Today it was time to stuff the fingers/hands/arms for my guy. Back a few months ago when I was making the goaty creature baby shower gift my friend Suzanne came by to give me some pointers and structural assistance. Between the two of us we figured out what I wanted to do and how to do it. My final design, but with a great deal of help from Suzanne...and her sewing machine.
In the case of the Holly Dolly creature, I am doing the actual sewing parts on my own -- having remembered a good deal of what we did with the goaty creature...but without a machine.
Another thing that Suzanne had (besides a sewing machine) was a contraption for stuffing things. It was a long plastic tube with a plunger thing that pushed the stuffing down into tight places and helped to fill it evenly. Well...as long as you know how to work it, that is. I struggled with it back then but the idea stuck with me.
I found two pill bottles that were a perfect size to fit into the opening of the arms and I cut the top and bottom off of one of the bottles and the bottom off of the other one. Then I taped them together.
Cool -- but then I realized there was a rough edge on the inside. So I taped over that with strips of masking tape.
Ta-daaaaaa!
Next I inserted the smaller end into the end of the tube of material that is the creature's fingers/hand/arm unit.
I scrunched the tube down over my homemade gadget until the end touched the fingers.
Then I started feeding the wad of stuffing into the device and pushed it down into the tube with a chopstick.
Wa-hoo-ey!!! It worked!
Yay!
Believe me, after that it was time to set the creature parts aside on top of what I laughingly call the surface of my desk and think about how to proceed with the rest of the guy.
Okay, here's the thing. I can put things together -- sort of -- I don't really sew. I can get a picture in my head of what I want to do but sometimes it is beyond me exactly how to get it to happen. I have figured out the design, but the engineering aspects make me cry.
Thankfully, this is where my friend Suzanne excels. I left a message on her cell phone hoping she'd get it in time and wow -- she had been playing hockey and was on her way home and yes, she could come over and help me figure stuff out. Whew!
Yay -- Suzanne to the rescue -- again!
Okay...here is the thing about Suzanne...unlike me, she is great at being able to follow a pattern and/or directions and diagrams. She is also great at problem solving and figuring out how to get from point a to point z...and everything in between.
The problem is how to communicate it to me...without just doing it for me.
I explained (sort of) what I had in mind...and now we are brainstorming and thinking, thinking, thinking...
Putting the things together in her head...thinking...
GOT it!
Testing out the placement of the arm to see if it will cover up what "we" figured out.
Getting there...but Suzanne has a tendency to keep asking me what is coming next...how do I want to finish the eyes...what kind of this, etc. And I tend to work as I go, letting the creature tell me what to do.
But in the end, it all works out. Suzanne interprets what I am saying and then figures out how to put it into action.
Here she is re-pinning a part so that I will understand how to sew it once she has gone home. And we actually did this part together...both of us had a lot of input.
Patience, creativity, engineering, a lot more patience (on Suzanne's part) -- it all comes together and then I tweak it into something slightly different (LOL). And then it turns into a guy.
I will be finishing this up tomorrow for delivery on Tuesday!
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