Wednesday 24 August 2011

Owl Softie

A Little Friend for a Big Friend

 I have to admit I have been a bit slack on the blogging front lately with the school holidays meaning the children are at home and also with various other commitments. I have been trying though in different ways to keep the creative momentum going with smaller projects. I was browsing Etsy one day when I happened across some delightful owl softies by various toy artists and I felt an overwhelming urge to make one. I decided it would be perfect as a thank-you gift for a friend of mine who had been kind enough to gift me with a couple of T-shirts he'd designed and printed himself. 
As seems to be the way for a lot of people at the moment he has a love and fascination for owls, although he has more of an attachment to them because of the association they have with his father who passed away when he was young. I wouldn't always feel the urge to make a cute softie for a mans present but I felt he was the right person, being creative in his own right. I think the outcome was possibly on the too girly side but oh well! 
So I spent a bit of time looking at various designs I'd seen and drawing out a pattern I thought would give me the shape I wanted. I also looked through my various bits of fabrics for patterns and colours I thought would go nicely together, I wanted it to be pretty colourful in a patchwork kind of way.


This is her having a little rest on my duvet cover, I thought it suited her, although it does accentuate her girliness!

This is her resting on my fireplace amongst various floral paraphernalia.

I shaped the bottom of her by darting her underneath and giving her a kind of square 'bottom' so she wasn't just flat and would stand upright unaided. I thought the finished softie was pretty and cute all in all.