Bears to remember Logan

In memory of Logan

If you click on Logan's name above you can see him on Youtube playing the harmonica 

          These bears were made for a customer who lost her son a short while ago and wanted these bears to give as Christmas presents.   I cut each piece out of his clothing and Tried my hardest to make sure each stitch I made was the best I could do. This project was a little different for me and I wanted to be thoughtful. This may sound a little odd for some of you, but before I made my first cut, I said a quick little prayer that I would be able to do a good job and feel the spirit as I did these bears.  I was very touched and overwhelmed with love for this young man that I had never even met before.  I know he was a special person and I am absolutely heartbroken that his family is without him, but I know they will see him again and that he is needed and being a missionary on the other side.

 for this project I used McCalls Craft 6135 

The pattern is pretty simple and easy to follow.  I love it and will be making more! 

I also had the fabric for the hearts embroidery done by Cover Up. 

Bear 1: 

 This was my first bear and I feel bad that he is not perfect. each bear got better and better. This one has a crooked nose and crooked eyes.  

   

Bear 2:

I wish I would have taken a before picture of the shirt.  I wanted to incorporate the shirt as much in this bear as I could because the logo was too big to use effectively. I did Sheriff stars on his feet.  I just Googled sheriff badge pictures and put the picture in Microsoft works in different sizes, printed it off, traced the design on heat and bond lite and then appliqued them on. The shirt was a baseball type shirt (raglan) and had navy sleeves so I made the arms navy to look like the shirt too. 

This was the only place I could use the logo because of it's size.

The logo on the bottom piece is off center a little because of the leg piece I cut out.  It works though. 

Bear 3:

Bear 4:

Bear 5:

This one is my favorite I think.  Just because the brown flannel I used turned out looking like leather. :) 

Jacket logo in the ear

Newborn Blessing Dress

made from OLD wedding dress

It still needs a wash and press and some pretty buttons on the back, but it's done and so PRETTY!!!

For this dress, I used McCall's pattern M4865.  I am in love with the pattern it's self, but VERY disappointed in the instructions.  There were TWO times I was so confused and left not knowing what the heck to do. Luckily I pulled out a simplicity pattern (4709) that had the same things going on and the instructions were SO DETAILED in comparison. 

         For example: McCall's - On skirt back - step 3: Open out slashed edges of back. baste right side of contiunous lap to wrong side of back, placing reinforcement stitching on back along the remaining 1/4" seamiline on lap, matching circles. STITCH. ( the pictures also left me clueless- and I sew a lot)

      Simplicity-  Spread slashed edges of skirt apart so that they form a straight line. Baste right side of cintinuous lap to wrong side of slashed edges, matching stitching lines and small dots.  Stitch along stitching line. ... after that I was like... Oooohhhh!

          ....and when I was doing the binding on the sleeve, the instructions were less that informative, so I eventually cut new sleeve pieces and binding pieces and went ahead like it was blanket binding. I would have thought that in the first place, but for me, the instructions made it sound like you did it a completely different way.

I love how the inside of the dress is lined and all sewn in by hand. it took all day, but it looks nice!

On the dress pattern pieces, it has the length an extra foot longer than I made it.  I wanted it shorter than my first daughter's dress but ended up the same length. (I wanted her cute little shoes to show -silly right?)

          no, I did not do beading on it myself, it's just part of the wedding dress beading. I did however break a needle on one, after that I was super careful! :)

     I did not do lace on the bottom like the instructions talk about, I just did a regular hem and stitched it by hand! :) All in all, I finished this dress in a day and a half.  I had interruptions and at night I just called it quits because I was so frustrated with the instructions! :) VERY happy with the outcome though!