Designs Along the Way

I've had fun making things over the years, and find it interesting to see what becomes really popular, and what gets passed over. Sometimes, the result is surprising. Several years ago, a friend came over to spend the day at the house, and our plan was to use our time re-designing a basic bear pattern into other animals. We got out all of the pattern pieces and buckled down to some serious designing. After a lot of drawing, and adjustments, we were where we thought we should be at least on paper. She spent the day working on a rabbit, and I ended up with a fox. We got out our fabrics and set to work to see what the "real" results would be. This is a photo of the original fox I came up with from the design project we worked on.


I was quite pleased with the end result, and while it has had some tweaking done to it along the way, it has turned out to be one of my favorite pieces. Each one has a vest that I embellish with beadwork and a bit of embroidery. The fox remains one the most requested pieces I do.

I sometimes "see" a project in a piece of fabric, and love the challenge of trying to pull it off. When I came across this particular piece of fabric, I immediately thought it would make a cute pig. No one else could envision it as I had, but I thought she turned out pretty cute. To make things better, she took second place at the bear show in Kansas City last year. I display her with a small can of Spam. Not everyone thought that was as funny as I did. You just have to have a sick sense of humor, I suppose.


This was not the first pig I had done, but actually the second. The first one was pink, and didn't garner the attention that Olivia did.

Another piece of fabric I could "see" a bear made out of was actually a pair of pants. I struggle with purchasing a piece of clothing and cutting it up to use the fabric, but this particular piece was something I knew I could never purchase yardage of at a fabric store. Besides, do people really wear pants made from furry fabric? Anyway...the end result was "Panto", who now lives in Missouri.


I've been working on some other pieces lately, especially pincushions, some of which are animal related. I'll get some photos of those and post to share.