Michaels Craft Fabric and the Studio Pup

Friday, June 28, 2013 by Cathe Holden

Yesterday I went to Michaels to see all the new craft fabric. The faux Sherpa caught my eye and all I saw was a puppy. Look at this photo- do you see the puppy too? Inspired to craft a little friend for my studio I hurried back home to create. Now, as you scroll down this post, don’t think this project is too complex. The semi-stretchy Sherpa is the most forgiving fabric ever for such a project and you can create your own pattern very easily. I even stitched this craft by hand, not machine, making it even simpler. IMPORTANT: The finished craft is for a decorative purposes only and NOT intended for play by a child. Back at the barn, I sketched up pieces and parts to my little pup.I picked through my buttons for good nose and eye specimens.I arranged some buttons to decide on a face. A good thing to remember when designing a face, the lower and more spread apart the eyes are on a face, the more baby-like.Once my buttons were chosen, I grabbed some plain paper, folding some in half for symmetry, and freehand cut out simple shapes for the head, body, limbs, tail and ears. I used the paper shapes as patterns and cut front and back sections for each main body part from the white Sherpa and two of each section from the tan for ears one section each for the spots. No pattern pinning necessary if you use the pattern to cut one layer of Sherpa at time.With tan thread, I topstitched the spots in place on the head and hiney areas, trimming away any hangover fabric. See how great this Sherpa is? You can’t see any of the stitching!

I used a running whipstitch 3/16″ apart at about 3/16″ from the cut edge of the limbs, ears and tails, connecting front and back pieces, and pulling thread snug as I went. This stitch creates a nice fusion of layer edges, rolling them together snug to prevent fill leakage. Again, the stitches disappear into the fur! I left a fill hole in the top of each, (though the ears and tail were not to be filled.) With the head section back piece fur side down, I stitched the ears in place just inside the outer cut of the head shape. I placed the face front piece onto the back piece and stitched around the outer edge and through the ear bases, leaving the top of the head open to fill. I filled the head loosely with dried barley found in the back of my pantry, then stitched the top of the head closed. You can also use beans or rice. A fiber fill didn’t have the saggy-weight effect I prefer.I filled the limbs about half way, and connected them in place with a few stitches to the inside back section.I stitched around the outer body shape as I did with the limbs and sewed down through the limb bases, leaving a fill area open at the neck. I filled the body loosely with barley and stitched the neck area closed. I stitched the lower back area of the head to the neck section of the body. I stitched the base of the tail to the center of the hiney spot. I then sewed on the eyes and nose buttons.Here he is completed, front and back.My finished studio pup is making himself right at home on my couch.Later, I caught him doing this:I’m really glad Michaels is now carrying craft fabric- just enough textile to create or complete many smaller projects. And since there isn’t a fabric store anywhere near my local Michaels, these new fabrics are going to come in real handy! Check out Michaels.com and Michaels Pinterest Boards for more fabric project ideas.