Effie and Ollie by Heather Bailey

My first sewn toy was from Heather Bailey's Effie and Ollie Elephant pattern. I love love love this pattern. This was my first, and I have made a few since then (my new ones actually look a lot better). They can be made with less than a fat quarter, probably you could actually get two out of one fat quarter, although I have not tried. There is minimal notions, just some safety eyes (or black thread), a little interfacing and of course poly fill. The pattern is beautifully clear, and once you get going with these they come out pretty quickly. I plan on making a heard of them for our future kids.

So it's probably becoming noticeable that I make a lot of baby things for someone that is "subfertile" as the Reproductive Endocrinologist puts it.  I have days where I wonder if this is wise for my own sanity. So far though, it feels right. I love to knit and sew and I want my baby to be surrounded my handmade things. I really don't think I will have enough time in my pregnancy to get everything made that I want to (especially since we plan on doing cloth diapers, and I want to sew all of them).

When I make baby things it doesn't make me feel sad that we don't have one. It just makes me feel warm and happy thinking about one being in our house. I know that one way or another we will have a family, and I can just save things in the meantime for when that happens.

Clara and Clancy aka Francis Bacon and Hamantha

 
When I do have children I want to wait as long as possible to get them any kind of plastic/mass produced toys. My husband works for a non profit that has done some research into plastics/chemicals and it is alarming and horrifying to me what they put into children's toys. A lot of even very popular main stream toys contain lead. What doesn't have lead may contain BPA or some other chemical that we don't even know is toxic. I am well aware that eventually all kids end up with "regular" toys, but I'd like to keep it home-made and natural for as long as possible.

Recently I started making kids toys. I have knitted some, but I find them to be fiddly, time consuming and tedious. I wanted to sew a few toys, but I was really intimidated by the process. I was worried I would end up with some vague toy type shaped blob that would frighten children away from miles around.


I was delighted to discover though that Heather Bailey's patterns are really easy to do. The directions are so clear and well written that as long as you take your time, and don't mind a little hand sewing they come together really quickly.

These two friends are from the Clara and Clancy pattern. The first one I made was the green "Sir Francis Bacon". When I bought the fabric I didn't realize it was shaded until it had already been cut from the bolt, but I like how it turned out. You can see that when I got to the second pig "Hamantha" the nose turned out a bit better, and the head shape is closer to the pattern. I thought about fixing Francis but the general consensus is that he looks good the way he is.

A few notes about the pattern. You don't need nearly as much fabric as is called for. For the hooves, ears and snout you can away with 1/8 yard, and although for the shirt the pattern called for 1/2 yard, I did it with one fat quarter (with some very careful layout).

Francis's shirt was a bit time consuming, but worth the effort in the end. I had the hardest time with the buttons on his shirt, but that was mostly because my one step button-hole maker and myself are not good friends. I do like the little details on his shirt, such as the back pleat and collar facing.

Hamantha's dress was easier for me, although that may be because I am very comfortable with rouching. I like the back detail and snaps on the back.

Both the pants/bloomers were very easy and came together in about 20 minutes each. I really like how Francis's came out, I had some leftover cotton/linen that I think makes him look very classy.

Overall, I was very happy with how they came out and I may make this pattern again. I think it was worth the time and effort. Now I just have to figure out what to do with them.