I can up with.

I had this old picture frame that I think used to be gold, but it was not looking great, so I gave it new life with a few coats of white paint. After that was done and sealed I gave it a white backing board, as I wanted a nice clean looking frame for these colourful wands, and added the wands. I originally thought to add names under the wands, but once I had the wands placed I decided to leave the names off as it might have looked too cluttered.

This is the finished look hanging on the wall, which I am very pleased with. It's a nice and simple alternative to having a set of real full sized wizarding wands hanging on your wall, especially if you don't have the space, or funds, for that. I have patterns for each wand available if your interested in making a set of your own, either to display as I have, to use as bookmarks, or for any other purpose you desire. Click to find patterns for Harry, Ron and Hermione, Dumbledore, Voldemort and Bellatrix, and Neville, Luna and Fleur

Pocket Witch Dolls

Just a quick little something, Halloween inspired, are these pocket sized witch dolls or totems. These little witches are very small, the standing witch measuring 7cm tall and the witch on broom is 5cm tall. This miniature size made these quick to hand-sew but very very tricky when it came to turning the sewn fabric inside-out, or right-side-out. Stuffing these was also quite fiddly.

For these pocket witch dolls I decided to use a floral pattern, keeping the witches more abstract in design. As it is technically Spring here in Australia where I live, I liked the idea of softer colours for these little dolls as opposed to the traditional witchy colours of orange, green, purple or black. The actual design or pattern for these comes straight from a couple of witch cookie cutters I own, only I shrank the image to making these smaller then the original size.

Mini Hanky Pouches

These sweet little pouches were actually made from a paper printable. I have printed onto fabric a couple of times before with some success, seen HERE and HERE. So I decided to print these very pretty vintage inspired hanky designs onto fabric also. This was done by taping the fabric to a piece of paper before putting it through the printer in order to give the fabric more stability. Unfortunately there was one hanky design that misprinted along the top edge. So when sewing these pouches together by hand, as I do with everything I sew, I instead decided to use velcro to complete that pouch.

For the other two pouches I used a waxed cord to make the drawstrings. These pouches are only small, with the two drawstring pouches measuring about 12cm by 12cm, and the velcro pouch measuring about 12cm by 10cm. Originally these paper hankies were designed to be letter writing sheets for guest to leave messages on, then they could be hung up, bunting style, as decoration for that celebration as an alternative to a guestbook. However I'm sure there are many creative ways this Freebie can be used. Download from the Eat Drink Chic blog HERE FREE.

Faery Rag Doll #7

It's been a about a year since I made one of my faery rag dolls, but I recently had the desire to make another and so I did. This new beautiful redhead faery doll has found a home next to my brunette faery doll on my bookshelf amongst some of my favourite books.

This lovely faery was made in the same way as my previous faery dolls, and I'm finding the more of these I make the faster I am getting at making these. This is a good thing because I plan on making more of these and as a hand-sewer, sewing anything by hand takes a long time.

As with all my other faery dolls, this faery has a blanket stitched fringe, embroidered ears and black safety eyes. I just adore her bright red hair with her blue flowered dress, and the floral wings are the same material used for my previous brunette faery rag doll.

The full height of these dolls are about 24cm from head to toe and the full wingspan is about 16cm. All my faery dolls have reinforced wings that allow them to hold up one their own without flopping over but are still soft enough to allow them to be squashed and played with by little hands.

Luna Lovegood Dirigible Plum Earrings (iron beads)

These Luna Lovegood Dirigible Plum earrings, more commonly referred to as Luna's Radish earrings, are made from iron beads, also known as perler, hama and pyssla beads. The 3D red earrings design above was created from a pattern by Karen Kavett, the flat orange earrings were created by slightly changing the same pattern.

These earrings are about 4.5cm in height, making these a statement piece, especially the red 3D earrings. They are super cute to wear and very simple to make. The pattern and instructions to make these can be found HERE on Karen Kavett's youtube channel, along with a few other free Harry Potter iron bead designs.

Sailor Moon Brooch PATTERN!

This was just a quick and simple design for Sailor Moon that I decided to make into a brooch as I had a few bar brooch pin backs left over. She is the same size as the Wonder Woman, Supergirl and Poison Ivy iron bead figures I created, only those were made into key chains. I initially thought to make this into a key chain also, but I worried that her hair might break too easily with being handled so much.

I used a square peg board and iron beads, also known as perler, hama and pyssla beads. Once I was happy with the design, I ironed it together. After it had cooled I added the bar brooch pin back using a hot glue gun. All finished this Sailor Moon brooch is about 7.5cm tall, making a little big for me to actually wear, but as it turns out, a cute size to pin to a bag as a unique accessory.

I have created a pattern, as seen above, that is also a wallpaper for this Sailor Moon iron bead figure. Below is the same Sailor Moon image as a simplified wallpaper. To better view the pattern just click on the picture to enlarge it. To download as a wallpaper, click on the picture you want and "Save Image As" to save to your computer or alternatively you can select "Set As Desktop Background".

More Acromantulas (inspired by the Harry Potter Series)

Friday the 13th is not the best day to be following a random trail of spiders, especially after what happened the last time I made this mistake, although luckily at that time I ran into only one smaller acromantula. This time it seems I was not so lucky, or maybe I was as I escaped with my life. I don't know what I was thinking, but suddenly I found myself face to face with a number of these giant magical spiders.

These acromantula are of course still very young, I know this because of their size and my ability to escape from them. Also their colouring is very different from the acromantula I encountered at the beginning of the year, which makes me wonder if there is more then one giant acromantula nest out there in the bush by my home. Not such a friendly thought knowing these creatures have the highest classification of XXXXX.

For these new baby acromantulas I used the same pattern I created when I made my first acromantula. However, this time I decided to use an old pair of jeans as I use only materials I have on hand and like to upcycle old clothing and materials when I can. The worn jean material made these spiders very soft, especially after filling the body with plastic pellets. The feet are all filled with a little stuffing and the eyes are all black safety eyes.

These acromantula have been made as gifts and will soon find themselves in new homes as paperweights, spooky decor or as simply something soft and fun to toss about. Initially these little spiders were tricky to put together, especially as I created the pattern myself and had no instructions to refer to, but the more I make these the easier I am finding these to make. Plus with their round little bodies and mismatched eyes, they are too adorable not to make. 

Celtic Knot Woven Brooches

Its been a long while since I did some knitting work, and by knitting I mean using a knitting nancy not knitting needles, which I have yet to become completely competent in. I would love to one day be able to knit properly with needles and knit myself a proper Ravenclaw scarf, as it is most difficult to find a Ravenclaw scarf that has colours true to the book, that being blue and bronze, instead of the movie colours of blue and silver/grey.

For now through I have been using my knitting nancy to create some Celtic designs that I have turned into brooches. This first grey knot design is of the Celtic Cross. This cross is formed from a single line as the Celts believed that the one-line weave represented Eternity, enhancing the virtue of faith. The circle woven through the cross brings all things together,  meaning that of the mind, body, spirit as well as self, family, world.

This second knot design is of Longevity. This cross is made from one continuous line conveying hope for a long life. Also known as the Celtic Eternity Knot, it represents eternity in all things, such as eternity of the world, of life, of love, friendships and relationships. This type of knot is seen in many cultures and is also known to represent compassion and wisdom along with long life. This knot design is identical to the ancient Mongolian symbol that also has the meaning of 'Long Life'.

This third knot design is of the Mother and Child Celtic Love Knot. This knot design expresses the protective, nurturing and unconditional nature of a mothers love. This knot design features a top loop to represent the mother and a bottom loop to represent the child held within the mothers loving embrace. The meaning conveyed with this knot is one of deep connectedness and eternal love that bonds a mother to her child.

This last knot design is of the Triquetra or Trinity Knot that in this variation is depicted as the Celtic Triangle of Inner Strength. The original Triquetra Knot design represents the triple aspects of the Celtic Goddess. The addition of the inner loops in this knot design represent inner qualities, such as self-worth, self -assurance, self control, that flow outward to manifest into personalities. It can also represent inner thoughts manifesting into outward actions.

To create each Celtic Knot piece I took the knitted cords made with the knitting nancy and arranged them into the knot designs that I found online. Using a single piece of yarn, the same used to create the cords, I stitched each knot design together at the connecting/overlapping points of the design, before attaching the bar brooch pin back to the back of each knot design with a few stitches.