Saturday, August 23, 2008

Miss Daisy Tutorial


I made some little piggy scissor holders back in February, I think, that my daughters quickly scooped up to be their cell phone holders. Cris at Country Patch has been asking me to do a tutorial on them for her and in my true nature it has taken me, oh, just 6 months to do that. Here it is Cris. Sorry it took so darn long but that's how things go at my house!


First, you will need to make a template for your piggie. Just grab something round in the size that you want. Mine's about 4 1/4" diameter. I used the lid from a candle to make my template. You will want to just draw your little piggy legs onto the template. Easy-Cheezy - you can do it!


Grab some wool felt and cut away. You need two pink wool bodies - one for the front, one for the back.


Cut two ear shapes out of your pink wool. I just eyeball these instead of making a template for them. Go just a tad big, you can always cut them down, but you do want them to be a bit floppy when stitched on. Stitch them to the FRONT of Miss Daisy, so that they hang down just a bit. Piggy's ears do not stand straight up at attention, they are floppy. I stitch mine on at about 11 and 1 if you were looking at a clock face. Does that make any sense to anyone besides me??


Grab your basket of fabric scraps and your button jar. Pick out some fun colorful fabric and buttons for Miss Daisy's eyes, nose and ears. I used two matching dark brown buttons for her eyes, a piece of pink fabric with stars for her nose and some fun flowered fabric for the inside of her ears. With the fabric pieces, I cut them with pinking shears, glued them to Miss Daisy in the appropriate places and, using a simple stitch in matching embroidery floss, tacked them down. I also cut out two little daisies from fabric and glued them down where her nostrils should be. Four small pieces of black fabric made-up her hoofs; two for the front and two for the back. With colorful embroidery floss, I stitched a flower on the front of Miss Daisy and one on her cute little behind. Depending on which flowers you pick, Miss Daisy can quickly turn into Miss Lavender, Miss Tulip, Miss Cosmo, whoever you wish her to be.
Using a small piece of pink yarn and a crochet hook, I made Miss Daisy a tail out of 4 chain stitches and then 4 single crochets back up the chain. This technique gives you the little curly-que for the tail. I then just stitched her tail on with more embroidery floss.
Cut out two more pieces of fabric with your pinking shears, just a touch smaller than your original piggy circle size and glue to the insides of your piggy. Holding these sides together, blanket stitch Miss Piggy together, starting and stopping your opening on the far side of each ear.
Oh, I almost forgot! I stuffed Miss Daisy's legs with some fiberfil so that she would stand up just a bit easier, (with some propping of course!)
Miss Piggy is now full of personality and ready to hold your embroidery scissors and crochet hooks or your cell phone.


And there they go, wagging their tails behind them!


You can also use re-purposed wool pants or skirts to make your piggies...

or use the same basic technique to make froggies...

kitties or anyone else that your little heart desires.

This is my first tutorial, so if you find that I've left out any important steps, just email me or leave a comment and I'll come up with the answer, even if I have to make something up!

Have fun whipping up some cute and fast piggies!

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hello Paula,
The circle journal is in Australia at the moment as far as I know. It has another stop to make before it comes to you. We might want to send it back to Denise(Shortybear) before it comes full circle as she didn't feel up to dealing with it at the time she had it. Also, since I'm moving soon,I'll have a different address when its time. Keep in touch and we'll decide when it shows up at your door. I can't wait to read what every one has written. I think this was such a great idea.
Mama Bear

Cris said...

hehhe, thanks so much! I fell in love with these piggies since you posted then, it was worth the wait! Love,

Anonymous said...

I love them! Thank you for the tutorial! We are in the process of decorating the Sunday School classroom (small church -- there's only one S.S. room!) and these would be perfect!

Thank you!!!

Blessings!
Lacy

Adrienne said...

What a cute idea! This is fun! Thanks for sharing it with us.
~Adrienne~

Terri said...

how cute! I'll bet Gillian could even make some of these as her teachers' gift at Christmas!
Thanks Paula!

Jodi Renshaw said...

They are all so darn cute!

Mary said...

Paula,

Loved the tutorial. These little piggies are so cute.

I can hardly wait for the Circle Journal to make the rounds so I can read everyone's enteries. It was such fun.

Take care, my friend and thanks for entering my giveaway.

Blessings,
Mary

Anonymous said...

So cute!! My favorite is the pig-but I bet you'd have guessed that!