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| snout foam |
In the last month or so, I didn't do much, but I slowly sewed the second glove, which isn't finished yet, but almost, and made the pig snout and ears. I've also finally moved house, and my trusty Elna sewing machine is already here, at my new atelier.
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| my electric sewing machine, an Elna Lotus SP |
For the snout and ears, I first hand drafted the pattern, by looking at the reference and my face in the mirror, to get some kind of proportional similarity. Then I traced the pattern on the upholstery foam, plus a sort of seam allowance for the ears. For the snout, I trimmed the foam at 45°, to glue the side piece to the front piece, and glued them together. Then, with some scissors, snipped, trimmed and cut it, so it would fit my face. I snipped two dents to make the nostrils. For the ears, I cut a rounded dart on the tip, and folded the side allowance on itself, and glued it, to form the cartilage. As for the snout, it was bit of trial and error process, until I was happy with the shape.
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| foam snout - front |
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| foam snout - back |
Then I cut the pattern on the salmon felt, leaving a seam allowance at the "bottom" of the snout side piece, and at the sides of the ears. I first joined the snout pieces, front and side together, with a herringbone stitch. The side was joined at the bottom of the snout with a similar herringbone stitch. I first tested the fit, and proceeded to cover the foam. Before covering the foam, I added a bit of UHU glue to the foam "nostrils", to glue the felt to the dents. Then I pulled the felt until it would cover the snout without any wrinkling, easing the felt whenever it was needed. Finally, I trimmed the seam allowance, turned it on the inside and glued it to the foam.
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| covering the snout and ears with felt |
For the ears, I also made a curved dart on the tip, and sewed it with a herringbone stitch. Meanwhile, I glued a felt triangle to the inside of the ears. Thinking about it now, I should have cut the triangles a few millimetres wider to overlap the fold. I fitted the tip over the foam, and marked where to trim the allowance with a pencil. I tried to sew the fold to the triangle, but the glue made the triangle felt too stiff, and I don't have a curved needle to properly catch the felt in the groove. So I carefully glued the felt only at the fold, trying to leave as little wrinkles as possible.
There were still too many wrinkles, and I was very unhappy with how the ears looked, and wasn't very keen on how visible the sewing was. So I ordered a felting kit, with a bunch of felt balls, so I could cover the ugly seams, especially on the ears.
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| covered snout and very wrinkly ears + felting needle and raw felt |
I first took a little of the "skin coloured" raw felt, which unfortunately doesn't 100% match the "woven" felt, to cover the snout seams. I figured I would start with the easier part. It kind of worked, the seam is still a bit visible to the naked eye, due to the colours not matching, but it looks much better. I also took a tiny bit of the pink raw felt, and added some blush to the nostrils. |
| double felted pig snout and ears |
Before starting to add the raw felt to the ears, I distressed a few thin strips of the "woven" felt, and with the felting needle, covered the ugly grooves, where the ears cartilage meet. Then I added a bit of the raw felt on top, like I did for the snout seams. In the end, I also added a bit of pink to the inside of the ears. The ears are far from perfect, but they look kind of cute, so I'm leaving them at that. I still need to add a lining and some elastic to the snout, but they're basically done!
+ The snout was quite simple and fun to make, and I think it looks cute.
- On the other hand, the ears look messy and too wrinkly. It was a bit of a nightmare to correct them, as when the needles would punch the glue parts, they tended to bend or break. Three needles later, I decided to leave the ears like this, even if I'm not very happy with them.
THE CUNNING PLAN
Add the lining and elastic to the snout, and test it. Finish the mini Kermit outfit. Baste the dress and hood.
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