Today I'd like you to meet my new friend, Dogge Dashwood. She is a creature straight out of my imagination, and inspired by my favorite animation character, Totoro. I made her from an old purple velvet pillow I was going to discard, and some odds and ends of felt scraps from my stash. She is a Dogge. Now before you think she is a, "Dog", with just a different spelling, I will explain. My Dogge is a form of creature that in no way resembles a dog of the genus canis. She and her kind prefer to live in small twig houses in the woods, or in bark nests in tree's. They do not act in the least bit like dogs, nor do they like the same kinds of foods. They prefer the sweet stems or blossoms of flowers, and some sweet fruity mushrooms. They are gentle cuddly creatures, but also have a few surprises up their sleeves, like any creature of your imagination. I hope you enjoy this journey of a critter making, and feel inspired to make some of you own. You may grab this pattern if you like. May it bring you as much fun and joy as it did me while making it.
Here are the pattern pieces I drew up on piece's of printer paper. I like to keep things simple, as I haven't much scrap to work with at present. Just a few pieces is all it takes. You can size it up any way you like. I was going to make a wider smile, but changed my mind, as I didn't have that much red thread.
The size of the whites of the eyes, was determined by tracing around one of my sewing machine bobbins. I pre-stitched all of the details on the front critter piece. Laying out the pieces how I liked it, before putting the front and back pieces together. I made the ears and attached them to the front, tucked into the seam. The paler felt piece just lays over the tummy, lining up the bottom darts. I pinched in and stitched the top and bottom notches, matching up their seams, then stitched all around the body, leaving a gap to turn it inside out at the bottom, so I could stuff it. I chose not to to stuff the ears, as I wanted them floppy. You will need 4 ear pieces, 2 body pieces, 1 tummy piece, 2 eyelids optional, 1 heart nose piece, 2 small black dots for eye centers, colors of you own choice for mouth. I chose red so it would show up on the dark purple. The flowers on the tummy helped hold down the felt, but you could stitch down anything you like to do the same. Just go with whatever you've got. This was my challenge, to not use anything but what I already had.
As you can see the pillow was a small one, just 18" x 18" but it is enough that I hope to get a few more critters out of it. Even the cut off seam pieces came in handy for Dogge's arms, which I came up with later, so had to sew them on the outside and not tucked into the side seams. I think they turned out just as fun, without putting them in the other way. Her arms were just a scrap of the edging with a knot tied in the center, stitched down at the top of her tummy and at her sides.
Four colors of felt were used. White for the eyes, pale lilac purple for her tummy, rosie pink for her eyelids and little heart shaped nose, and black for the tiny centers of her eyes. A bit of colored threads for the finish stitching, and she was complete. As I decided to make her completely by hand, the stitching took me a bit longer. I suppose I could have whipped her up on the sewing machine in short order, but I found the hand stitching just so much more satisfying and peaceful. You can hum a happy tune to yourself, and think about the goodness of God, without the mechanical whir of the sewing machine getting in the way. This project took me about 1/2 a day, from design to finish. Hopefully the next critter will take me less time, as I won't have to make up a pattern from scratch.
Here is Dogge Dashwood in all her finished glory. She has thrown up her ears in pure joy at being finished, and is grinning as broadly as she can.
I am loving the softness of the purple velvet, and made sure the nap of the fabric was in the right direction, so when you pet her it doesn't rough up her fur. Not that this velvet has much of a nap mind you.
Doesn't she have such an air of graciousness and peace about her. I think she is quietly contemplating her contentment and joy at just being here.
See how soft and smooth her ears are. You can see she just oozes gentleness and peace. Such a sweet darling creature, she just makes me smile.
What is this?! Her ears have suddenly been flung forward. What is brewing behind that innocent look?
Wait a minute, now she has crossed her ears over each other and is testing their flexibility. What is Dogge up to? This is not the placid quiet creature of a few minutes ago. What gives?!
Now she is flinging them around, and flipping them from side to side. What on earth is she up to? I didn't know she could maneuver her ears like that!
This is a puzzle, the flinging and flapping of her ears continues, just much faster. It's so comical I can hardly keep from bursting out laughing. What is she thinking of?
Oh boy, oh boy!!! This is getting crazy! Just when I thought she couldn't get any funnier, she began to flap her ears like wings, and in a burst of jubilance, midst squeaks of delight, her ears rotating like a helicopter, she flew across the room. WOW!!! I never in all my living born days expected that!!! I was so surprised I didn't even get a picture, it happened so quick.
Now that my friends is how I found out Dogge doesn't like to walk, but prefers to fly, using her large floppy ears to propel herself. No wonder her kind can build nests in tree's! Ha! Ha! Ha! Didn't she look so meek and unassuming tho?! What will she think up next?!!!
'Til next time, I pray that God grant you joy, peace, and his manifold blessings. Have a wonderful day!
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