Clannad Dango Plushies

Dango daikazoku!

My girl loved the Anime Clannad and so for Christmas we bought her a Botan plushie and I made these little Dango :)

Pattern: starstreak-seeker... Eyes and cheeks are permanent markers. Mustache is sewn on false stick-on. Baby is smaller circle then wrap a strip around the bottom half, sew along the bottom (careful not to sew baby) then cut off excess and turn inside out :)

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Homemade Leather & Knit Shoes

Have your child stand on some leather (insides up) and draw the outline of their feet. Draw a 1/2 inch allowance around this outline (round off the toes neatly - no 'bumps') and cut around the allowance line.  I had planned to use 1 piece of hard leather for the sole and 1 piece of soft leather for the insole but in the end I went for 1 piece of soft leather only.

Now use this as a template to cut two more pieces from softer leather (insides up). Make holes as large as to fit a knitting sewing needle through, around the softer leather pieces, 1/4 inch in from the edge and at about 5mm apart.

Now take your sewing knitting needle and thread a base yarn through the holes, starting at the center of the heel. One round in and out and tie off at the heel then another round going through the holes missed the first time, round and tie off under the heel (trying not to have them tied at the same point). If one breaks the other should hold and two makes it more secure.

Now, pick-up the loops created and knit them onto three circular or double-ended sock needles:
1) Center of heel to big toe (the longest run)
2) Big toe to little toe corners (shortest)
3) Little toe to center of heel

 Here's the pattern, including the colours I used

Rows:
Cast on Cream
1: Purl (Cream)
2: Knit (Cream)
3: Purl (Pink)
4: Knit (Pink)
5: Purl (Pink)
6: Knit (Purple)
7: Purl (Purple)
8: Knit-2-Together x1 at end of Heel-Toe needle and Slip-Slip-Knit x1 at beginning of Toe-Heel needle. (Purple)
9: Purl (Blue)
10: Knit-2-Together x1 at end of Heel-Toe needle and Slip-Slip-Knit x1 at beginning of Toe-Heel needle. (Blue)
11: Purl (Blue)
12: Knit-2-Together x1 at end of Heel-Toe needle and Slip-Slip-Knit x1 at beginning of Toe-Heel needle. (Green)
13: Purl (Green)
14: Knit-2-Together x1 at end of Heel-Toe needle and Slip-Slip-Knit x1 at beginning of Toe-Heel needle. (Green)
15: Purl (Yellow)
16: Knit-2-Together x1 at end of Heel-Toe needle, Knit-2-Together x2 at beginning of Toe-Toe needle, Slip-Slip-Knit x2 at end of Toe-Toe needle and Slip-Slip-Knit x1 at beginning of Toe-Heel needle.
17: Purl (Yellow)
18: Knit-2-Together x1 at end of Heel-Toe needle, Knit-2-Together x2 at beginning of Toe-Toe needle, Slip-Slip-Knit x2 at end of Toe-Toe needle and Slip-Slip-Knit x1 at beginning of Toe-Heel needle. (Orange)
19: Purl (Orange)
20: Knit-2-Together x1 at end of Heel-Toe needle, Knit-2-Together x2 at beginning of Toe-Toe needle, Slip-Slip-Knit x2 at end of Toe-Toe needle and Slip-Slip-Knit x1 at beginning of Toe-Heel needle. (Orange)
21: Purl (Red)
22: Cast off LOOSELY (Red)

Glue the hard leather (if you use it) onto the soles of the sandals covering the base stitches and voila, new shoes!

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Hooded Baby Towel

I'm so proud of myself! I can't stop looking at the Hooded Towel I made yesterday and wonder at how it looks shop-bought. I've not made many things.  My daughters mermaid outfit turned out too large and a little dismal (in my eyes but shes happy of course). There's a few curtains and minor quilt toppers half-complete but I'm very much a beginner in sewing. I hope to change this given time.

Anyway, I cut:

• two pieces of toweling into 26x26 inch squares
• one piece of cotton and one toweling into triangles with 10 1/2 inches down each right-angle side
• a few of cotton, 2 inches wide and ultimately measuring approx 110 inches long

I sewed the two triangles together, right sides facing, along the diagonal side. I pressed the seem to one side and then folded it back into a triangle, wrong sides facing, pressing then cutting the shape to a perfect flat hood. I sewed this loosely to one corner of one of the pieces of toweling.

I took the strips of cotton and sewed them to the edges of one piece of toweling - right sides facing (so as to hide the seem that keeps it from fraying). I pinned the two toweling pieces together and then pulled the other edge of the cotton to the other piece of toweling and hand sewed the edging on through fear of missing the edging on the other side if I ran it through the machine. 

I can only guess this would be better attached after folding the two edges to the middle and pressing then folding in half and pressing. That way you can wrap it over the toweling edge and run it through the machine. Corners, well, I cut the edging straight to the corners so I had a hard time! I tried to make corners like a picture frame, it worked but only just!

So, I'm pretty happy with myself as a novice. If you have any tips to share please do!

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