How to make some soft Plushies - Coole Knuffels by La Maison Victor

Hello dear blog friends,


Thanks for stopping by!

Today I want to show you something different! Last week I got totally immersed in making some Plushies which is something I always wanted to do.

Here in Belgium we have a lovely bi-monthly magazine called 'La Maison Victor' which features mostly sewing, but also a little bit of knitting or crochet as well.

You can find their inspiring website here. There are also links to their pinterest, Facebook and YouTube sites at the bottom of their home page.

Not only is there the magazine, but they also publish some beautiful little craft books from time to time.

I bought their book*; Zelf-maak ideeen voor coole knuffels (DIY ideas for cool Plushies) because I immediately loved their quirky style and look! I knew I would have to make something from this book.

The book is beautifully illustrated, there are pictures of the finished toy, as well as diagrams that show how to attach the individual parts, and a full size template for each animal. The instructions are in dutch. Each animal has got a cute name.


Let me introduce to you: Charlotte the Cuckoo and Ferdinand the Cat!

My finished Plushies : Charlotte the Cuckoo and Ferdinand the Cat

The Book by La Madison Victor

Here are a few examples of the different animals in this book - there are 30 different animals!

This is how I made them. Here is Ferdinand the cat. First trace the template, then cut it out. Place on fabric and remember to add a seam allowance. Use contrasting fabrics. I decided to make a few of my own alterations....

Handsewing the cat - shown inside out

Adding some toy stuffing

I added a tail and stitched on an embroidered heart

My alterations were as follows: I added a sideways tail, I changed the ear shape, I embroidered the cat eyes, I added whiskers and a tiny cat's tongue (because Jasper our cat often does this!)

Ferdinand the cat is finished!

 

 

 

 

Here is Charlotte - I used some pretty Vintage fabric for the body, also for her eyes which I hand embroidered with one eye open and one eye shut. I used some shiny and silky fabric for contrasting beak, feet and the wings which I made larger than the template. You can see the construction for the cuckoo is somewhat simpler to sew.

 

I was hand sewing these Plushies whilst simultaneously watching the European Football Championship on the TV, it was great fun! There is something relaxing about hand sewing, I find.

 

 

Assembling Charlotte

 

This little birdie told me you like handmade things!

Plushies need friends!

* Additional information: This book was originally published in French! Clementine Collinet - Doudous a coudre (see these links: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Doudous-coudre-mod%C3%A8les-faciles-faire/dp/2848312467/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1466679768&sr=8-2&keywords=doudous+a+coudre and https://www.amazon.co.uk/doudous-rigolos-Cl%C3%A9mentine-Collinet/dp/2756510289?ie=UTF8&qid=1466679792&ref_=la_B004N7UHF4_1_2&s=books&sr=1-2 ) it appears that these versions have more models in them. This might be of interest to you if you know French! :)

Charlotte recommends that you also make a Plushie or two!

Have you ever made a plushie toy before? They are not difficult to make, even without a book, just draw your own template, keep it simple and dig into that vintage fabric stash you have been saving. Leftover scraps are fine, you do not need a lot! Use plain and patterned fabrics for contrast.


Thanks for your time reading this, I do hope you enjoyed this little post. Please feel free to leave me your comments below, I love reading them!

I just love colourful crochet shawls!

Hello, my dear blog friends,


Good to see you back here! And a hearty welcome to my newest followers, you are very welcome and I value your input and comments, and appreciate your time!

Today I want to do a review post, one that looks back at some of my previous makes.

As you can see from the title, I just love colourful shawls. You might have noticed this before. It just struck me when I wrote my last two posts, and I warned you to wear your sunglasses!!!

Afterwards I thought to myself, wouldn't it be fun, if I took a look at some of my shawls and took some photos. So that is what I did! And I really enjoyed it, looking at all that colour together.

And the naughty cats proceeded to walk, no run and skid, across my shawls which meant I had to lay them all out properly once again.

So here they are, some of my colourful shawls, most of them are for the summer. Enjoy!



Scheepjes CAL2015: Flight of Fancy, my own Rainbow Circle Shawl, a small neckerchief South Bay Shawlette, All at Sea Shawl, Elise Shawl, Veritas Triangle Shawl, Minty Green Shawl



Here is a striped Crocodile Stitch Scarf I made some time ago (love how the stripes match up)

My Noro Lion's Foot Stitch Scarf in the middle

Some Skinny Scarves made from Katia Yarn, made with a 2mm hook

Here you can see that my colourful South Bay Shawl really steals the show, it is huge!

If you want to find out more about any of these shawls, just click on the right side bar on the tag called 'Shawl' and it will bring up all the posts that I tagged like that!

Obviously I forgot some, like the Tahiti Shawl I made last summer, it must be somewhere else...

And of course there are the two woollen South Bay Shawls which are draped over my chair where I sit, I didn't include them in the picture because there wouldn't have been enough floor space!

It makes me very happy to think that I got all these shawls waiting for me, that I can pick and choose which one to wear, according to my fancy! And to know, that they are unique, that I made them myself, also fills me with pleasure and joy!

I think this is something we all got in common, when we make things for ourselves and others - it brings joy to the maker and to the wearer.



Hope you liked this post, feel free to leave your comments, it's always great to hear from you!

Have a nice weekend!

My Neon Waves Summer Scarf

Hello, lovely to see you!


Thanks for your visit here, I know you probably would rather sit in the garden with a cool drink and some fun crochet than spend time on the internet reading blog posts! What? You are actually sitting in the garden, reading this for a moment, whilst nestling your crochet on your lap and sipping from that delicious cool drink?

Congratulations, I admire you for your brilliant multi tasking!!! Well done!!! ;)

Here is something new for you!


Neon Waves Summer Scarf


Well last week I found 4 x balls of lovely bright mercerised cotton by Schoeller & Stahl or should I say it found me? Anyway, I instantly knew what I wanted to make from it!

I wanted to make one of these wavy patterns, where the stitch size varies, goes up and down again to create soothing waves.

So I came up with this!





Rhubarb and Custard?

I started on Tuesday evening, sitting on my balcony with Jasper the cat who helped me with my crochet. In fact he got pretty protective of this project since...




Deciding on my first two colours

Making Waves!



How the waves sit next to each other

Jasper the crochet helper

Jasper guarding my crochet against intruders

Ooh, colour number 4 now...

Making good progress

This is what I am hoping that the scarf will look like!

In case you are wondering - I laid the scarf in layers to simulate how it should look, my computer still hasn't learnt how to crochet!

I just seem to love scarves and shawls! And I can't help myself with starting new projects!!!

What is your favourite summer project? I better let you get back to it now...

Happy crocheting!!!

My Noro Lion's Foot Stitch Flower Scarf

Hello my dear Blog friends,


Thanks for stopping by. Today I promise you lots of colour, so put your sunglasses on!!!


Very recently I made myself a quick scarf. It just happened!!!

One Monday I visited Lana, one of my favourite Wool shops in Antwerp and managed to find just one single ball of Noro Kureyon Sock yarn in a wonderful array of colours! I knew it was meant for me! It appears long discontinued, no chance to find anymore, unfortunately!

On Tuesday I started and by Saturday it was finished! I have been wearing it a lot since then!



My Noro Flower Scarf

This is my *nearly finished scarf, made from just a single 100g ball of yarn!

Noro Kureyon Sock yarn

Wound into a yarn cake - such amazing colours!

 

This is the first row of flowers

The scarf is made from four flower rows

*Nearly finished, because at the end I had about 20g left, from which I decided to make tassels! They ended up being about 25 cm long.

Ta-dah! My finished scarf

Thanks so much for your patience lately. I know this post was a bit overdue, but you might not know that I recently had to work hard for my Dutch exams which were only last week. For one of them I had to have read a book and then give a comprehensive written account and answer a lot of questions. The other exam was my oral exam which also needed preparation. I will have to wait a bit now before I get my results.

I will try and catch up now, thanks for all your support and last comments, much appreciated!

Feel free to leave me your comments!
Enjoy the nice weather!!!