Another hand made gift for Christmas

tilda rabbit in christmas tree

I’ve been toying with the idea of making everyone a hand made Christmas present, like forever! And I never get it together in time. But this year I made two!: The secret santa gold pleather bag for Emmie, and now this Linen Tilda rabbit for a special baby boy who’s name I can’t declare lest I give the surprise away!

I forgot how much fun these are to make. I made the last two so far back, the post has sadly gone missing. But here’s a picture of them at least:

Tilda rabbits

And here’s a link to the chicken I made from the same book which is called Crafting Springtime Gifts.

Crafting Springtime Gifts

I’d dutifully traced the patterns on to some cereal box card so I simply had to draw round the pieces on the linen, sew along the lines and then cut out with a small seam allowance.

I got a nice plump bag of polyester toy stuffing from the market. It’s amazing how much you need for just one wee bunnie!

The eyes are drawn on with a laundry marker which is always a scary thing to do as it’s the last thing you do once its all sewn up. I was pre-planning a bunnie with shades just in case my hand shook to much and screwed up the eyes!

The nose is embroidered. I didn’t have any pink embroidery thread so I sewed with 4 regular pink threads and achieved the same. Little bit on the wonk but all part of the handmade charm!

tilda rabbit head shot

This time round I used pink satin for the inner ears. What child doesn’t like to feel a bit of ‘silky’ when they are nodding off to sleep?!

I also left the buttons off and replaced with some embroidered crosses on the straps instead. Don’t want to be the cause of a terrible choking incident!

tilda rabbit profile

I have visions of this little fella being dragged around by one arm or leg in true old fashioned childlike stylee. And ending up pale and threadbare in his later years. That’s if baby approves and doesn’t banish him to the toy box forever!

I love sewing with linen and I love having the chance to employ a decorative stitch! Goodness knows why I only reserve it for toys though!

tilda rabbit decorative stitch

In other news. I’m thinking of making a new hat. Not sure I’ll get that done before Christmas though. That would be one massive miracle!

And that just leaves me to say, thank you so much for your continuing support and wonderful comments. Have a fabulous Christmas one and all, wishing you lots of love and good health for the coming year. xxx

 

Is it a bird . . . ?

Yup!

tilda hen toy in linen

Meet Elsie the chicken,  or ‘chook’ as my friend might say! Elsie – well, not Elise in particular – but a chicken toy of sorts was going to be a gift for my friend Elina way back in June when we were invited to her summer garden party.

We were so looking forward to going and spending a lovely afternoon in Oxford at a quintessential English garden party. I even had plans on a rose-print tea dress, but the date was usurped by my daughter’s own birthday celebrations and so, in the end, we missed out on what looked to be such a gorgeous event.

Whilst flicking through the photos of the party on Facebook, I clocked a great picture of Elsie the (real) chicken in Elina’s garden. Fabulous reference! Just because we didn’t go, didn’t mean I couldn’t still send her a chicken!

tilda linen hen

And so armed with my copy of Tilda’s Crafting Springtime Gifts, (The self same book that inspired my Tilda bunnies!) a small pile of linen and a big bag of stuffing, I set to work.

A fiddly little thing to put together but nonetheless hugely rewarding. I love that you sew around the shapes before cutting them out, with a small seam allowance. Makes for much more accuracy. There was still lots of hand sewing, however, which, once I’d relaxed about it and told myself I had all the time in the world,  was actually enjoyable. And in case I haven’t mentioned it in a while…. I love linen! I love the way it moulds and feels and creates something that feels instantly nostalgic!

Collage of tilda hen

I’m so glad that real Elsie is white because it’s so difficult finding a light brown linen! She started to look like a duck at one point but of course, her ‘tiara’ and ‘wobbly bits’ under the chin are all she needs to confirm her identity, hey?! I should have used red really, for her contrasting details but the orange linen looked far too good to ignore… artistic license and all that!

I do hope that Elina will like her. I hope too that Elsie arrives before she notices this post too! I’m just far too impatient these days!