Kurt Cobain for the Battle of the bands Challenge on Plush You!

Thanks for bearing with me while I make all these changes to CottonSpool. I am trying to pretty the place up around here and so far, it's looking like an absolute mess. I promise it won't be like this forever, I just have to try and figure out this html junk. Gosh, it's really driving me nuts! lol

Anyways, I have been a busy girl lately. There has been weddings and birthdays and all sorts of things going on around here. I have still been crafting like crazy only I keep forgetting to take pictures so I will have to go on a picture-taking binge to catch you all up.

So I just finished my Kurt Cobain plush for the Plush You Battle of the bands Challenge! You could choose any artist/band dead or alive so I chose my childhood crush Kurt Cobain. He was one awesome dude until ... well, you know. Anyways, I could never do him justice but I did my best to capture his expression and look from the famous MTV Unplugged show which is rumored to have been designed to look like a funeral, some even say it was a message from Kurt regarding the tragedy which was to follow.

On to the details! I designed the pattern completely and specifically for this challenge. He is made in a "waldorf style" and I use the term verrry loosely. He has a molded face including a nose (which is not so prominent and you probably can't hardly see on the photo). I used a cotton jersey type material for his skin and felt for his facial hair, eyebrows and guitar. The jersey was wonderful to use and it allowed just enough stretch to make it easy to work with and not too much stretch that I was going to end up with bumps and elongated limbs etc. lol. His hair is tea-stained acrylic-mix wool which I hand dyed specifically for Kurt's hair. I used a tutorial to make a sort of wig which then gets sewn on to the doll to keep it all in place but unfortunately I can't find the site again so I will have to do some intensive "googling" so I can give credit to the wonderful person with the tutorial.
I made all of the clothes as well, The jeans are made from an old pair of my own jeans and I distressed them with my quick-unpick and some rough sandpaper because as we all know, Kurt liked his jeans well worn in (Oh I love the grunge look). I was a little disappointed that after many a trip to my local thrift stores, I couldn't find any khaki green/brown knit sweaters to cut up for Kurt's infamous cardigan so I ended up having to use some cotton that I had in my stash but at least the colour is pretty close. The mini Con's (Converse All Star) are made from felt by me and I think they turned out super cute! I may just have to make some for my daughter too.

Well that's it, that's how I did it! If you have any questions or any comments -  I would absolutely love to hear from you.  Check out the other entries when they are posted on the Plush You blog very soon. I am sure there are going to be some truly awesome designs.

Thanks for reading and Happy Crafting, kiddo's! :)

Meet Neville...

This is Neville. He's a Yowie, which is basically Australia's version of Bigfoot. He's my entry in to the Schmancy Olympic Challenge. Neville is a funny character. He pulls funny faces and tries to re-enact King Kong with the Olympic Torch but he's a really great Snowball thrower which is exactly why he was representing Australia in the Opening Ceremony.

He was so much fun to make! I must have sketched about 100 different creatures(ok, so I exaggerate a bit. 20 then!) before deciding that Neville was the one. Unfortunately though, he just didn't turn out the same as the sketch because here in West Oz, we have literally 1 main fabric store (which I can't stand because the people are rude and completely unhelpful) and I couldn't get the fur I wanted to use or get the colour either so I was kind of bummed about that. But he does look a lot like the original sketch just with shorter hair.

I made his little outfit myself too, including the shoes. Those shoes nearly had me in a hissy fit. I just about didn't enter the challenge because I just couldn't get them right. I eventually had a brainwave and decided to try and use my daughter's little Ugg boots to get the basic pattern from which seems to have worked out pretty well. I'm happy with the boots now, thank goodness!

I'm happy that I entered the challenge and it really pushed me to use my brain and create something completely my own which I'm pretty proud of, especially seeing as I haven't got a whole lot of experience in making toys like that. He may not be the best in the challenge or even in the category but I'm happy with him and most importantly, my daughter loves him! She loves him so much that she's already pulled one of the Olympic rings off his vest! lol

I hope you enjoyed meeting Neville and I can't wait to see everyone else's creations!

Happy Crafting!

Schmancy Olympic Challenge

Hi All,

I'm super excited about the Schmancy Olympic Challenge on Plush You!

What the friggin heck am I going to do though? Time to get the pencil and paper out I think. I got the "Opening Ceremony" category which is the one I wanted the least as I have no idea about Winter or Winter Olympics but even less about the opening ceremonies at these things. Us West Aussies don't get snow or freezing temperatures over here.

I have a couple of ideas, but I like to be a bit different so I want something that's going to shout out to me but I haven't had that brainwave yet. It'll come... maybe.

Well, Good Luck to anyone who entered and I hope you have fun creating and making!

Happy Crafting! :)