I'm such a crafty one

I decided to make some stuff today. The first thing I decided to whip up was a ribbon toy, which didn't turn out the way I wanted so I scrapped it and started over. The idea originally came from me wearing a hoodie with strings, and Rayna is always grabbing at my strings, which made me think there has to be some way to make her a ribbon toy with really long ribbons to keep her happy. Then the thought of her managing to wrap it around her neck popped into my head so the really long ribbon toy turned into a taggie bracelet.

I started off with a scrap of material about 6 1/2" x 2 1/2". I was originally going to "pillowcase" it, and flip it inside out, but figured I would have a hard time sewing in the ribbons, so instead I folded it up like bias tape, pressed it, and pinned the ribbons along the open edge. I topstitched down the open edge, and folded the ends under. I would suggest using a scrap maybe a little wider, say 3 1/2" even, as I found it a little narrow for my liking once all the folding up was done. The length of the ribbons I used was 7" and 4" and I shoved them into the open side so that they were touching the fold in the center. I also topstitched the other side (by the fold), which caught the ribbon a second time, to make it more secure.

Then I added a chunk of velro to each end, making sure to catch my folded ends to secure them, as well as making sure I put the velcro on the right side so it closed when wrapped around her wrist.

Ta Daaaa! It was a pretty quick little idea that popped into my head and turned out alright I think.

Cute little baby not included.

She seemed to like it anyways. The one ribbon is actually stretchy, and she really seemed to like grabbing that one and yanking on it.

The second thing I made today was the "Olivia Owl" doll. I think she turned out pretty cute, don't you? If you'd like to make one yourself you can purchase the pattern HERE. I would have taken more pictures of the process but I think that would kind of give away the pattern somewhat and it is copyrighted, so you'll just have to buy one yourself! I love this woman's patterns though and have bought quite a few already, I have made her "Lil Peanut" and "Lil Lambie" and my son loves them to death. I also purchased the baby bumblebee pattern which may be the next one I make.

The only thing I had trouble with is my fabric puckering. I hate fabric puckering. Whether it's in my quilting or my sewing or anything, I hate it. The thing is, after I attached the face and wings (with a tight zigzag stitch as instructed) the front part had shrunk up a bit, so when I sewed the front and back together, there was alot of loose fabric in the center, which I figured would be fine once I stuffed her up, and finished it off. Overall it wasn't too bad, but when I finished the bottom opening (using this Invisible Closing Seam tutorial) I did end up with one stupid pucker that I just couldn't get rid of. How annoying. Can you see it? You should be able to, it's the pucker in the middle of the red circle thingy, that I highlighted for you lol.

Maybe I'm just picky. No, not possible, not me, no way. I also need improvement on appliqueing the face and wings on, the face especially. Maybe I'll have to experiment with different stitches on my machine and see if there is one that works better than the zig zag. I think if I had craft velour for the face it wouldn't be so bad either as I'm using just plain old cotton. In the end though, Chase will probably claim her and he won't even notice, so again, unless I'm giving it as a gift, it'll do. She's pretty cute though, right?! And didn't I do a fantastic job embroidering the facial features? I think so. Okay, so until we meet again...