March Fluff Project: DONE

Yesterday was a sew-cation from work (I routinely have to use a random vacay day or risk not accruing more vacay--can't be missing out on paid time off work now can I?)

So yesterday was earmarked to finish up the March Fluff Project sewing I'd been lingering over for some time (I swear, I cut these out at the beginning of the month and there they sat on my table until yesterday).

There they are, the catch of the day.

Three whales and three sharks.  I'm such a good fisherwoman!

Well, Jodie from Ric Rac (or jodiericrac on instagram--I'm all about the instagram lately) is the awesome fisherwoman.

She gave me a free copy of her latest (still not yet released) pattern.

She was showing it off over on instagram and I commented (to Kristy of Hopeful Threads) about how it looked like a great Fluff idea and didn't Jodie go and hook me up with a freebie when she heard what the Fluff project is.

How's that for being a super great person, huh?  Big giant THANK YOU to Jodie for a great pattern.

Since I'm talking about it I'll do a bit of a review of it.  First, it's definitely beginner friendly.  It explains how to the do the embroidery on the faces and all that (which you might not get on non-beginner patterns, they'd assume you knew how to do that).  The pattern is nice and big which is great for a beginner but it also works well if you shrink it a bit (print it scaled to the page instead of spread out over the page).  I showed off a shark I made using the smaller size and it turned out great (didn't do a smaller whale).

The only problem a beginner might have (and this would only be if they were a super "never sewed anything before" beginner) is with easing the curves.  The curves aren't severe, but there is a nice wavy one on the sharks side that you have to ease a bit so you don't get folded puckers.  And sewing the bottom of the whale to the top takes a bit of easing, too.  Again, not that big of a deal but if you were a totally raw beginner it could be frustrating.  I know I'm not a raw beginner and I find easing to be bothersome until I get the feel for it again (I have to do a practice one to get the feel then I'm good).

All easing aside, all my water loving friends turned out GREAT.

Whale PILE!

You can see these really are a good size.  Not huge but definitely a nice big size which makes them not only easier to sew but also super huggable.

I loved picking out the fabrics for these.  This is where having a decent stash paid off.  The only thing I had to buy for this project was some more safety eyes.  And that was only to make sure I didn't run out (so I bought extras to re-stock my eye stash).

This one is totally batik.  I didn't do a contrasting belly/under fins for this one and it looks really good.  I'm still not a huge batik fan but they have turned out to be very nice for stuffie projects.  Maybe someday I'll really love them but that day is not today.

Bad photo (dark) but this blue is lighter than it looks and the paisleys are dark.  On its own, this fabric was heinously ugly.  But used for a stuffie it works well.

This fabric is brighter than it looks here.  I had to do a pink mouth so it would show up!

Next, the sharks!

I stuck with gray/dark colors for all of them but I think for the next round (I do think I'm going to do another set of these for April for the Sew Mama Sew toy drive) I'll get more colorful.

Composition book cover fabric.  I really love that fabric.  I had a half yard of it and between this shark and the kitty I made with it, it's getting used down really well.  Who you gonna call?  Stash busters!

I did something weird when sewing this one (not sure what) so he has a bit of a pronounced nose.  I kind of like it.  It makes him look even cuter.

Stripes and polka dots, together at last!

I was bored of plain white for the bottoms so I had to mix it up a bit.  I used solid white on the composition book cover shark because it's a dingier shade (off white) so the polka dots didn't look right against it.  But the dots look great on the lighter gray sharks.

This fabric was MADE for sea loving critters.  This shark just looks so proud of himself.

SO. . .now I have a garbage bag full of fluff I need to mail off to Kristy.  I think I'll do that in the next week or so.  It makes sense to mail every three months or so, so critter aren't hanging out in my house tempting my cats to get hair on them.  (for the record, I use a lint roller on every toy before I pack it up and I store them in a sealed bag while they wait--but my white cat Murray sheds like he's getting paid by the hair to lose it, so hair does get on them a bit despite my best efforts).

What's next for Fluff?  Well, I need to pick out a pattern for April.  Hmm, I wonder what I haven't used yet. . .