Draw, Stitch, Erase, Draw Again
It’s prototype time! Mally the Maker is nearly ready to preorder (crossing my fingers for September 12th) and I’ve I wanted to design dolls for book for months. But designing in 3D is really tough! I’ve put off working on this project because it seems like no matter how much time I throw at it, I never get anywhere.
But I think I will get somewhere with this if I just stick with it and keep playing with the design.
When I put the doll pattern away, I lost all my progress because I couldn’t remember what I learned or what I’d planned to do next. So this week I set up a temporary cutting table in my upstairs office and I’m drawing, cutting out fabric, then stitching the pieces and usually erasing and drawing again.
When I put the doll pattern away, I lost all my progress because I couldn’t remember what I learned or what I’d planned to do next. So this week I set up a temporary cutting table in my upstairs office and I’m drawing, cutting out fabric, then stitching the pieces and usually erasing and drawing again.
Yes, this is a lot of trial and error for doll making!
I decided to focus on the Ms. Bunny doll because she’s my favorite character from the book. These are pretty far from the mark, but I learned so much with both of these that I already know how to change the pattern to make the third prototype.
Last night I was talking to Josh about this project and speculating that I would need to make 20 Ms. Bunny dolls before I had it right. Josh thinks I’m being a bit pessimistic and I’ll most likely only need to make 10 dolls.
So my goal today is to stitch at least three to reach the half way point and I know I’ll see lots of improvement and understanding in how this pattern works. Ultimately it’s not quick to design something new and completely from scratch, but it’s a fun challenge and that’s how I’m trying to approach it.
What are you sketching today? Is it working well, or do you feel like your design is struggling? Draw, erase, then draw again!
Let’s go quilt or draw,
Leah Day
No drawing for me but I spent a happy couple of hours putting binding onto my latest project; I can't imagine what it's like to try to design a stuffed toy like this – good luck!
That's great! You're finishing up and can see the light at the end of the tunnel. This project took a LOT of work, but I'm so pleased with the effort. I needed the push to focus exclusively on this project for two days and now she's done!