Fiber Babble: Winter Gifts

Winter Gifts

January 20, 2009

I never got around to posting pics of the gifts for The Girl and Lifesaver.

First up is the his and hers litter bags for their vehicles. My own "pattern", with a hidden ID-sized inner pocket, 4 outer pockets and straps that are adjustable to fit over a gear shift or the head-rest.

My intent wasn't to make his and her anything, it just worked out that way when I was looking for "pirate" fabric for him and saw the same print in pink!

Last summer I asked the kids to go through some of my quilts and UFO's and put dibs on them. This came from a small rail fence piece - now it's a duffel-purse-thing for The Girl. Again, I made it up as I went... quilted and fully lined, no interior pockets. The hardest part was figuring out how to put all of that purse/slider/clip hardware together. The stuff I bought didn't come with "Insert Tab A into Slot B" instructions. I was digging through the old backpacks and luggage to find straps to give me some idea of how to make it all work.

I doubt that she'll wear it that way, but I made the strap extendable enough to wear it as a bum bag.

And then there are the slippers. Again, I didn't plan to do his and hers, but I knew I wanted to make some for him and, well, to be honest? I'd made some for her for LAST Christmas and never sent them off.

So, for The Girl I made denim blue double-thickness felted slippers. Done on the ISM from Lucia's ~~ugly~~ cute slippers generator. Just like the ones for my mom a couple of years ago. And the other ones for my mom last year. And the ones that turned into decorative wall sconces a while back. In fact, if you were to search FiberBabble for "slippers", it's the same color/yarn/pattern as you see in three out of four posts. So, no. I don't have a picture of her slippers, because they all look alike!

But Lifesaver's slippers - well that's an ox of a different color. I give you Bucky Feet:

Inspired by Kristin Goedert's Oomingmacks pattern in Knitty's winter 2008 issue. (One is not notably bigger than the other - it's just the angle of the camera.) The base slipper is, again, from Lucia's ~~ugly~~ cute slipper generator, double-thick felted in black wool (Paton's Classic Wool, if you're keeping track).

The "fur" is an acrylic boucle looped and machine sewn to a strip of black felt, then hand-sewn to the top of the slipper.

The heads and horns are made of eco-felt and stuffed with poly fiberfill.

There was a LOT of handwork* on these babies. From sculpting the face, sewing on the eyes and ears and horns, sewing the head to the slipper. Thank goodness I have a little bit of experience making stuffed critters and dolls...

There's velcro inside the 'mouths' so that the felt ornament can be changed out if The Girl gets inventive.

*I do hope that Lifesaver realizes the esteem in which I hold him. Handwork for days, I tell you - handwork for DAYS.

One thing I found out was that an oxen-type critter without its longhorns looks a lot like a guinea pig: