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Friday, December 6, 2013

Scrap Baby Angels

I'm in the same kind of pickle that most grandmothers brine in. I don't want my granddaughters to grow up. Ever. Yet, I cannot wait to teach them how to sew! What's a grandma to do except prepare for the inevitable? I've been designing and collecting ideas for projects that I think will excite the girls when they're old enough to learn. This is important. I want them to enjoy sewing, not dread it. Quite frankly, my own first experience wasn't a good one. Mother handed me a pillow case with a stamped sleeping kitty design and a skein of gray embroidery thread. I was given a demo of her perfect outline stitching. Then I was on my own - to tangle and rethread and pull out and twitch in eight-year-old frustration until I finally tossed it aside. It was grandmother who picked things up then and turned sewing into fun for me. Who else has the time or the patience to supervise the threading and guiding of a sharp needle while remaining poised to untangle, and untangle, and untangle....?

Last year I designed a simple stuffed rabbit - very light on tedious sewing. Just the basics with fun, crafty scrap bag finishing. Every-bunny seemed to like it. With supplies in place, you can breed one in an hour. Some parts of the process are best left to grandma, but that makes it a perfect project for sharing with your little grand-bunny, or, I suppose, during this "season-to-be-jolly" - your little grand-angel!

"I feel kinda out of place here. And who is that
dude in the red suit everybody keeps yapping about?"
Here's how to turn this little lady into its Christmas counterpart!

1. Follow sewing steps 1 - 13 as shown here.
2. Draw eyes on face as described in step 19.
3. Hold the big floppy ears and whiskers!
4. Make the dress as described in steps 22 - 26, except use a 3" x 15" scrap of fabric so it wraps all around the angel and overlaps 1/2" at center back. Cut bodice from a 2.5" square of contrasting fabric, or.......
5. Glue on paper doily, ribbon, or lace for bodice.
6. Fold baker's twine into loops for hair and hand stitch to top of head.
7. Cut and glue on tiny paper stars or hearts for cheeks.
8. Cut 3" paper circle for halo and glue behind head.
9. Cut wings from paper using this pattern and glue on.
10. Accent with additional buttons or lace scraps.
11. Make an optional pedestal by covering a plastic spool with craft paper or painting a wooden one as desired.







This original design, like all blog content, is intended for personal use only. Copyright 2013. All rights reserved. Thank you!

17 comments:

  1. Breed one in an hour. LOL a good way to make people choke on their morning coffee.

    These are so darn cute!

    Kate had her thanksgiving school vaca and wanted a day with me to sew. After a wee bit of embroidery ( UNTANGLING and RETHREADING ) I thought lets try something else. So I had her starting to try applique...a simple xmas tree ( UNTANGLING and RETHREADING ) and thankfully after about 1/2 hour of that she moved on to something else. And that was wanting to actually learn piano. Yes after them BANGING on it for years they want to learn it. So I went on to the internet to find and print a simple beginner Jingle Bells and ended up with a new toolbar and crap on my computer...them fighting because of course Brent wants to do it too, etc.

    No more Internet Jingle Bells...Grandma ordered John W Schaum piano course book 1 from Amazon! :)

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  2. Breed one! Haha. What a great project and a well-written tutorial. They really are adorable. I feel the same way about my daughter; I don't want to rush things but I really look forward to teaching her to sew and crochet. I'll do it in a couple of years, when she's ready, but I'm excited now!

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  3. Hee hee - that is so darling. My grandsons are learning to sew - Jahn likes it better than Ben. Jahn took right to the sewing machine - he was really ahead of my instructions and his first project was a purse - with very little help from me except to make sure he kept his fingers out of the way of the needle and to give a little advice on the size to cut fabrics (you do have to allow for seams). He even got into the studio and ironed some step of the sewing and then came out and said - I did it myself and didn't burn anything

    I love the little angel/bunnies. So clever.

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  4. You make crafting so much fun -- you make reading about crafting LOL fun! Your description of learning to embroider reminded me of the frustrated looks on the faces of some of the 3rd graders last year when we tried to teach them to knit. 8 year-olds are not always the most patient. You are going to have so much fun!

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  5. I love crafting with my granddaughters. They aren't coordinated to sew yet. I'm in no hurry for them to grow up. :) In the mean time we do a lot of cutting, pasting and painting.

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  6. These are just lovely. I need to make time to do this. Thanks so much for linking to Creative Saturdays.
    Blessings,
    Janis www.janiscox.com Author of Tadeo Turtle

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  7. Adorable little dolls! Saw you at Sewlicious Home Decor, linky party!

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  8. Love this idea - Pinned it for future use. My granddaughter prefers knitting over sewing, and she can make just about anything with a pair of knitting needles. My grandson loves the embroidery machine and puts guitars and basketballs on tote bags, blankets, and shirts. He loves the programming. Your grandkids will be the luckiest kids in town with you as their Grandma.

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  9. As usual, this project is adorable, Joyce! I love your creative ideas.

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  10. These are simply precious!! They'd make great ornaments, too. Hopping over thru Kathy's Bouquet of Talent party.

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  11. Good Morning from the Grand Social! What a wonderful way to start my day, with your sweet li'l Scrap Baby Angels! I want a tree covered with them....or I can see several tucked throughout a garland across the mantel.

    I sew (nothing complicated), but I have yet to get anywhere with crochet....the "untangle untangle untangle" sounds like me....but as an adult. :) My older daughter taught herself to crochet, and glides effortlessly through project after project.

    I guess that's what makes all of this so much fun- we each have our own talents. :)

    Love, Joy

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  12. I never had girls but both my sons learned how to sew. One son and his wife now make elaborate costumes every year to celebrate their October 31 wedding. He even made her beautiful wedding veil!

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  13. We love these.
    Debi and Charly @ Adorned From Above

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  14. This are very, very cute! Love them! Thanks for posting on The Four Seasons Blog Hop! Sandra from Scrumptilicious 4 You!

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  15. The scrap dolls are so beautiful!!! Your new follower www.fashionphases.com

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  16. ok ok so i REEEEEEAAALLLY need to catch up on your blog! so what if i still have hundreds of emails to look at and thousands of bloglovin posts to read, this is time well spent overt her at your blog and those out of this world cuteness angels and bunny? girl you got some MAJOR cute talent! the only thing i can do with a needle and thread is poke my fingers! :>O

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