On a Decision to Sew a Giraffe

Lately I've felt pretty burned out when it comes to sewing clothes. It's not that I don't love sewing my own vintage style clothing, it's just that I get frustrated with following patterns, things don't fit right, there are issues matching fabrics/buttons/zippers...you get the picture and basically it come down to the fact that I've always had difficulty when it comes to being told exactly what to do when it comes to creative projects. This isn't to say you don't have some freedom when it comes to sewing clothes, but it's more centered in the what are you going to use to make this uniquely yours vein than it being yours entirely. 

When I first started sewing, I didn't use patterns. For the stuffed animals I made, I just sketched out what I wanted them to look like (sometimes directly on the fabric, such as with my White Rabbit), took scissors to fabric, and hoped that whatever I was making would turn out as I imagined. This is part of what made me like sewing so much and what I still enjoy about making my own stuffed animals, with few exceptions.

With this in mind, at the end of last month I decided to take a break from clothes and sew some sort of stuffed animal. While initially I had a set of hippos in mind, I went to the craft store and in the remnants section found 3/4 of giraffe print, which was so appealing to me I decided I was, instead, going to make a giraffe.

Macrame cord is great for stuffed animal and doll hair!

I named my giraffe Gabby after Audrey Hepburn's character in the movie within the movie Paris When it Sizzles. One of my favorite quotes from this movie (right after William Holden's description of plot) is the giraffe quote, which is of course said in a delightfully affected way:

Gabby: When I was a little girl, on Sunday mornings, if I'd been good, I was allowed to feed the giraffes.
Rick: Giraffes! Don't tell me that you had giraffes too?
Gabby: You mean you...
Rick: But of course we did.
Gabby: Oh what fun! Both of us having had giraffes as children!

Silly, I know, but I've loved that quote since the first time I saw the movie and it popped into my head as I started making this, so my giraffe is named Gabby.

"Did you eat my treat? What sort of dog are you?"

While I’m not planning to stop sewing clothes anytime soon (in fact, I have stuff prepped for a sundress, which I hope to start this weekend and with the remaining fabric from this I'm hoping to make an applique skirt with a giraffe), I do think that every once in a while I need to go back to doing things like this because I love doing them and, overall, they remind me why I enjoy sewing!

 ♥ ♥ ♥