Wee Wonderfuls Wednesday! Evelyn Inchworm PLUS a Pocket Pillowcase

O.K., so I actually already made this one - but Elvis Inchworm was so different from the adorable Evelyn Inchworm in Hillary Lang's book Wee Wonderfuls: 24 Dolls to Sew and Love. And I wanted something to go along with the Pocket Pillowcase that I made for my niece's birthday (photo later in this post.) So here is Ellie Bookworm (renamed in honor of my niece.)

Ellie is about 4 inches long, and made from an upcycled felted wool sweater - part of the stash that I talked about in my Sweet Felted Bird post. This is the softest merino wool fabric - I'm so sad it's almost gone! Enough for maybe one more small project. This pattern is so fun to sew up! It's almost magical how it comes together- the straight gusset is coaxed along the curves to make the inchworm shape.

The body is made up of just three pieces, and it comes together pretty quickly.

 

Two little white buttons make up the eyes and she has felt glasses - to help her read the book I sent along in the Pocket Pillow!

 

I adapted a pattern for a pillowcase with french seams from the blog Film in the Fridge. I wanted to use french seams so there wouldn't be any raw edges showing on the inside of the pillowcase. My niece loves to read in bed at night, so I thought it would be fun to make her a pillowcase with a pocket where she can store her current book. I tucked in the book The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart, a very fun read that my 11 yr. old Teddy (and his father) loved.

Here's the front, with her name in ric rac on the cuff.

Off they go, finally - my niece's birthday was only two months ago! Oh, well - as my understanding sister says, it just extends the birthday celebration. :)

Make It New Mondays! Sweet Felted Bird

Today's Make It New Monday project is a sweet little bird fashioned from an upcycled felted sweater, nestled in a knitted nest of yarn scraps.

My sister and I hit the jackpot awhile back at the local thrift store. Gorgeous wool sweaters, all waiting to be taken home and felted. This little bird (and another for my sis) came from this sweater.

The pattern came from the 2009 summer issue of Sew Somerset and was created by Jenni Horne.

There are only three main body pieces - two bird-shaped sides and a pointed oblong gusset - which are whipstiched together. A seed bead for each eye and fabric wings are sewn on before assembling the body, and strips of felt and yarn are tucked in the back before stitching it up.

I had scraps of some lovely eyelash and fleecy yarn that I thought would make a great nest.

 I knit them together into a long rectangle with tapered ends. Then I twirled the rectangle into a nest shape and secured it with some yarn stitches.

Jenni Horne adapted the pattern from the felt bird in Betz White 's book Warm Fuzzies - a great resource if you're interested in making more items from felted sweaters.