Thursday 11 June 2009

It's Not An Elephant!

Firstly last night was ok, I missed the boy and went to check on him far more often than was entirely necessary and consequently am knackered! He slept well, waking only once and soon dropped back to sleep when I made an appearance and gently stroked his hand for just a few moments.

He has clung to me all day though and told anyone within earshot that; "is mine mama!"

He looked so very small;


And I finished the birthday project, another soft toy but this one is no elephant;





I have done it slightly differently than the pattern suggested so have ended up with something very unlike the picture in the book but I love him! The pics are not great and he looks a bit washed out because of the flash. He is made from grey felt with blue and purpley coloured felt spikes/fins/spines/whatever they're called.

The pattern suggests making the dinosaur in cotton inside out and then turning the right way in to stuff. I chose felt so I could do some work on him during the craft course that I help run. The project this week was one of mine (a felt covered folder type thingie) and having already made one didn't really want to do another! The plan was that this could be an ongoing project that we can add scrapbook type pages too and turn them into photo albums. So once I'd shown everyone what I had in mind and the materials we had to hand and some basic embroidery stitches I settled down to do my little beast. Oh, sorry the point to all that was that I can't use my sewing machine at the centre as it hasn't been tested by their fire crew and would therefore invalidate the insurance should anything happen, so he had to be made in felt.

I have blanket stitched all the seams bar the one along his back as I couldn't quite figure out how I could continue the blanket stitch around the spines, so I did the back inside out. I quite like the way it looks on his legs and feet, it looks like he has millions of toes! The legs are supposed to be jointed but I thought this might be a bit of a headache so have attached the back side of the leg with a circle of stitches and then sewn the rest of the leg on and stuffed them, It means that he can make walking type movements but the legs don't turn full circle, if you know what I mean?

Anyhoo, there is the dino and lots of waffle about how he was made, sorry.

I have been asked if I was going to make any to take to craft fairs with me. The materials were not expensive but he was very time consuming and if I made them as a commercial venture would be looking at charging between £12 and £15 for one. Do you think anyone would pay that for a felt dino? I could do pink ones too? Any thoughts would be nice, thanks!

Daisie xxx

8 comments:

Sharon said...

He's such a cute boy!! Love the dino, £12-15 sounds reasonable it obviously takes a lot of work.

willow81 said...

Bless him in his big bed! I love the dino, Tilly has got a knitted stegosaurus that I made for her. Personally I think that the dinosaur would be a little pricey at £12-15, but how about selling dino kits with the pieces of felt cut out? That would be cool! xx

Tamsyn said...

He looks very tiny in his big bed, Arthur moved to a big bed a month ago and seems like he's grown up and length ways over night!
I would expect to pay 12 -15 for a handmade dino, everyone is different though. I always set my things at what I would expect to pay for the work put in to an item :) It looks lovely.

jennyflowerblue said...

Awww, big boy! I do love the dino. I like the sound of a pink one, maybe with some of that printed felt in small quantities. I have no idea what softies sell for. I would spend that amount on a good friends birthday, or a cousin, but for a normal present I would pay £5-7 so perhaps you'd want to offer similar products at both price points?

jennyflowerblue said...

Just had a though- you could go the other way and scale up to make one BIG dino, with lots of fancy stuff on at £20 odd, then the £12-15 looks more like the value option.

Louise said...

The handmade dinosaur is great. I got your site url from Julie (Burnley College). I am starting a new web site sendmycard and I will come back and visit your site again. I thought I saw some handmade cards, but then when I looked again, I could not find them -- or maybe I have been working too hard and am getting confused?
It was very interesting reading your blog. Bye for now. Louise

Louise said...

Hi Its Louise again. I found the cards, they were in 'goodies' on your website, not on your blog. I am going to have some handmade cards on my site and came across Handmade Cards by Paula. I do the site does well and I can gradually change from 'shop type cards' to handmade cards, and then have more than one supplier.Bye for now Louise

Louise said...

Making Dino's for a commercial venture. Can I be helpful? Please look at my Dinosaur Far Side Card
I could add a picture of your handmade dinosaur and a link to your blog (or site) next to this card if you would like. The site is new, so you probably won't get any orders, but the cards are popular and if people google Far Side Cards it does bring up the site, so there will be some hits. If you do get any orders, then good luck and I do not want any commission or whatever. I think your price is very reasonable because a lot of work has gone into making 'Dino'
I forgot to mention the site, it is www.sendmycard.co.uk