Chocolat Meilleure - Picnic Dress #3

Duke

Duke!

Duke could be made for free, and was an opportunity for stash bursting. I raided my fabric scraps, and got scraps of black cotton velvet (I know I have some polyester velvet somewhere, but didn't find it), and red polyester velvet. Using the previously made pattern. First, from a picture where Duke is mostly streched, I resized the picture where Duke would be real size, relative to my hand, took measurements and drafted the patterns: head, eyes, body, arms and legs. Then I made a technical sketch, to be able to make the armature, as I want to be able to pose it.

Duke's armature/skeleton

I used my tin wire, which turned out a little too stiff for armature, but it still works. Thank you Ana Dias, a friend who works in animation, for the armature tips. Then I spray painted the hands and feet, along with the beads for the fingers and toes, I couldn't find any black ones that size.

fingers and toes

Duke's eyes - part 1

Initially, I thought about using beads for the eyes, but I don't have any green ones this big. So I searched my beads and trinkets stash, and found some big googly eyes, from an old project. The eyes are round, and I needed them to be green, so I cut off the white parts, and sketched his eyes on the outside of the transparent part with an erasable pen. Then, on the inside, and using my multicolour nail polish stash (also fresh from the Batcave), I started painting the eyes, much like oldschool cell animation. First the emerald green, for the pupils, then the dark green for the shadows, and, finally, the lime green for the iris.

Duke's eyes - part 2

I cut the eyes to fit Duke's eye shape, and glued the front part of the eyes with superglue to the velvet front of the eyes. I sewed front and back together, leaving an opening on one side and the bottom. I turned them, finished sewing the side, and stuffed them with polyfill.

Duke's eyes - part 3

Back to Duke's body. I sewed the two head parts together, leaving an opening in the back, and also the mouth. I simply fray checked the mouth, and pushed it on top of the red after turning the head, and glued it to the red. I stuffed the head, and closed it.

Then I sewed the torso. First, black, red and black, with the curved bum part on the bottom, and then to each other, on one side, leaving a gap for the arm, and stopping by the leg. I turned the torso, placed it around the leg and arm, and proceeded to sew the other side, with a ladder stitch, on the right side, around the other arm and leg.

Duke's torso

Then I stuffed the bodice. I proceeded fairly the same way for the arms and legs, no need to stuff the arms, and then sewing them to the torso. I stuffed the legs, and sewed them to the torso, with the legs streched to the sides, so I can pose them like a frog's.

Duke's torso and arms

Duke!

Finally I sewed the eyes to the head, cut a small hule on the bottom of the head, put it on top of the armature loop, and sewed it to the body/neck, and glued the fingers and toes with superglue. Not entirely trusting the superglue, I cut a bunch of dark jewellery pins, and also pushed and glued them from the tips. They've held together fine so far...

Duke intrigued by the atelier's mess

I just realised I didn't make his nostrils, I'll add them with some embroidery thread later.

+ It only took me a few days (a few hours each day) to make him, and he is SO CUTE!

- I had a few small mishaps, I soiled the eyes while glueing them, so I had to add a few coats of clear nail polish to the front of the eyes, and I'm not 100% happy with the hands and feet.

THE CUNNING PLAN

Make the dress.