Jessica Zan: Tortoise & Hare

Hello all. Obligatory "it's been so long," and "I always mean to..." etc. Now let's make something. Specifically, this something:

We call her Harriet. Get it? "Hare"-iet? Yeah, we're super original like that. I'm the tortoise from the title. Took me most of a fine March, Oklahoma snow day to make her. But I had to fix the sewing machine (which has been outta use for about 2 years), relearn how to sew, figure out general construction, and rig a few things. It's been a herculean effort. For you frequent crafters? This baby'd fly by in no time.

I was inspired by this lovely. The creator is so talented, and a far superior sewer (sewist? I'm a flutist/flautist, and easily confused) than myself.

I made a template. Just drew out my general shape. Because I'm addicted to symmetry, I drew half the body, then folded over to cut out.

My materials: old scrub top, old handkerchief, fleece, thread, and embroidery floss. Ignore the batting. I decided not to use it. Instead, imagine that's a nice bunch of pillow stuffing.

The story behind this top: I received it when I worked at Conroe Medical Center as a disaster relief nurse during Hurricane Ike. I like that such a difficult time will be turned into something so cuddly.

I realized I don't have an embroidery hoop several steps into this. And there's no navigating central Oklahoma roads today, so here's what I rigged up.

Mason jar lid and rubber bands

Then, after a couple starts/restarts, I had the face you see below.

Decided to keep the scrub pocket on the back.

Figuring out the embroidery design took me a bit, but I got there. I opted to sew around the belly piece several times. This is called the lazy, uneducated-in-sewing girl's cheat. (While I like how it looks, the function intends to minimize fraying). And you can see I added a detail line to the ears. Time to construct.

The following construction plan did NOT work.

Ears are too big. Next plan, sew down sides, then stuff ears in, and sew across top.

See? Make sure the fronts of the ears are resting against the front of the body, right sides together. (Let's not discuss how much trial and error led to that brilliant insight.)

I left the bottom of one foot open, and pulled the whole creature through.

Started with the ears, and gently worked the whole body, right side out. Now, STUFFING! I stole the stuffing from an unused pillow, bringing this project to zero dollars.