Elephant Everything

  Actually, just two elephant things, for my little nephew who arrived two weeks ago. =) Firstly, a onesie:

  I used the same pattern as last time, with almost the same changes... I widened the binding to a full two inches so there would be enough room for the snaps this time.

  I didn't want to use the camouflage fabric this time, and I don't have a whole lot of other fabrics that are particularly boyish, so I decided to go with a plain grey. This fabric is also from Girl Charlee- it seems to be pretty good quality! =) I added a tag again, and hand-stitched it on because of course I didn't remember to add it when it made sense. ;-)

  To add a bit of interest to an otherwise very basic shirt, I cut an elephant with my Silhouette and some white heat transfer vinyl. The cut file is available for free here.... I just reversed it.

  I did have the iron too hot, and my vinyl shrank and bubbled a bit, but it's still cute! Overall, this was a quick and easy project. And secondly, I made a toy elephant!

  This elephant is from Abby Glassenberg's book, Stuffed Animals From Concept to Construction (affiliate link). She also has a different elephant pattern that I like even better, but the book has been on my wishlist for a couple of years now. I did make a few changes to the elephant.

  I left off the toenails, tusks, and mouth, and replaced the lidded eyes with simple embroidered dots to match the elephant on the shirt better. I also made a double-layer turned tail instead of a felt one.

  The one in the book is made from felted wool, but mine is made from quilting cotton- which may have contributed to the difficulty I had in sewing it! That, and the lack of seam allowances. I'm pretty decent at sewing an accurate 1/4" seam, but adding a neat 1/4" seam to a pattern is apparently a skill I lack! Mine were definitely not as even as I wanted, which is why the hind legs are a little off. ;-)

  While the ears and main body of the elephant were easy enough, I had a hard time sewing the underbody gusset without puckers. I love that the gusset makes him stand alone though!

  For all my struggling, I think he still turned out really cute! And I'm looking forward to reading the rest of the book and learning the techniques it teaches.

  All in all, I'm pretty happy with how this gift set turned out!

Thanks for stopping by,