My boy Robbie - Soft Toy

Early last month I decided to step out of my comfort zone and make a soft toy, like an animal or a doll of some sort. I went out to my FB page followers and asked for suggestions as the last time I attempted this was back in high school when I tried my hand at making a dinosaur that ended up looking nothing like a dinosaur or any recognisable shape.

I got 3 responses ... from girlfriends. I was hoping to generate a little bit conversation from the 300 or so people who like my page that I don't actually know. And let me just say that I am over the moon that I have 300+ likes on my page - to me that is like a billion. I digress ...

A couple of days later I was having a conversation with a girlfriend and she mentioned that one of her favourite toys as a kid was one that had long limbs that her little hands could grab onto and carry around. That's when the joyous creative light bulb came on I could think of nothing better than to base my soft toy after my beloved dog Robbie. He is a recused greyhound who just happens to have long ears, a long nose, long legs and a long body!

So I sketched a little and one Saturday morning put the Robbie prototype together. Don't you think there they look awfully similar?? Maybe I'm just bias :)

 

 



 
Happy with the prototype, I began to put Robbie#1 together ...

 

So, my Robbie#1 is a one of a kind, soft toy dog. Hand made with cotton fabric, two way velvet, foil jersey, ribbon and polyester stuffing; he stands 45cm tall.

Just in case you didn't notice, Robbie is numbered ... which can only mean that there maybe more of him to come :)

Steph xo
PS. Soon after he was made, Robbie#1 was successfully adopted by a loving family from our Etsy store - https://www.etsy.com/au/shop/twooffour

Aprons, Aprons, Aprons

Continuing on from my successful attempt at the Heart Baby Cot Quilt I began sewing craft aprons for kids. Months prior Mez and I had prepared binding, ties, straps etc for a dozen aprons but just hadn't gotten around to piecing and sewing each apron together. 

Below is a small sample of the finished products.

Each craft apron is made from quality cotton or poplin (cotton polyester blend) fabric and a layer of PVC added to the apron front. They are suitable for children from 3-10 years. 

The apron front  measures 54cm x 44cm and are available to buy on our Etsy store https://www.etsy.com/au/shop/twooffour.

Steph xo

Our market debut that didn't

We said from the start that we'd be honest so how did our first market go? Well, it didn't. We felt in the end that we wouldn't have enough stock to display and Amelia's quilt took up a lot of time which could have been spent sewing other items. In the end we would have been sorely disappointed anyway had we busted our butts to get there as the organiser hadn't done much advertising so hardly anyone knew the market was on and many stall holders packed up halfway through the market which was a real shame.

So in this one case it may have been to our favour to miss this opportunity as it made us reassess where we want this business to go and what we want out of it. We always said that if it felt like a chore then it wasn't worth doing and this market definitely fell into that category.

As it stands right now, Steph has done a brilliant job sewing all the play placemat sets which are ready for sale and are waiting for me to put them in our etsy store. I'm hesitating (read: procrastinating) over postage costs as I want to charge only what it would cost to send yet Australia Post's online calculator is a pain to use. Keeps quoting me ridiculous amounts so it looks like I'll have to get down to the post office for a quote. And I've completed only 2 aprons - the rest are waiting for assembly. When I get my sewing mojo back the rest will sew up quickly.

In the meantime life goes on and we do what we can when we can.