DONE!! Guinea Pigs for Fluff Project

At long last. . .

*flourish of trumpets*

THE GUINEA PIGS ARE DONE!!!

It's a piggy army!

Ok, so eight guinea pigs do not an army make.  But they do fill up a decent sized box and will make eight kids happy (hopefully).

I'm also happy to report I used fabrics from the 12 pound remnant box.  Their bodies are all from the remnant box.  I used scraps for the belly appliques and for a few of the feet.  The felt for their features wasn't from the box, either.

STOP!

Closeup time!

The two colorful ones.  Green and pink.  I just notice they have the same color legs.

Orange and yellow.

I really like the orange one a lot.  The color and pattern are vibrant but still kind of look like a shade you might find on a real guinea pig.  Ok, except for the bee print legs.

Brown and gray.

Love the belly on the brown one.  That's some cotton/linen mix fabric.  Brown's feet are white with a white pattern (kind of looks like dandelion fluff).

Brown and tan.

They both have the same belly fabric, which is also the same fabric I used on the brown piggie with the car belly.  You can kind of see the pattern (like fathers or dandelion fluff).

The tan one was the first one I made and I noticed he's a tiny bit larger than the others.  I think that's because I used a smaller seam allowance.  I like the smaller ones better only because they were easier to sew with the bigger allowance.

Had a learning moment with this set of pigs, too.

Needle position makes a big difference.  The slightly larger pig was made with the needle all the way to the right (and keeping the edge of the fabric at the edge of the foot).  The slightly smaller pigs were made with the needle in the middle position.  I like the slightly smaller ones better because they were easier to sew.  I didn't have the worry that I would botch a seam since I had a nice allowance (approximately 1/4 inch--I think it's a smidge larger than 1/4 inch).  I did all the basting with the needle all the way to the right, which helped to better hide those stitches, too.  OH, and you can totally chain baste all the limbs and ears.  It makes it faster and, if you have to break while sewing, it keeps all the limbs together.

I'm so glad these are DONE and they all turned out very well.

I do want to improve on my closing stitches.  I'm not sure if it's just my lack of skill or if it's because the opening is on a curve, but the hand stitched openings are all a bit flat (my pigs have flat butts!).  It's not necessarily BAD looking but I notice it and I'm not satisfied.  I think I'm not doing an accurate ladder stitch and that's the problem.  I'll have to work on that.

I'll be mailing the piggie out by the end of the month.  They'll go along with the pouches I'm making (which I'm showing off in my next post).

WEEEEEE.  WEEEEEE.

That's the sound of excited piggies ready to travel!