Snow Day

Short intermission from the Menagerie posts to share a Christmas present I'd made for Bunny (and thus by association, Kate).

It's a snow outfit. Earlier in December, Kate declared in no uncertain terms that this was Minnesota, and if Bunny didn't have snow clothes on her outings with us, she was going to freeze to death.

So for Christmas, I made her some snow clothes. Incidentally, these were my (single) token handmade Christmas gift for the year. 

Drafting them was easy (because Bunny didn't wiggle like my children do while being measured).

Drafting them in secret, however, wasn't. Because I procrastinated and waited till the very last day of school before the winter break, then realized I had only one morning left on which the children wouldn't be home, and panicked and drafted and sewed nonstop to get it all done. Bunny hung out with me all morning for measuring and fittings, the trooper that she was.

Here they are - first, the hat. I made the pompom disproportionately enormous, because it amused me.

Next is the snowbib - black fleece half-lined with some purple knit.

A pair of Ugg-style boots:

The uppers were made of sweatshirt fleece. The soles were grey headliner, and I lined it with a faux sherpa-esque fleece. I made a partial slit along the back seam to allow for easy putting on and tugging off. I didn't bother to add a fastener.

Finally, a pair of mittens:

Here's Bunny modeling the whole ensemble:

That light pink coat was made some years earlier, here.

Then I packed everything in a little cardboard suitcase and wrapped it for Kate to open on Christmas morning.

A bit of trivia: the faux sherpa-like fleece used to line the snow boots is the actual fabric Bunny was made in many years ago. So ironic. It used to be this fluffy but how time (and repeated dunks in the washing machine) have changed that! 

Niffler: revisited

You probably remember our Niffler from a couple Christmases ago, but the photos in that post were grainy and dark and horrible. So while I had the camera out to photodocument the new Menagerie critters, I grabbed this guy out of Emily's room where he lives, and took some new photos.

To be honest, this Niffler was a fiddly sew, mainly because I was trying to get it to look as much like the thing in the movie as possible while working with whatever fabric I could find in local stores. The body, for instance, is supposed to be black but this dark brown was what was available. I used the base Menagerie template as is - for even the head, which looks very round but only because of the superthick fur (not fun to work with, but absolutely gorgeous to the touch and therefore worth every skipped stitch and almost-swear-word). 

I added padded feet to the ends of the legs and flat hands to the ends of the arms.

The muzzle - I honestly can't remember how I made this, except that I fiddled with the seam forever just to get it to curve upward like a smile. The Niffler in the movies was very cute and smiley, and if I'd sewn a straight seam, the thing would've looked deadpan. I also think there might've been some Stiffy used to shape the top of the muzzle along with the seaming,

so that it curved upward.

Here's the crazy pouch on its belly that holds jewelry. It's the same as the Kangaroo's pouch except that because the entire body is that glossy thick brown fur, you couldn't really see the opening unless you knew to look for it.

If you held him by his tail and shook him, all that glittery loot would fall out, like in the movies.

Polar Bear

I could've sworn I'd posted about this polar bear earlier, but I couldn't find any sign of it in my archives so I must not have. 

This polar bear was for Jenna's best friend at school. 

He's just the simplest possible variation on the base Menagerie pattern: two bear ears, a tiny tail and made entirely in white fur. 

I used a plastic safety nose, but it could easily have been made with a felt nose.

I love how he turned out - slightly Yeti-esque - although I think his silhouette is even more polarbearish in bald fleece. 

Mini Menagerie polar bear from this post

And in different colors and furs, this variation could easily make grizzlies, sun bears, black bears and other ursine creatures.

Dogs

Dogs today.

The dog was one of the original animals Kate sketched when we first conceptualized Menagerie. 

At the time, I couldn't pin down a generic dog form because unlike, say, cats or horses, dog breeds are so varied that no single set of dog features could ever truly characterize Dogdom. Apart from the noses and panting tongues, I mean. Dogs come in such a wide range of sizes, for one. For another, some dogs have pointy-cat ears and some have floppy Snoopy ears and some are lean and equine-esque while others are furry and lupine or shaggy and stocky like rams and yet others are elongated, short-legged, whip-tailed teenies. So many varieties and cross-varieties and so many vastly diverse shapes and colors.

So I put this off in favor of other animals which were more easily stereotyped, and thus more straightforward to translate in fabric. But in the lull after finishing the first season of Menagerie and launching the sewing pattern, I returned to the dog idea.

And narrowed down the breeds to this beagle. Not anatomically precise, and dog lovers will possibly cry foul, but it's interpretive rather than representative.

I first made a mini dog, whose colors I thought were more accurate,

before drafting the regular size version, for which I'd run out of the caramel fabric for the lighter coloration and had to make do with this curry alternative.

Something about the ears bugged me, though.

Months later, Emily needed a birthday gift for another friend. Without realizing it, by this time I'd made a custom Menagerie animal for each of her favorite schoolmates except one. And this one loved dogs, had just gotten a new puppy and had specifically hoped for a Menagerie dog that looked exactly like that puppy.

So: smaller ears, a stubbier tail and white with light brown spots.

I think someday I will make a dog in fur, just to give the finished animal a more realistic texture. But this one, Emily says, still comes pretty close to little Charlie, her friend's puppy.

I'm also thinking I like the ears lying forward.

It's a simple adaptation of the base pattern: a thick pointed tail, a protruding tongue and doggy ears,

and infinite variations on markings and colorations.

Elephant

Happy new year, friends!

Once again, an entire year has passed, at the end of which I had the vague sense of having made some stuff, the actual names and details of which sadly escape me. Does that happen to you, too? The Blogger part of me feels obliged to participate in the year-end-round-up trend - you know, the Look What I Made (but have no recollection of) In Only Twelve Months! posts. The Real Person part of me, however, just wants to move on, especially since it's already halfway through January and I'm embarrassed about having slacked off and the honest truth is I just want buy some fabric and sew shorts so I can channel summer. 

But I do so enjoy looking back at old projects. And - believe it or not - I did take photos in 2017, even if most of them sat in my camera forever and then languished in my photoediting program without ever seeing the light of day. 

Until now!

So in lieu of a comprehensive 2017 ikatbag roundup, I thought I'd do a series of little Menagerie posts, after which we'll talk about some other eclectic projects I'm planning to share in the coming weeks. 

Here are some new Menagerie animals that I made in 2017 and 2016. Most of these were requests from my kids for friends' birthday gifts. This one, for instance, was for a good friend of Emily's who loves elephants.

Of the base templates, I adjusted the head pieces to include the trunk. 

I drafted new ears and tusks,

and added soles and applique toenails to the legs,

but otherwise it's the same old Menagerie base pattern with a lion's/cow's tail.

I'm always glad when the kids make requests; often, I might not have thought to make a particular animal if not for their suggestions, and would've missed a new opportunity to behold how adaptable Menagerie really is. This elephant was a lot of fun to make, and it's become one of our favorites!

Shop Update

Hi friends!

I didn't take the time earlier to explain what's currently in my Etsy store so let me do that now. All the coats have been sold, and two of the Bunny-&-Carrot sets. There is still one Bunny set left, 

and a couple of Bunny mini bags,

and Bunny kits (fabric and notions for making Bunnies) for just $20!

Also in the store is a family of Cat & Kittens. The kittens store in the belly of the mother cat, inside a zippered compartment.

Emily is making new wizarding wands for the store (or maybe getting a head start for the summer kids'c craft fair). When they're ready, I'll let you know so you can browse and buy!

Alpha pattern respondees: get your Bunny & Carrot pattern at 50% off before the end of the year - the code expires on Dec 31st.