Wednesday 15 August 2012

Totoro!

Hi all!

Mixing things up again, Amy here.
For those of you that don't know me I love "My Neighbour Totoro"! He was the reason behind me learning to crochet (a previous project of mine) and the reason behind this crafting venture. If you're reading this and have no idea who he is, well I can fix that!


I've recently been on holiday to France, Paris specifically, and their love of comics/manga/general geekiness is not a secret. Soooo with high hopes I set about trying to find me a Totoro, as big as I could fit into my suitcase. We'd seen one last year (when I was less foolish and didn't buy it immediately) so I was pretty confident I could acquire one, but alas it was not meant to be.

A discussion with my fellow insane crafters resulted in finding this beauty online, but this was not the scale I was looking for, so I got my oh so helpful husband to blow up the pattern for me so this occurred:





















Realising that this could work I found myself at the fabric store rummaging through the faux fur section. And here we are, a simple step by step guide, should you too have the need for a massive Totoro in your household!

Firstly I mapped out all the pieces on the reverse of the fabric using chalk, then cut them all out.




I then pinned the stomach and stomach pieces in place. I stitched the little marks through both layers of fabric to keep it all in place. He's starting to take shape! (the ears are not attached yet, i was just checking he looked ok!)


It was then simply a case of pinning them front sides together and running it through the machine, not forgetting to leave a hole at the top for the stuffing! I pinned the eyes and nose on at this point but didn't stitch them on until he was turned the right way round - Totoro's face, like any character has to be just right or he just looks sinister! Having decided I was pleased with him, I could then go spend a load of money on stuffing! I thought I'd best take a helper, cue oh so helpful husband again!






















I then stuffed and stitched ears, arms and a tail before finally stuffing the main body and of course stitching the eyes and nose in place. I kept stuffing whilst stitching together his head to keep him firm and to support the ears which went on next. I used wool to stitch them in place as it was strong enough to keep them upright. Finally I attached arms, and a tail in the same way and ta-dah!


One massive Totoro! I was pretty chuffed with him :) He only took a day to make and was great fun. The fur fabric is very forgiving so if you're not the neatest of crafters don't worry! One word of caution though, he does like watching a spot of tv.........


Until next time!
Amy :)

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