Make
woodland creatures out of felt and dress them. Make them posable,
the subject of their own adventures and stories. Collect them,
give them as gifts, use them as ornaments or playthings. All
you need is felt, a bit of sewing know-how and some imagination.
The author has sold her collectable felt toys all over the
world, and looking at the photos it is easy to see why they
are so popular. They have the polished look of simplicity
but character, with their neat features and perfectly scaled
clothing. There is a list at the beginning telling you what
you need, with helpful captions on why this item has been
chosen and what you are going to use it for. None of this
is too pricey or hard to source and there is a fair bit of
hand sewing with just a plain straight stitch sewing machine
used at times. There is advice on basics like needle threading,
how to do some simple stitches, filling, adding features and
using cotter pins, so if you are new to toy making (or even
pretty new to sewing) you can have a go. The rest of the book
is divided into five parts for the animals and their clothing.
These are bears, squirrels, mice, rabbits and moles. I like
the large photo showing what each toy looks like before dressing
so you can get a good look at it, and each project has plenty
of staged photos with captions. Each set of creatures is engaged
in a particular task, so you can make suitable clothes for
gardening squirrels, rabbits going to school, bears going
to bed, playful mice and moles off to market. The toys are
posed with various props but instructions are not given for
these – not a major problem as it is obvious what the
focus of the book is. There are instructions for accessories
such as bags, a blanket, toy teddy etc and suggestions for
display. The only alloy in all this excellence is the fact
that you require a computer and printer or photocopier in
order to enlarge the patterns. A section at the back with
them all full sized would have made the book larger, but more
instantly accessible. Other than that this is one of the best
books I have seen on making professional looking small-scale
toys out of felt.
Reviews
of other titles by Sue Quinn
How
To Sew Little Felt Animals
How
To Make Heirloom Teddy Bears
If you cannot find a good range of toymaking and sewing
materials locally try www.searchpress.com for a list of suppliers. |