On Two Little 1920's Elephants!

Hi, happy new year a quarter of the year in, clearly things are not off to a racing start on here...

Ages and ages ago, I came across an image of a pattern for an elephant from the September 1921 issue of Allers Familie Journal on Pinterest and it went in a folder for later use. Time went by and after quite a bit searching I manged to hunt down a digital copy of the magazine on the PLU Archives and find the remaining pages I needed for his clothes.

And then I forgot about it, which was followed by remembering it a considerable time latter and finally printing the pieces out. The project then was put off for ages while I tried to find the right fabric both in terms of color and texture. 

Found the right fabric about a year and a half ago and ended up buying it in two shades, and then once again it was put off. Recently I decided it was time to tackle this project (with motivation coming from possibly needing some gray for another project). With continued indecision over which of the two color gray fabrics I was using, the solution became that I would be making two elephants because, why not also make a girl elephant? 

I did end up translating the original instructions from Swedish more just to see if they did anything fun construction-wise, but then it became a mission to get it all translated resulting in over four hours of "fun".

And...after three months (no, it should not have taken more than a weekend), I had Imogene and Walter.

 

With Walter I used the pattern from the magazine for his clothes, although I'm not entirely sure they were the right size for him since I resized the page from the magazines and originally for the body I was working with a screenshot image. Imogene, being my own idea, I used the pattern for Walter's shirt, extending it and leaving off the sleeves, and adding a bias tape belt. I keep wondering if she might need a sequin brooch eventually. 

 

 

♥ ♥ ♥

On Reindeer Bells

I'm a little late in starting in on my Christmas crafting this year. This past week I got to work on remedying this and to justify last year's on sale purchase of a pack of 72 bells, made reindeer. 

In case you are wondering, the one is yellow because I was out of brown pipe cleaners and was eager to see if my idea of using bells for the body would work. 

While I was intending for them to be ornaments, I may just be happy with letting them stand about on their own.♥ 

On a Small Scarecrow

I was planning to make some small scarecrows. I made a scarecrow. I'm done small scarecrow making now. 

His name is Hawthorne and, while it didn't quite turn out as I envisioned it (I didn't realize I used up my fake leaves), I feel he looks quite nice in his autumnal bucket.♥ 

On A Little Bit of Spring

A few weeks ago, I made a spring themed garland. 

This originated with the desire to make some flowers with my Knit-Wit, but needing to have something to do with them other than just leave them randomly sitting on the arms of the couch, which is where the extras seem to end up. 

While I was originally intending to slip cord through the center beads to hang them individually, I realized between the yarn holding the bead in place and the pipe cleaner leaves it would be too tight, as well as resulting in them hanging straight down. After a bit of trial and error with trying to wrap the pipe cleaner around the jute cord (a frustrating endeavor), I ended up just tying them to the cord with little pieces of yarn and then slipping a few petals over the pins I used to hand the cord to keep them straight.

 

 

To add to the garland, I bought some flat wood chicks and bunnies at the dollar store (actually writing this post, I'm realizing everything I used in making this with the exception of the pipe cleaners is from there). I painted the chicks bright yellow and used hot glue to attach baker's twine to them and the rabbit in the center so they could dangle. With the two outer edge chicks I made little hooks out of floral wire so they could hang from the jute cord since the placement looked better than hanging them from the push pins. To finish it off, I added a few large beads on the end of the cord giving me a very cheerful spring garland to grace the fireplace. ♥ 

On Christmas Trees, Cats, Candy Canes, and Knit-Wit Decorations (Part 2)

And now to wrap up this year's Christmas crafting...

At this point of the month, my crafting veered away from Knit-Wit-ing things and I went for my 1960s Fun With Craft Sticks book that I made angels from last year because I knew there was a tree craft in there. It was a large three layered tree craft. 

 

I went small again and reduced it to six popsicle sticks, four beads (rather than 114!!!), and a few short pieces of floral wire, with the addition of green metallic paint, red seed beads and a star eyelet. They ended up a bit lopsided because I wasn't putting much effort into cutting the popsicle stick for the trunk evenly.

After that I decided to go back to my aforementioned felt craft: holly leaves. I had purchased a pack of small metal treat bucket from the dollar store not too long ago with the intention of  making little Christmas floral decorations. I only ended up making one, so chances are you will be seeing more buckets in the future. 

Each leave has a pipe cleaner sewn to it and then I wrapped fake berries around them (here is where I learned when wire is involved safety scissors are not always safe). Then to get them to "stay", a word to be used loosely because they like rearranging themselves, in place I filled the base of the bucket with fiber-fill and tucked them in. Some sort of styrofoam base inside would have probably been better, I just really don't really like using it.

After making the snowman, it was suggested that I could make a tree, similar to a macrame tree my grandma made in the 1960's or 70's. For this one, I added beads to the center.

It was a bit of a nightmare getting the three rows connected into a tree shape. I didn't do it while it was on the Knit-Wit since the connecting rosettes were going to be on the diagonal and after knotting it on the wrong petal loop, I accidentally cut one of the edging stitches in attempt to get the two disconnected, but I managed to get it to work out and ended up with a very cute little tree! The star was created by making a rosette with fewer petals and for some sparkle, gold thread.

My final Christmas craft, completed Christmas Eve, ended up being a bit silly and Carrollian. I sewed Candy Cane bugs! They live on hot cocoa and eggnog, in case you were wondering. 

And with that, the below image concludes this year's Christmas crafts!

 ♥ ♥ ♥

On Christmas Trees, Cats, Candy Canes, and Knit-Wit Decorations (Part 1)

I was intending to spread out my Christmas crafting in multiple posts throughout the month, since I started promptly after Thanksgiving, but clearly time got away from me and so this year I'll be splitting my crafting into two post of what pretty much amounts to another year of mostly 1960s crafts.

The first craft of the season was a Holly Berry cat! This pattern is part of the 1960's Woman's Day cat pattern set that I used to make my Cheshire Cat and I have to say they really did not go out of their way to make it easy to do the legs on these patterns (which is probably why there is an option with a body that looks more like a bowling pin without distinct legs). Turned out awfully cute, though!

Following that I became interested in doing some felt crafting, but then dropped that project and didn't finish for a few weeks, so that will be for post 2.  

However, having moved on from that, I became very enthusiastic about using my Knit-Wit (previously mentioned here), which I think I finally have the hang of when it comes to making circles (I have yet to try making a pom pom)! 

When I first bought it, I had come across a few ideas of what to make with it online, including, as mentioned previously, an old magazine page with a Santa ornament. I couldn't find where I had saved the image when I set out to make these, so I did my own thing and managed to leave off the mustache, but still think it turned out cute. Then I made wreaths as pictured in one of the Knit-Wit books (see the linked post for the image, from what I think was from the "Yarn Sculptured Fantasies" book) and designed the reindeer myself. Definitely have a lot of ideas of what other circular items I could make now!

One of the Knit-Wit books also had a pattern for a standup tree made of rosettes stacked up on a folded over pipe cleaner, which looked appealing to me. 

Mine is quite a bit smaller than the book one, which involves making nine rosettes and then trimming the loops. I think I ended up with five rosettes in mine and I used a loose piece of yarn looped in and out at the top to make it more tree shaped. I also used an empty ribbon spool for a more supportive base.

After the simple ornaments and the tree, I then moved on to learning how to connect the rosettes and made a slightly lopsided snowman. I am still working on the skill of connecting them as you'll see in the next post.

To be continued...

♥ ♥ ♥

On Two Turkeys: A Photo Post

I have been remiss in posting the conclusion of my autumnal crafting, so here are two coffee filter turkeys to stare at before my Christmas crafting starts to make an appearance!

♥ ♥ ♥

On a 1961 Woman's Day Magazine Bedtime Story Toys Pattern Set

More about the November 1961 issue of Woman's Day...

While I had the magazine out of its plastic envelop to take a picture of the page with the lion pattern (last post), I figured I might as well flip through the rest of it and came across this page with a nice array of story time dolls. It primarily got my attention for the Alice doll, which was an earlier version of the 1965 one I made (seen both here and here), but I was thinking it might be nice to make Hansel and Gretel or Mary and her cute little blue embroidered lamb. 

However, it turned out, unlike the other toys I've made from this issue, the patterns weren't included in the magazine. As the note at the end of all the description states:

Because we know our readers like to work from full-size patterns (last year almost 50,000 of you ordered our patterns for stuffed cats), we have prepared special patterns and directions for both the Bedtime Story Toys themselves and their colorful costumes. To order patterns for this bonus toy feature, offered in addition to the 100 ideas included in our gift portfolio, use the coupon that appears on page 122.

Clearly that coupon was not going to do me any good a little over 60 years later. Based on past experience, while these patterns are out there (I, in fact, have the above mentioned printed cat pattern sheets which were given to me by a family friend who purchased them and also still had the page with the pattern grid and the cover from the magazine-my Cheshire cat was made from it), to find an actual original set that's all there, in good condition, and at a reasonable price is kind of rare. 

With low expectations I sat down at the computer. I started with Etsy where nothing came up at all, which was disappointing since I was at least hoping for the possibility of a digital pattern. Then I went to ebay and I found a set for a little under 16 dollars!! And it was complete, uncut, and according to the description not musty!!! Needless to say I was very excited and promptly bought it!

The set arrived last week and I am now happily contemplating tracing the patterns on to tissue paper for use and making that cute little sheep! ♥

On a Little Lion: A Photo Post

This is Raspberry! 

 

Raspberry was made using the lion pattern from the November 1961, Woman's Day magazine that also contains the patterns I used for my herd of reindeer and the elves I made last year. As usual, I altered it, making the decision to skip giving him a mouth and, after a little over an hour of sewing yarn on, deciding the the mane didn't need to go under the chin.

I bought the fabric I used (which hard to see in the photo, has gold, shiny streaks in it) specifically for this pattern and had a brief moment of hesitation when I started, but it ended up giving this little lion the perfect 60's look!

♥ ♥ ♥

On Making Autumn Decorations!

I was in the mood for some autumn crafting a few weeks ago and am just now getting around to sharing! 

First, we have Grenadine the ladybug's new and tipsy friend, Schnapps the spider! He was a rather quick project involving felt, chenille yarn, and green floral stem wire painted with black nail polish. The nail polish has reached the more gunky point and it ended up giving the legs a little texture in addition to leaving some of the green showing through, which I was not going for, but ended up liking. 

Next was a much bigger undertaking. I've had a roll of gold mesh (the type used to wrap plastic flower pots at Christmas or in the Spring to make them more decorative) sitting around that I've never been entirely sure how to use outside of having the nightmare idea of gluing it to construction paper for a shiny gold texture to make lion valentines a few years ago. 

So I started with some simple bows tied with brown yarn to decorate at work. Then I figured I had so much on the roll why not make bigger bows and went on an artificial flower and plant buying spree. Three hours of hot glue, poking myself on flower wires, and some not exactly "pumpkin" scented pinecones and I ended up with some very pretty hanging decorations to give to a few friends and acquaintances.   

Given that we're only a little into autumn and at the rate I'm coming up with ideas, I imagine there will be at least a part two to this post. Anyone else starting in on autumn crafting?

On Some Yarn Crafting

Over the past couple of years I've been leaning a bit more towards crafting with yarn again. Not that I ever really stop crafting with yarn, it just becomes an element for something like hair for a doll rather than the primary supply for whatever I'm working on.

I tend to enjoy working with yarn and have a decent quantity on hand for someone who doesn't knit or crochet. When I was in elementary school, I used to make yarn dolls of the sort where you wrap yarn around a large book, in my case my dictionary, then pull off the loop and tie it off at the appropriate places, and then get a second loop to make up the arms. Then I when I was older I went through a very brief phase of making pompom ornaments (sheep and a cat, specifically).

Because knitting and crocheting present some obvious difficulties for me, it's not surprising that I veered towards an attempt at weaving. When I was about ten I found this 1970's loom at a thrift store for probably no more than a dollar and last year (or possibly the year before) I decided that I was ready to attempt making a sweater rather than randomly weaving squares that I never do anything with.

I picked up some yarn from the dollar store with the idea being that if I didn't finish at least I didn't spend a ton on the yarn. According to the little booklet that comes with the loom I need at least 35 squares. Moving at a snail's pace, I've now made six (one this week!). In part, this is because I became frustrated when I attempted one of the patterned weaves and couldn't figure out how to get it past the first section, which made me temporarily put the project aside. It will be interesting to see how long this endeavor actually takes me to finish. 

I also bought a 1960's Knit-Wit flower loom last year. At this point, I've made five simplistic flowers and think I have the hang of making them, though I haven't attempted connecting them yet. 

You can also use it to make diamonds, squares, and pom poms, as can be seen on the box lid, which I have yet to try. Apparently the kits each came with a different color yarn and instruction booklet for a few projects. Along with the original pink and white yarn, mine had the instructions for a flamingo, peacock, and crane! 

Because I was interested in trying to make a few of the other animals that were pictured on the basic instruction sheet, I decided to see if I could find some of the full length pattern books and ended up with three that were being sold together. 

 

 

The Family Classics one has clothing items, which, given how long I'm taking with the other loom, would probably take me about ten years to complete. 

As can be seen, the other two have some very 60's items in them.  

 

 

 

And the one book has lots of bottle covers! I find this waiter particularly funny!

 

Then there are things like this skiing doll, which would take quite a bit of yarn. 

I'm guessing the primary things I'll be making from these books will be the smaller animals and the Christmas ones (I did see a cute Santa decoration somewhere online that just involved making a flower and using felt for the face and hat), though I definitely would like to try making the mermaid. Either way, I have lots of fun options to consider for future yarn crafts! ♥

On A Happy Valentine's Day!

Well, I did not exactly get off to a roaring start this year when it comes to posting. I haven't had much I wanted to post lately and didn't really feel like being online last month, but I'm hoping to remedy that within the coming weeks as I would like to finally get a long overdue outfit post up and I have a new tiny sewing project that is almost ready to share. 

Today, however, I just wanted to pop on here to wish everyone a happy Valentine's Day and share my latest garland. In December, I got it in my head to sew a bunch of small hearts using poly-poplin and stringing them up on baker's twine seemed to be the best way to display them. As I mentioned before, despite it being a pain to work with, I like the wonkiness that results from a fabric that doesn't really hold a crease. 

And to conclude, one of my favorite vintage valentines from my personal collection (for some others see this 2017 post). I love that it has a wheel you can turn to change what appears in the theater, though today I'm only treating you to the one view! 

A very happy Valentine's Day to you!

♥ ♥ ♥

On Some Christmas Elves!

Last year I went on a reindeer making spree using the pattern from the November 1961 issue of Woman's Day; this year I managed to get a hold of an actual copy of the magazine (someone else had shared the reindeer pattern) and had plans for making the elf on the cover along with Santa. Santa didn't materialize this year, unfortunately, but I did make the elf...sort of. 

While I started following the pattern (shrinking it down to match with the size of Silverbell, the reindeer), somehow I ended up making two girl elves and pretty much ignoring the accessories and clothes. In part, I feel like the beard was a deciding factor for this, and, if I'm to be honest, not making Santa, as I was not going back out to the craft store to find fake fur or something along those lines to make it, I didn't think the white yarn I had looked right, and I had several shades of brown yarn handy.  

Meet Candy!

Cookie and Silverbells are great friends!

The shirt from the original pattern did remain. I just turned it round and have them wearing it as a jacket instead and to break up the stripes I gave them little aprons. The tiny shoes, also from the original pattern, were hand sewn out of felt!

There is supposed to be a third youthful boy elf to go with them, which I was intending to make the vest for, but I never quite decided on what fabric I wanted for the body and clothes, so he's still a little pile of pieces. He might get finished within the week, but we shall see about that dependent on how I'm feeling. Meanwhile, I have these two sweet elves to help me wish you the merriest of Christmas!

 

♥ ♥ ♥