Little Winter Mousemaking for the Holidays

There are lots of different ways of getting ready for the holidays. Some people bake, some people sing, some people love wrapping and giving presents.  If you’re a toymaker,  you just have to make toys for the winter celebrations. And if you’re me, you’re happiest when you’re sharing the skills of the simple crafts of making little animals from the scrapbasket.

So in the holiday spirit, I offered a workshop at Ragfinery in Bellingham last Saturday to make “Little Winter Mice” from upcycled fabrics, using the craftdesignworks pattern for the Little Mouse finger puppets. They look so cheerful peeking out of the top of a Christmas stocking:

The pattern is also available as a printed booklet and a kit. The class kits started with pre-sewn bodies made from boiled wool and included all the bits and pieces the makers needed for each mouse.

It’s always interesting to work in a group with mixed experience levels. Many in the group had sewing experience but were “rusty”. Many others were very skilled and included some professionals. And there were a couple of complete beginners. The atmosphere was friendly and supportive, with lots of sharing of tips. We mostly agreed that we think toy mice are cute, but don’t really enjoy having real mice in our kitchens and closets.

Once the mice were assembled with their ears, arms, eyes, noses and whiskers, the costuming got underway. So many individual adorable characters were created!

One little mouse actually got its own bandana and backpack:

…and there were some quite stylish characters created:

…some even with golden cloaks and fur coats:

There was exuberant laughter at the imagination of some of the participants as we enjoyed each others’ creations.

Some of the little mice are destined for Christmas trees, some will become part of a wonderful grandmother’s crafting kit with her grandchildren, and some will be special one-of-a-kind gifts for some very lucky children.

Everyone took home materials to make one more mouse at home, so I’m pretty sure that this is only the beginning of a happy mouseful holiday season.

Big Scrap Crow Success! Toys from the Scrapbasket at Ragfinery

Whenever I design a new pattern and plan a new workshop, I’m always hopeful (obviously) that I’ll be happy with the creature and that the makers in the workshop will be able to successfully recreate the design. But I can never be quite sure of how things will turn out until the workshop happens. So I was kind of ecstatic with the results of the “Little Scrap Crow” workshop at Ragfinery in Bellingham on October 13. (Downloadable pattern is available for $8 here.)

I’d worked out a new technique for making legs and feet that can be added to a stuffed crow body. It was a new challenge for me, and after experimentation, I found the best results using hardware store wire or brown florist wire to make the unit. I planned to let people choose to make a crow finger puppet (easier) or to continue with adding the legs and feet to make a standing crow figure. Either corvid could be dressed up in the costuming materials.

Each place was set up with a kit of  patterns and materials, and everyone got to work to fashion their crows. There was a wide range of sewing experience in the group, from zero to expert. I love the spirit of community in Ragfinery workshops. People were so helpful to each other, sharing their tips as we went along. There’s something so cozy about crafting together in a warm supportive atmosphere.

Although I was expecting the less-experienced stitchers to make finger puppet crows (the less challenging project) everyone in the class opted to make the legs and feet and set them in. And absolutely everyone was successful. A complete murder of crows was created!

I was so proud of everyone’s accomplishments and so happy to see the variety of charming creatures that went home from the workshop that day. And since almost all the materials we used were rescued from the textile waste stream, it was a great upcycling project–extra credit!