Imagine, if you will. You are in a tiny deep sea submarine exploring the oceans darkest trenches.
From the corner of your eye you think you spot. . . movement?
Quick, shine the light. . .
Wha. . .what. . .is. . .it?
No. . .it can't be.
Can it?
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Oh yes, it can and is.
I got a squid on my work bench and, at the risk of jinxing it, it's going quite well. I found a pattern for a big squid pillow (think body pillow size) and just shrunk it down. I didn't do any math magic on it, just printed off the generic pattern (it had measurements so you could measure out and create the giant pattern) which fit on one sheet of paper so I'm hoping the sizing is about right. So far it looks pretty good.
The only major adjustment I might have to make is to the width of the head base. It might need to be a bit bigger. See, the length of the band--that you use to attached the legs to the head--should be twice the size of the width of the head and still be long enough to fit all 10 legs to it with very little length remaining. I deliberately cut my strip longer than I thought I'd need (you can always trim down but you can't add back) but I still might need a bit more width on the head piece.
As it stands now, I think I'll do a gathering stitch on the band to pull it tight and THEN stitch it to the bottom of the head. That should reduce puckers.
The hardest part so far is cutting it all out. If this was going to be all one color I'd definitely need felt larger than 9x11 (or "paper size"). There is no way to get 16 tentacles, 4 arms, 2 heads, 4 head fins, and one attaching/face strip from one "paper size" sheet of felt. But I like the tentacles being two-tone so that might be a moot point.
I have a LOT more stitching to do (7 tentacles, 1 arm, attaching it all together and adding eyes) but I'm already thinking about embellishments. This definitely needs suckers on the limbs. But sequins aren't going to be an option (limbs are too thin). Maybe beads? Or maybe just some fabric marker with a little felt bit (to give dimension)? I have plenty of time to figure it out.
(oh and I'm not really THAT creative--I only thought of the "from the deep" thing after I had the pics--I had to shine a flashlight on my work table because the light in that room is so pathetic for photos--have I mentioned lately how much I HATE the new "green" lightbulbs?)
Wo, so complicated a squid. Enjoyed your story of how you downsized a pillow pattern. And I agree with you that the green lightbulbs that are being pushed at us are NOT that great. Okay, but I hoarded a bunch of normal bulbs, but the ten year long life ones too boot so I can use them until I am like 85 years old. :)
ReplyDeleteReally, it's not that complicated from a sewing standpoint. It's time consumming though. Last night I stitched for about an hour and only finished one tentacle (the shorter ones) and the second long arm.
DeleteWith only small tentacles to go, maybe it will go faster now.