Hi! I have been asked by the lovely folks over at Stitch Craft Create to be part of the blog hop for Melanie McNiece’s new pattern book. Melanie is the lady behind Melly and Me – where she creates patterns and books for soft toys, quilts, and other sewn goodies. You can see instantly what a fun, colorful, happy brand she has created – and I sure do like all of those things…
The first thing I noticed about the book was that it contains only five patterns, which might not seem like that many – but in those patterns are the basic shapes for so many animals. If you have even a bit of imagination, the pony could become a zebra or donkey, the lion becomes a cat, the seal (with a bit of thought) becomes a whale or fish. Or heck, you could keep it simple and just make the patterns. For anyone who wants to get into toy making there are a lot of good skills to learn here, like attaching legs through outside buttons on the pony, making them moveable. For the beginner, I would suggest trying these patterns in a fabric with a bit of stretch, like fleece. It is a little more forgiving and stuffs up in a lovely way. You don’t get the same impact that the patterned fabric gives here (and the choice for the book makes total sense, since Melanie also designs quilting cottons), but you might just like it! Also, from the photos I thought the animals were quite small, but don’t worry, they are a good, huggable size.
My first choice was to make the pattern for the seal, since I knew I had the perfect fabric for it. To make it my own, I used safety eyes, embroidered the nose (I always prefer an embroidered nose, I find it gives me so much more control over the final look), and left out the whiskers. I kept with the circus-y theme and gave wee seal a hat (because you know how I love to give animals hats!)…but a rainbow pom pom toque, cuz why not. The pattern was simple, explained well, and came together very easily. Here she is!
The biggest compliment was from my daughter who said, ‘how did you get it to look so cute?’ Aw. Thanks. Well, she might have been fishing to see if she could keep it…
I am happy to say that once again I am able to give away a copy of this book to someone very lucky! This giveaway is open internationally and will close on October 13. Please leave a comment if you would like to be entered, Thanks!
Thanks again to Stitch Craft Create – You can see all of their lovely books here. Fun of the Fair is available in print or as an ebook. Follow the blog hop to see what everyone else has created and loved about the book. Enjoy!
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This giveaway is now closed – the Fun of the Fair book winner is Buntyw. Thanks everyone for playing along!
Boolah Baguette 