Making a soft toy from free online patterns

At Fabric8 we ran a  Toy Making Competition some tinme ago. I've been inspired by some of the entries to make a little stuffed toy of my own. Although I've made stage costumes, wedding dresses and other wonderful things I've never made a teddy. I decided to use a pattern thats freely available to download off the net from http://www.wyrm.org.uk/cuddly/index.html . After reading the instructions I assembled the materials needed.

Scissors and thread snips  

Pins

Toy Stuffing

Machine Needles

Hand Sewing Needles

Thread 

 and fabric 50cm x50cm 

The pattern I downloaded was the beanbag Dragon and I have to admit I'm very impressed. The instructions are very clear. I used the seam guide to find the seams are 1/4 of an inch. The first step as ever is to cut out the pattern pieces and to lay them out on the fabric. I decided to recreate the dragon from my childhood back in Wales, "Magon the Dragon".  I used red fun fur for the top of his body and pink for his underbelly and the inside of his ears. 

Some pieces such as the wings need 4 copies cut instead of two. When working with such small pattern pieces it's easy to lose a piece  when you clear out the scrap fabrics, so make sure to keep all the pieces safe including the wing and ear pieces which you had to unpin from the pattern paper so you could cut out the second copies (yes I DID accidently throw my wings in the bin when tidying away the scraps).

The head is the first piece to be assembled and I think looks very cute. I found it amazing how much shape the neck piece adds to the face. This picture was taken BEFORE the head was stuffed which I think goes some way to showing how much shaping the neck piece does. 

The wings are made next, and the lines of the wings are top-stitched on. This gives them a lot more definition. The two top sections are then tacked onto their wings and then the top sections are sewn together, leaving a small gap  for turning out. One of the two tail pieces is sewn on the top section as well. 

Next the inside of the back legs are sewn onto the bottom of the body. Care must be taken to make sure the right leg is on the right side. Here you can see that I didn't take enough care and thus the feet wouldn't not match up when sewing the top to the bottom. (never learn from mistakes, learn from someone else's :) ) 

Once the top and bottom of the dragon are sewn together you need to sew the head on. I found it easier to push the head into the neck cavity and sew along the neckline by hand. (right sides together of course). I always use a machine were possible but even I found it much quicker to do this short bit of sewing by hand. 

And there you have it, one very cute fuzzy dragon. Of course this one wont be in the toy competition as I'm a staff member. But anyone else can download a patterns and make one for the competition. You can express your creativity in many ways with these and other patterns. Try different fabrics, add embroidery, maybe use beading as well. You have 3 more weeks to get an entry into us and this little fella only took a few hours to make. Surprise us, and maybe yourselves as well. 

Wave Gothic Treffen. Goths don't all wear black anymore

When you think of Goths you may well be thinking of everything in that video. However Goth fashion has changed a lot over the decades. Another common misconception is goths are depressed, most goths could really be described as Mono-chrome Hippies. Every  year I travel to Germany with my friends to soak up some wonderful music and amazing goth inspired fashion at Leipzig's Wave Gothic Treffen. And this year I even dragged my manager with me :)

So let us begin with what you may think of as classic Goth clothing (all be it on a regal scale)

Many years ago Black Velvet was the fabric of choice among the Gothic populace. However more recently the most popular fabric has become Duchess Satin. IT's important to use a heavy satin for Goth Dresses. This is because these dresses tend to be very   floatey and in a lighter satin can look more like a nighty. In contrast a heavy satin gives a sense of structure and lets the intricate pleats and folds hold their shape and stand out.

After a while the colour white begins to creep in. This white and black costume was made (and is being modeled) by one of the regular customers of Fabric8. The skirt is a "gypsy" style skirt, made of short panels being pleated into the panel above. This way 5 meters of  fabric can give you a hemline of over 20 meters!


The corset is also a common feature among Goths and affiliates sub cultures. As is oftent he case with fringe fashion, aspects of this are coming into the mainstream. As this BBC article goes into  


 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-18409752 . 









The Black and white skirt above was originally constructed to form part of a Belly Dance costume. There are many different form of belly dance including Gothic belly dance.  There is a strong link between Goth culture and fantasy culture. Many goths are also historical re-en-actors. As a result there is a strong medieval theme at WGT as well as Middle Eastern and  fantasy (with one venue dedicated to medieval and middle eastern clothing, artifacts, and music)

As a result there are some fantastic costumes which you may not associate with Goth at first. Lashings of Lace, Tule as well as Organza and Chiffon  can build up layers which catch the wind and the light is fascinating ways. It was a little strange seeing people in black leather queuing for hot dogs next to the fae folk, but it's just part of the experience for me.

Of course you can wear just a simple dress if you accessories yourself correctly. A simple pair of wings and a bottle of Absynth makes for a fantastic "Green Fairy" costume

Many costumes were not made of fabric at all, such as this interesting skirt made out of fruit juice packets. Goth festivals seem to be a hotbed for experimental fashion as well as providing a great show case to show off your creations.

 Steam Punk is a form of fashion I enjoy greatly.| He basic essence is a combination of Victorian fashion with Science fiction. To me personally it answers a question that many people will not ask. "What is Goth" there is no simple answer. However Steam Punks are romantics. The re-imagine the past applying modern ideals to the Victorian aesthetic. Wanting the best of both worlds, the beauty of the Victorian times without the oppressive attitudes to women or subjects of 'The Empire'. They seek an idealized world by harking back to the past. Personally I see this in the Goth Culture as a whole. It's not just an obsession with vampires and the color black. IT's about seeking a romantic idealized world.








Many Steam Punks adorn themselves with brass gadgets. Others wear a Victorian styled outfit adorned with brass trinkets and a very cool hat, much like our good manager here :) 

 

I hope you enjoyed this little journey into my fashion spotting holiday. I've been to WGT 4 years running now and enjoy it very much. I always return inspired to create. However I still don't understand why Bobba Fett's cousin turned up.