Those Tricky Consignments

Wanzie the Alien Stuffie, Custom Consignment.

Wanzie, my first Custom Consignment job came by way of my 6 year old nephew who adores anything creative and hand-made. When he learned I was making dolls, he asked if we could make one together.  I, of course, was happy to encourage him and on my way over to visit with him I asked him to draw a picture of the "Stuffie" that he wanted me to make.  As you can see, he choose a sort of Alien Monster, it is the cut-out drawing on red scrap paper.  

 I was presented with this drawing upon my arrival at the "client's" home, and sat down with him over Timbits and Hot Cocoa to discuss the design in more detail. You can see the 'order sheet' below. We got into specifics very quickly, I handed him my scrap fabric bundle and he chose his favorites.  I also let him choose the buttons for his single eye. It is this single eye that had his mother, my twin sister, suggesting the name one-zie, which I took some artistic liscence and converted to Wanzie.

His Order - Very Specific. One Eye (He choose the buttons), Two Arms (3 fingers on each hand), Two Antennae (One curly, one straight), 3 Legs, and a smile like so. [I wrote it down to be sure I had it correct, I am very professional this way]

Fabric - The client choose all his fabrics for each body part, I drew a pattern out by hand and began working.

Check - Two arms, three fingers on each hand... two antennae as specified. Face drawn and blush the color the client ordered.

Legs - 3. The final appendages built and stuffed, now on to the body.

This time, I decided not to cut out a window for the face, and instead used it like an applique to the front panel. I stitched the face in place with white thread.

I then followed my order form and added "those x things" around the face and stitched on the double button eye.

You can see that my stitches are all done by hand, of course, but they are becoming far more even and neat. After pinning the outward facing side together, I started full construction of the body. This was particularly challenging as I had to sew all the appendages in place "inside" the body as I went. I was wondering if they would make it once I turned the doll out.

We have the body! All limbs secured and stitched into place, an opening left for the stuffing. I have to say, Wanzie is a pretty cute little fella.

hose three little legs make me giggle. They look like little grey sausages. At least with the single fabric and pattern on both sides I was able to make use of the folded edge to form the bottom of the foot.

Wanzie stuffed and sealed and ready for the final touches. It is difficult to know how much stuffing is 'enough'.  This doll is going to see some handling, unlike an art doll, so I used a Poly-fil throughout. I wanted to double secure the limbs in place, so I decided to do the "X" stitch along all the joints in cotton embroidery floss.

"X" Stitches added to double secure all the limbs to the body. We now compare the finished 'Stuffie' to the original picture.

One eye... Check! The arms look like "asparagus" according to my sister. I tend to agree but my nephew thinks they are just perfect.

Done! To Be Delivered to the customer ASAP. He is currently at home with a tummy bug and fever. I think Wanzie will make him feel better. This was a really fun project and he is so much cuter in person. The camera on my BlackBerry doesn't do it justice, but you get the general idea. I am already hard at work on my next dolls. I have two in the works, very different designs, but I will share those soon.