apriKot DIY

Shrugs

2006-12-01T15:19:00.000-08:00

Here's a couple of colorful and fun shrugs I made to brighten up those drab winter days ^_^!

New Tops

2006-11-09T13:17:00.000-08:00

Hey all. Heres some new tops that I made to put in my etsy store. For these tops I experimented a lot with stenciling and using different cotton prints. I love the way that the victorian one turned out, and the cotton tree print is awesome. I'd like to use that print for something else...but I don't know what. The only thing that comes to mind right now is lining for a bag...haha anyways I guess we'll see.

Heres some pics:

For a closer look check them out here ^_^.

Plush Cow tutorial

2006-11-08T00:27:00.000-08:00

Heyo! I decided to make this cow plushy from my Japanese plushy book. Except I wanted a slightly larger one than the palm sized plushies shown in the book. So, based on the pattern shown in the book, I freehanded my own, enlarging it about 5x. Here's the end result ^_^ and a tutorial so you all can make your own.

Materials:
scissors
thread
pins
craft/fabric glue
stuffing
white material for the body (I used fleece)
gray material for the spots/horns (I used felt)
pink material for the nose (I used fleece)
black material for eyes (I used felt)

Here's the pattern for the cow. Unfortunately I don't own a scanner, so I couldn't scan the pattern to scale, so you're going to have to use your own judgement and freehand it. I added in the measurements...which didn't show up -___-...so I'll list them here:
head: L-3" W-4" ear: L- 1.5" horn: L- 1.5" nose: W- 3" body: L- 5" W-5.5" tail: L- 2"
tail piece:L- 1" (I know its a little confusing...but I hope that helps you get an idea of the sizing.)

Step 1:
Cut out your pattern pieces. First with the white fabric cut out two of the head, four of the ears, two of the body and two of the tail. After you're done using the head and body patterns cut the areas labeled "spot" out, and cut one of each spot out of grey material along with two horns, and two tail pieces. Then two of the nose pieces in pink, and any other facial pieces you'd like - I did half moon eyes and two nostrils.

Step 2:
Positioning the spots in place with a pin, you want to sew them on one of the body pieces and one of the head pieces, just as shown on the pattern.

Step 3:
Now's the time to add any facial peices, such as the eyes and nostrils. Since the peices are quite small, I'm just going to use craft glue to glue them in place.

Step 4:
Next you want to sew the nose down in place. Just overlap the head with the nose, pin it down and go for it (the picture on the right shows what the underside of the face looks like once the nose is sewn in place, hopefully to give you a better idea of how its sewn down). Once you finish the front of the head, do the exact same to the back of the head.

Here's the front and back of the head after the nose has been sewn in place.

Step 5:
First sew each of the ears together, you can stuff them if you'd like, but I found it wasn't necessary. Then you want to position the horns and ears in place between the front of the head and the back of the head, "sandwiching" them in. Then pin it all in place and sew it all together, remembering to leave an opening to stuff before closing it.

pinned in place....

sew and stuff, then close up the hole.

Step 6:
Now you want to sew the two layers of the tail together, you can try and stuff it if you'd like, or even stick a piece of pipe cleaner in for a "positionable tail". Just as you did with the ears and horn, you want to "sandwich" the tail in place. Then pin it together and sew, remembering to leave an open spot to stuff.

stuff...then sew closed.

Step 7:
With the head and body fully done, now all you need to do is connect the two. Position the head in place, pin it on the body, then sew the back of the head to the body.

and ta da! you now have a baby cow buddy ^_^.

Polar Bear Stencil Shirt

2006-11-05T23:21:00.000-08:00

Here's an easy tutorial on how to make this cute stenciled shirt.

Materials:
plain t-shirt
freezer paper
fabric paint
foam brush
small paint brush
exacto knife
scotch tape
paper plate
peice of cardboard (big enough to fit under shirt)
scissors
iron and iron board

Step 1:
First you want to print out two of these polar bear stencils. You can print it out as is, or fool around with it on paint or photobucket to get your desired size. (I made mine a little bit bigger than the one shown here.)

Step 2:
Take each stencil and place it on a piece of freezer paper. If you'd like to stencil more than one polar bear on your shirt, add another layer of freezer paper to make another stencil. (I found that I could cut up to 5 layers pretty easily.) Tape the polar bear in place.

Step 3:
Using the exacto knife on one picture cut out all the black area. This is the outside of the head, the eyes, the under part of the nose, and the mouth. You should be cutting through the paper you printed out, along with a couple layers of freezer paper. Make sure to leave three "bridges", one on the forhead, and two under each ear, so the head doesn't become an island. Refer to the right cut out stencil to see what I'm talking about :). (we'll call this layer #1) Cut out all the gray area on the other picture.(we'll call this layer #2) You should be left with two different stencils, as shown below.

Step 4:
Take your piece of cardboard and place it inside your shirt. This is so the paint doesnt leak through to the backside of your shirt.

Step 5:
With your iron on a low "dry" setting, place layer #1, waxy side down, wherever you'd like on your shirt and iron it on.

Step 6:
Iron as many polar bear stencils on in whatever pattern or formation you'd like. For this shirt I chose to do nine polar bears in rows of three.

Step 7:
Taking your foam brush gently dab your fabric paint on the stencil, filling in all the cut out area. You might have to do more than one coat, depending on how thick the paint is and what color of paint you're using.

Tip: Generally darker colored fabric paint (black, navy, gray, brown...) shows up well on lighter colored shirts. If you are using other colors (green, pink, purple, red, orange, yellow...) on a shirt any other color than white, you first want to stencil a couple layers of white paint, let it dry, then stencil over the white whichever color you'd like.

Step 8:
After stenciling layer #1, you want to let it dry first then peel off the freezer paper.

The paper should come off easily, with no waxy residue left on the shirt.

It should look something like this once the paper has been peeled off.

Step 9:
After you have peeled off all the paper you want to go back and fill in those bridges by hand with your paintbrush.

Step 10:
After all the paint has dried, then you take layer #2 and position it on top of the painted layer #1, and iron it down, waxy side down on low "dry" setting, just as in step 5.

Step 11:
Once again, using your foam brush dab on the paint in all the cut out areas, add another coat if necessary, wait for it to dry, then peel off the stencil.

Your two layer polar bear stencil should look something like this when finished:

Step 12:
Depending on whichever brand of fabric paint you use, there are different ways to heat seal it so it's safe and ready to wash in the washing machine. Usually you'll find directions right on the back of the label. To heat seal mine, I turn it inside out and iron it on low setting.

Yay! All done. Now go out there and show off your polar bear dericiousness ^_^.

If you like this polar bear design, but don't have enough time to make one yourself, I've got different colored polar bear patches available in my etsy store.

Howdy

2006-08-17T15:32:00.003-07:00

Hey everyone ^_^.

it's been a while since i last posted, and just thought i'd share a couple new things i've been working on.

i drafted a new pattern for these cute babydoll tops, that can be found in my ebay store. since they're super simple to make and the cost of materials is low, i'm able to sell them for a cheap price.

i also have been busy making some new plushies, that can be found in my etsy store. the skeleton is my favorite, and i've made quite a few to give away to friends as presents ^_^.

new stuff

2006-02-14T15:17:00.000-08:00

neat new stuff from the crafster forums

iron on transfer pens

pirate kitty!

stuffed felt monsters tutorial

little owls

Dino shrugs!

2005-09-20T13:32:00.000-07:00

Hi. I just made these dino shrugs, and they are up on ebay now. I hand stenciled the dinosaurs on the inside, and that took awhile, but i think it was worth it.

A green one and a pink one. Some are for sale in my etsy store.

Some new stuff from the craftster forums -

Captain Scurvy O'Mewmew Plushie

Felt monsters and donuts!

2005-09-13T19:54:00.000-07:00

I found this off the craftster forums.

A very nice well written tutorial for making Stuffed Felt Monsters. Pictures too.

This doesn't have a tutorial, but it's got some pictures of a Dozen Felt Donuts!

Don't they look real??? Now i'm hungry. And check out this Bomb Om Plushie.

Hello Kitty Hoodie

2005-09-13T19:35:00.000-07:00

I just put this up on ebay. I hope it sells.

It's in my store.

Book

2005-09-13T15:04:00.000-07:00

I got my book today! Now i'm going to try out some of the patterns, i'll let you know how it goes, and i'll try and take some pictures.

Check out these cute plushies, she even has a page of the pattern near the bottom of the post. I'll post up a mini tutorial soon on the craftster forums.

Plush Pattern Book

2005-09-09T20:10:00.000-07:00

Well I bought a pattern book off ebay that has a bunch of Japanese animal plushie patterns! I'll be making a few soon, i'll take alot of pictures so you can see them, i hope they turn out well ^_^.

In the mean time, check out this cute hedgehog pin cushion! She has patterns for it too. Also this neat felt cake tutorial is worth checking out.

Hi

2005-09-09T18:54:00.000-07:00

Hi. I started this blog about plushies. Specifically, Japanese - Style plushes. I like to make them, and see what others have done too. Check back to see whats happening, with my projects, and also others!