soft sculpture

All About Kenneth

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Meet Kenneth, Willard’s good-natured and fairly oblivious neighbor. Kenneth is never seen without a can of Coke in hand. His “rig”‘s been in the shop which is why you see him walking in the video. He enjoys circulating the neighborhood and chatting with or TO anyone who is outside. In the video below, Willard was overwhelmed because he wasn’t expecting company and hadn’t rehearsed what he wanted to say. Later, he felt very guilty for his lack of responsiveness. He may be slipping past Kenneth’s place under the cover of darkness (so as to avoid more chit-chat) to leave a 12-pack of Coke to make up for it.

The original pattern I used for Kenneth was actually intended to look like a hippo, and I had visions of a kindly lady hippo creature. But as I cut it up and made it an open mouth version, it evolved into more of a monster. As I played with it as a puppet, a classic old man Vermonter accent emerged from my mouth and suddenly Kenneth was born. Lately, I have been thinking about the rural gathering places that I was constantly in and out of as a youth, and the old men that would sit around and chit chat about not very much at all. I suppose Kenneth emerged from the collective memories of this upbringing: loud, gruff, but ultimately well-meaning old men shuffling around the village making small talk. Kenneth represents the creme-de-la-creme of this cohort, as he never participates in spiteful gossip or begrudges the “flatlanders.”

Making your own plush: 2D plush

Techniques, Uncategorized

I have spent the last six years obsessed with learning how to make patterns to sew my own dolls and soft toys, and I had spent the ten or so years prior to that learning how to make my own patterns for women’s clothing. The method I primarily use is called flat pattern drafting and it helps you make three dimensional, sculptural plush (like most of the stuffed animals that you might see in the stores). I will be offering trainings on this topic soon. However, I want to spend some time on some basic concepts that don’t really require this knowledge, and one of those is what I call 2D plush.

What are 2D plush (I started using this term a long time ago but recently realized some others do, as well, so I’m not sure who coined it)? Basically, this is how I refer to plush that are created by creating one, flat shape, sewing two pieces of fabric together in that shape, (usually) turning it and then stuffing it. Of course, once stuffed, it isn’t truly two-dimensional anymore, but three-dimensional! But it doesn’t rely on the pattern to create any of that dimension. And, it’s not nearly as 3d or shapely as a more complicated pattern.

I’ll admit, I didn’t really enjoy 2D plush when handmade plush first started getting more popular. I didn’t like how flat they looked and I also have a habit of wanting things to be as complicated as possible for no good reason–while these seemed simple. I still don’t often make fully 2D plush, but I often use a combination of 2D and 3D flat pattern drafting with my dolls and soft toys. And I have really come around to some of their merits.

If you stick around long enough to learn 3D flat pattern drafting from me, you’ll see it can be a lot of work. There are some situations where 2D is truly the better choice, so why make it harder than it needs to be!

Here are some advantages of 2D:

  1. 2D plush is really good to use with fabrics that are fluffy and really difficult to work with. Cutting these fabrics (think Luxe Cuddle) is often agonizing, what with the shedding and slipping around. So a very simple pattern reduces cutting time. In fact, one of the biggest advantages of a 2D pattern is that you can simply trace the shape (without seam allowance) onto the backside of the folded fabric, pin it, and sew on the line. You do still have to cut it out, but in this case you don’t need to worry as much about the fabric pieces staying together properly and slipping around.
  2. On a similar note, a 2D pattern often allows these fun and fluffy, yet FUSSY, fabrics to shine. Seamlines from a more complicated pattern will often be obscured by the longer fibers anyway, so why create extra work for yourself? The owl above is a 2D pattern with lots of dimension thanks to the fabric.
  3. 2D plush are great for stretchy fabrics. Many Waldorf dollmakers use a full body 2D doll pattern that has no darts at all. The fabric is so stretchy and stuffed so firmly that the doll will look round and full, and they use other techniques to add details like elbows and such. Making a more detailed pattern is actually counter productive if you’re using fabric with true stretch.
  4. 2D plush are great if you want to weight the plush heavily. This is a similar situation as above in that the extra amount of weight is going to sink down which means that any dimension you create with your seams will not be upheld the way it would with stuffing. The bat and owl shown above are heavily weighted.
  5. 2D plush is a great choice when you’re making something tiny. The itsy-bitsy ape babies shown below are less than 5″ long. At that scale, you don’t want to be fussing with darts and seams.
  6. Finally, 2D plush is great if you want to use embroidery, appliqué or other embellishments as the primary feature of your plush. I like usually like to communicate expression and facial and body shape through the patterning itself (3D) but sometimes it’s fun to use the fabric almost as a canvas where you embroider, appliqué fabric pieces or even paint on it. In this case you want a flat surface without extra seams so that you can easily use these techniques, perhaps even in an embroidery hoop, so 2D is perfect. All of the 2D plush pictured in this post have tons of embroidered expression (that is, if you can pardon the poor photo quality).

So there you have it: 2D plush has a lot of room for possibility while keeping the pattern-making and machine sewing aspect nice and simple. It also means that you can dive right in as a plush-maker newbie and familiarize yourself with the fundamentals of fabric choice, sewing, and basic patterning. What questions do you have?

Scooter

Creature Dolls

Another wonderful doll friend is also done: Scooter.

Since Sleeping Beauty has been viewed in my home roughly 1,353 times in the last two months (no complaints here, that movie rocks) I have been scheming to make a creature head pattern loosely inspired by Malificent’s goons. They’re essentially pig/warthog heads on humanoid type bodies.

I love his wrinkly snout and smile. I would like to make this again with an open mouth, and another time with a frown. I can play with inserting teeth, etc. Too much fun!

I decided to give him these elvin ears because it felt right.

Like his friend Willard, Scooter may have an auction rather than my typical Etsy listing format to allow more folks to have a chance to buy. Mailing list subscribers will get all of the details tomorrow!

Willard

Creature Dolls

Meet Willard.

I had wanted to make a new face pattern inspired by manatees. As I neared completion of this doll, I shared him on a reel as an example of one of my many (most) creatures with eyelids rather than just eyeballs.

Much to my surprise, the reel got more than a million views in less than a week and garnered a lot of attention and comments. It seems the larger internet community is divided as to whether Willard is scary or cute, and whether giving him eyelids did in fact supply him with a soul and personality as I contended it would. Additionally, many commenters felt that Willard ran anywhere on the continuum from sleepy, to burnt out from a soul sucking retail job, to sedated (which I assure was not my intention when creating this doll!) On the whole, people were immediately obsessed and found him sad and adorable which—hello!—he is. And he’s not the first of my dolls to be these things.

Anyway, it was quite the kerfuffle and Willard and I are exhausted! However, being an unintentional joke turned out to be a great way to reach many people who love these creatures and that was a wonderful way to wrap up 2022.

Since my shop drops were already becoming a bit of a skirmish for hopeful buyers, and given the increased interest in purchasing Willard, I will be trying an auction format this time around. Mailing list subscribers will get all of the details tomorrow.

Open Mouths for plush toys

Techniques

When plush toys have open mouths, it can really add to their personality, expression and play value. You can do an open mouth for a puppet or for a regular doll/plush. You can insert teeth or a tongue and make the mouth smiley or frowny.

There are a few different ways to make open mouth, and I am still refining my process. It does get a bit tricky when working with thicker fabrics, and the mouth lining can tend to pop out or thrust forward once stuffed. You can fix this by sort of tethering the inner mouth to the back neck or somewhere inconspicuous, but I am also working on some other techniques that I think will help with this.

Give this post a like if you would be interested in a more in-depth tutorial about drafting and sewing open mouths!

Mended Hearts

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I was working on this monster mouth pattern (really, with the goal of it coming out looking differently, but decided to just move on and make something with it, in the spirit of not having rigid ideas about how things should look and not overworking my dolls). I decided to pair a more textural plush (this black sherpa) with minky and see how it turned out. I couldn’t have predicted at all how it would look, but I loved the result. The horns really tie it together.

I knew I wanted to give it some kind of applique in the upper torso as the piece de la resistance. On a whim, I took a red felt heart that I’d cut out at some point over the past three months and put it on the chest. I loved the way it looked but immediately thought, “No, only a few people would like that. No, people might find that weird.” But I didn’t give up on the idea. Even before my IG polls came back at 100% in support of putting the heart on, I’d decided it was the right choice.

I’ve always loved the idea of heavy-handed emotional symbols, like hearts, on plush. I’m an emotional person and my continuing emotional development and growth is something I take really seriously. I also take mental health of others seriously. I got the idea (not sure if it was before or after I thought of the Velvet Underground song, Sweet Jane, and it’s line, “anyone who ever had a heart/wouldn’t turn around and break it”) to break the heart and stitch it back together–like a friendship necklace.

Neuroplasticity and resilience aren’t necessarily terms you associate with monster plushies, but they’re related. By playing and cuddling with soft toys, we repair wounds. This monster shows us that our heartaches can be repaired, eventually. I call it the Mendy Monster–because his heart is mended–with the scars for all to see. Mendy Monster will be available in my Etsy shop soon–be sure to sign up for my mailing list to be notified when.

Griselda Peclet

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I go through animal obsession phases where I get really interested in a particular type of animal and have to draw it and/or make a stuffed animal of it. This winter I got particularly obsessed with peccaries. These look a lot like pigs or wild boars but are actually not in the same family!

Peccaries have wiry and coarse fur unlike pigs, which just have sparse strands. There are different types of peccaries with different colors. I modeled my baby peccary, also called a peclet!, after a hybrid of a Chacoan peccary and a collared peccary.

I studied a lot of photos of peccaries and made many sketches before developing my pattern. I made the doll with short pile faux fur but used needle felting to create the snout and eyelids. The doll is weighted and intentionally under-stuffed in the body. It’s so fun to hold and cuddle. I named this peccary Griselda and she is still available to adopt in my shop.

I Turned Into A Martian

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I never fancied myself much of an alien/UFO kind of gal. Looking back, I wonder why, since I sometimes felt a little bit like an alien (having a hearing impairment can do that).

I think part of it had to do with many depictions of aliens/fantasy/horror I saw not being cute or endearing enough for me. Many aliens and creatures seemed like humans but colder and more sinister–too one-dimensional. That’s no fun!

When I did come upon fantasy plots or characters that appealed to me I often couldn’t get into the plot because either I lost interest (The Hobbit) or couldn’t hear the movie (Never-Ending Story, Dark Crystal) enough to keep up.

Whatever the reason, I just never really ventured into the fantasy world. Looking back, I think my interests and sensibilities remained steadfastly in the concrete world of observable reality for a long time. In many ways I felt reassured by knowing what was “actually possible” even if it felt constricting or limiting at times.

At this point in my life I’m shifting toward embracing the other-worldly, and opening up space for the unknown. I’ve actually always been captivated by the supernatural, and now I’m giving it the acknowledgement it deserves in my life (learning about human design, making spell jars, ancestral work, etc.) This has trickled into my soft sculpture practice as well. Making creatures (versus realistic animals) has given me more discovery and possibility in my work. In my life I have tended to get caught up in what I think the “rules” are, and making creatures that are not based on or meant to replicate real-life animals has helped me break free from that.

These silly alien/creature guys are some of the latest products of my creature experiments. They are made of soft fleece, have rotund bellies, floppy arms and short, jointed legs. They fit in real baby clothes which is very *chef’s kiss* for me because I love merging baby-like qualities with mildly creepy and silly faces. I drew and carved a UFO block print and added it to the grey alien’s onesie. It was fun to do some block printing again. I love adding a hand-carved or hand-drawn element to my plush work.

Both of these babies have already been adopted and are on their way home as we speak, but I plan to make more.

Beach Boys and Snapping Turtles

Creature Dolls, Uncategorized

As a child growing up in VT, I was always outside during the summer playing in the river by my house. I never saw many turtles, but now I see them all the time! Last summer I was lucky enough to see a very tiny baby snapping turtle and this summer we’ve seen behemoth adult snappers that have to be at least decades old. All of 2022 I’ve been integrating snapping turtles into my drawings and some of my doll designs. I love the surly smirk that one gets from a turtle/dinosaur-like jaw.

I named this creature Barbara Ann, after the Beach Boys song, because I felt like it, and because this creature looks like a Barb. I guess I’m just thinking about the Beach Boys a lot, what with the summer weather and driving around with the windows down. I got particularly attached to the Beach Boys around age 7. I had most of their albums and even a sheet music booklet with Carl’s face (Carl was my favorite) prominently on the front.

While reading David Sedaris’ Calypso on vacation a couple of weeks ago, I came across a delightful sub-plot in which David becomes attached to a menacing snapping turtle on Emerald Isle, and plots to feed the turtle pieces of the fatty non-cancerous tumor that he was keeping in the freezer after having it removed.  I had worked out this turtle/dinosaur-inspired head pattern just before vacation, so snappers were on my mind, and reading Sedaris’ story felt like synchronicity (to take it a step further, my favorite character, Jerri Blank (played by Sedaris’ sister Amy) has a hilarious line in one episode of Strangers with Candy where she says, “watch out for those snapping turtles” while clapping one hand, then chatters her teeth; she hopes to convince Tammy to go skinny dipping in the rock quarry).

After playing around with my materials, I felt Barbara Ann looked best with a shorter wig and a lovely wool felt cape that has appliqued, block-printed linen patches featuring my own hand-carved vulture designs. It lends a witchy vibe that’s perfect for the next season.

Barbara Ann is available in my Etsy shop with her friend Terry.

Unlikely Favorites

Soft Toys and Dolls Discussion

Both these dolls were some of my early experiments in soft toy making.

I’m happy with the fox, but I made him in super cheap polyester felt because I didn’t want to spend a lot of money on nice materials for my prototype. So, he hasn’t worn very well and has a lot of pilling. I named him Gary the Arctic fox and made up a jingle: “He’s the Arctic Fox with nary a care, cuz it’s Gary O’Clock somewhere.” My husband added another verse: “Time stops for no man, but the clocks point to this fox.”

I’m also happy with this human doll pattern and its hair, but the face is obviously a total disaster. There are so many problems with the embroidery I’m not even sure where to start. So it’s a pretty strange doll. It looks flustered.

Anyway, both dolls were helpful to test out my patterns and then I sort of tossed them in the toybox. But recently they’ve both been getting a lot of use from my three-year-old.

As I watch her play, I realize that a major reason she likes them so much is that their legs and arms move. One of her favorite games is to make them “walk” along the edge of the couch and then fall to their death (and then, spring back to life and claw their way back up the couch ala The Exorcist).

It’s also easy to hold them with one hand and manipulate the arms in different ways–to clap, wave, shake, etc. Because the arms and legs are stuffed so firmly yet attached so that they’re floppy, they’re really fun to play with. They’re also supremely “fling-able” and fun to flick around by one arm.

My daughter could care less about their features or the poor felt quality. She isn’t bothered by their nakedness. Other children with finer tastes might feel differently. But it’s been an interesting lesson for me in terms of function and beauty being in the eyes of the beholder.

Adult dollmakers often make very fussy, fancy dolls. Dolls that, at 12″, have wardrobes that definitely cost more than mine (we’re talking Liberty of London fabric and mohair sweaters…). These dolls are beautiful and swoon-worthy but there’s something to be said about a doll that really only serves the child, like these little weirdos.

I’d like to make some more of these simple rag dolls. I do think they need clothing, but it doesn’t have to be fancy.

Here are some of Gary’s fox doll cousins (Terry and Larry), in (left) linen and (right) up-cycled wool fabric.