stardustgremlin

[stardustgremlin]

THERE IS. a website. that takes 3D models with seams and pulls it apart to make a plushie pattern and informs you where things need to be edited or darts added for the best effect. and then it lets you scale it and print off your pattern. and I want to lose my MIND because I've lost steam halfway through so many plushie patterns in the mind numbing in betweens of unwrapping, copying all of the meshes down as pieces, transferring those, testing them, then finding obvious tweaks... like... this would eradicate 99% of my trial and error workflow for 3D models to plushies & MAYBE ILL FINALLY FINISH SCREAMTAIL...

[stardustgremlin]

Wore a couple modified shirts recently and someone asked “how?” so my illustrator background made me draw this because work was slow ✂️ Featuring examples at the end— drawn in Procreate.

[stardustgremlin]

Well my loves, it appears as though the answer to "Can the Big Pattern Company (Simplicity/Burda/McCalls/ect.) survive the death of JoAnn?" has come.

The answer is no. No it cannot. It has been sold to a liquidator just like JoAnns was.

So if there is ANYTHING you want I suggest you get it now. simplicity.com is currently having a pattern sale and I snatched up some that might be useful for cosplay purposes.

I am very glad these last couple of years I have built up my collection.

[stardustgremlin]

untitled (tight squeeze), 2024

18 x 19 x 23 inches

just realized i never posted this piece here?? i made this in an intro to sculpture class that i took during my last semester of college and its something im really really proud of, i learned how to weld for it!

[stardustgremlin]

One of my earlier embroidery animations, this was my second one. I made sure that the designs were very simple, since I wanted this to be fairly long. The tangled thread is just purposefully messed up French knots.

[stardustgremlin]

It’s never too late to learn the right way to do things: button sewing technique via imgur → more…

[stardustgremlin]

Knitting! Nope gotta untangle string first

Crochet! After I untangle some string

Weaving - untangle lots of string

Cross stitch - hold up, string is tangled and I am full of rage

Sewing: string tangled into tiny knots of hatred

[stardustgremlin]

So I was recently tasked with a very well loved soft toy Flip the Frog from the 1930s to restore.

He was bought new for my great aunt-in-law when she was 10, and was gifted to her sister's children when they were young. My mother in law has memories of feeding him cornflakes and putting her hands in his mouth, which felt very soft and velvety.

He had been in the attic for a number of years, and had moths get to him. He had lost his eyes. Luckily there are some examples online which show what he was meant to be like!

I approached this project wanting to retain as much of the original plush as I could. I thought about doing a total restoration, but I would end up replacing so much I might as well be making a replica! I wanted to make sure I used fabrics that were sympathetic to the time period, so 100% wool felt and cotton velvet seemed appropriate. The only liberty I took was polyester thread, because that's what I had already.

I researched a lot of plush restorations and best practices. A lot of places recommended only surface washing, but poor Flip was so full of dust and the remains of moths, but his fabric body seemed rather sturdy still, I thought I would take the risk of un-stuffing him to give him a thorough bath. I very gently took him apart and unstuffed him. His stuffing material looked to be kapok. There was lots of moth poop.

I gave Flip a gentle bath with carpet cleaning solution, which is what is recommended for vintage plushies. It's designed to be used on lots of fabrics including natural ones like wool and doesn't leave a residue once it's done cleaning so won't degrade the fabric over time. Loads of grime came out of Flip, as well as some yellow dye from his feet.

Flip then had a good air-dry in the sun. He seemed to enjoy soaking up the sun, he was already looking a lot cleaner.

Flip's eyes (which once upon a time caused my cousin-in-laws nightmares) were particularly gross and moth-eaten underneath. I decided to re-cover the card disks that made up his eyes with velvet cotton instead rather than reuse the old eyes. His original velvet was really bright yellow but had faded over time. I decided to use a fabric that matched his more faded look, I felt the bright yellow would look out of place. I also got some wooden beads and cut them in half and painted them for his pupils, which I glued on.

When it came to restoring his feet, I tried to retain as much of the original material as possible. I enjoyed patching and repairing the felt, I chose a 100% wool yellow felt that was close to his old colour here. Highlights the age of the old parts, I feel like it draws attention to his history and age.

Time to put him back together! I bought some new kapok stuffing because I couldn't reuse the old dusty moth stuff. Luckily you can still get it. I wrapped his metal skeleton in felt so that if it got rusty it wouldn't stain him (he's already a little stained from it rusting). Then I slipped his limbs over the skeleton and sewed them back on!

Ta-daa!! Here's flip looking a lot better, even if I say so myself.

One of the things we noticed when looking at photos of these soft toys is that they seem to have pinkish or white bow-ties and this Flip was missing his! Looking at the character art, I believe they were originally red.

The orientation of the eyes also seems to vary because I think they were prone to falling off and being sewn back on. I chose to orient Flip's eyes close to how they were when I received him, but slightly more vertical to make him appear more friendly.

Flip was a very fun challenge and got me thinking a lot about restoration vs conservation of historical artifacts, he may not be super duper old or rare but I feel like I better understand the dilemmas and judgements that have to be made when working on objects like this!

[stardustgremlin]

As a former librarian I'm actually required to remind you that many libraries that subscribe to Libby are opted into a program that lets you subscribe and access magazines for free with no wait

And that this is actually a really fun, low cost way to not only access news and larger cultural magazines, but also to get free patterns for many different crafts that you can screenshot if need be and that lower the financial barriers to entry for trying new things

From my experience working in both academic and public libraries, many libraries are use it or lose it funding-- I have to say this because a lot of patrons feel guilty for how much they use the library and how often they're using it funny enough, but the worst thing you can do for libraries is not try out new features and not use what's already given to you as much as possible.

The numbers that come as a result of your patronage are how most libraries justify their continued existence in times of financial hardship, which sucks but, go check out some magazines on Libby!

[stardustgremlin]

Something I see a lot, with people who are new to sewing, is a lack of understanding of the grain of woven fabric, and why it's important to cut out pattern pieces the way the pattern tells you to in relation to that grain.

The grain runs parallel to the selvedge edges of the fabric yardage, and is physically made up of the warp yarns that run the length of woven fabric, that the weft yarns are...well, that those yarns are woven around to make the fabric.

Because the warp yarns have to withstand the shuttles, carrying the weft yarns, passing back and forth across them repeatedly, the warp yarns are generally stronger than the weft yarns.

This means that, if you cut something perpendicular to the grain that is intended to be cut parallel to the grain, then the direction of the soft yarns and the direction of the sturdy yarns will be swapped, and the piece won't hang like it's supposed to.

Furthermore, the warp yarns need to be more stable, while the weft yarns, since they're traveling back and forth while being woven, are more flexible, which often results in a subtle stretch across the grain--from selvedge to selvedge--that can make a noticeable difference in how the finished item fits, especially if it's in any way fitted. There is almost never stretch along the warp/with the grain.

I so often see people new to sewing doing things like folding the fabric so the cut edges are together, which results in cutting the pattern pieces from the fabric across the grain instead of with the grain (not to mention doing potentially unwanted things to the nap and print direction.) Folding the fabric so the selvedges are together is usually what's directed in pattern cutting layouts, with the pattern pieces laid out parallel to the folded edge and selvedges, along the grain.

It's also common to see new-to-sewing people laying out the pattern pieces in all directions (usually jokingly called tetrising), to maximize the efficiency of fabric usage. This can easily lead to a finished item that doesn't quite fit right, even if you've used that exact pattern with that same kind of fabric before, and, without understanding the role of grain, it will seem completely random as to why it didn't work this time.

I know that a lot of the things sewing patterns tell you to do seem fussy and unnecessary, but they really do have their reasons!

[stardustgremlin]

So with Joann going under and as a Fashion/Costume Designer and a cosplayer I need a place to get fabric and notions, and I know many others feel lost as well

So I made a short simple list of online fabric stores as well as notions .

Please share with anyone you would like. If you have recommendations of things to add please let me know.

There's only a few right now of ones I know and have used

I may add a few niche ones like Silk Baron but I am mainly adding ones with many options and maybe add a niche section later

More places with trims would be nice, or even patterns, historical, cosplay, or everyday.

[stardustgremlin]

Mini Cross Stitched Magic the Gathering Card

[stardustgremlin]

every stuffed animal is unique. the seams are never identical, their face shape, the light their eyes hold, the places where fur gets worn is unique to every plushie. you own a one of a kind artwork. love its imperfections !!

[stardustgremlin]

Antique sewing kit circa 1870

Photographer unknown - found on Pinterest. Please dm me if you know who to credit 🤍

[stardustgremlin]

Get yourself a fabric store that will light your fabric on fire for you

No but legit I asked what the fiber content of something was and the guy didn’t know so he cut a chunk off and lit it on fire and felt the ashes and was like. Yeah this is mostly cotton with a lil bit of silk. And that was the moment I knew. This is it. This is the fabric store for me. Also that guy is marriage material. Not for me but damn some person is gonna be so happy with him.

[stardustgremlin]

this messed up vintage cat sewing pattern has tormented me since i saw it & like some other folks have done in that post - i tried my hand at tweaking the pattern to resemble the illustration (and my personal tastes) a little more. i've ended up with this, which i have only tested at a small scale and not this final version exactly (where i have done such things as further widening the cheeks and finalizing the leg shapes.) i bestow it upon you nice folks now 👐

go forth and make weird little beanbag kittens! pls show me if you do!

[stardustgremlin]

Whoa, it's finally completed! The glorious tattoo sweater