How to add safety eyes to toys

These are 4.5 mm safety eyes with metal backs - the ones I use for all my toys.

The metal back has a 'flat'side and a side that has two little 'wings'on it.

Align your toy pieces so you can create the eye holes at the same time.

Use a metal meat skewer or a large doll needle to make the hole.

 

Using some felt scraps, cutting out two rough circles. These need to be just a bit larger than the metal back. These are our felt 'washers'. Skewer some holes in these as well.

The 'washer'stops the ridge of the metal back showing up on the front of the toy after if it is stuffed and provides a buffer between the metal and the fabric/felt.

 Lay your toy pieces out so you can be sure you will be making a right and left side of the toy.

(Trust me this is important)

 

 Place a 'washer'over the eye post on the inside (wrong side) of the toy.

 Place the metal back in place on the eye post with the flat side against the felt. Using both hands press the metal back into position. You will here a little noise as the prongs on the wings grab hold of the eye post.

(I know , I know but I needed the other hand for the camera)

 Press the back as far onto the eye post as possible.

Easy as winking !

fartin' and faffin'

 I will not be setting the world on fire in the next two weeks. I have decided to fart about a bit, I am going to lollygag, laze and wander. I may very well include some dawdling, meandering and faffing. 

You may find me lingering , loitering and tarrying. I shall do my utmost to be a laggard and a lump.

I plan on hanging out and chilling out.

( currently taking bets on how long it lasts).

fast forward

In three short working days I will be on holidays. The to-do list has been gently started and I will need three lifetimes to achieve it all. (of course).

I am currently making some fun stuff, just for me, in among all the other stuff and I am getting it wrong and stuffing it up and enjoying it like crazy.

Right at the end of the break I'll be heading back to Warracknabeal to enjoy Stitching in Spring with Rosalie and Melly. (We are like a three woman comedy / stitching act these days - you should book us !).

It is going to be a great weekend and Warracknabeal has one of my favourite junk / vintage shops ever. It has everything !

After Warracknabeal I will be doing a hand sewing class at The Cotton Factory here in Ballarat. You can book online and choose any of these fellows to make. In fact by the time the class comes around there will be a sixth little chubster to choose from !

In the mean time I am going to fit a full working week into three days, go out for dinner with the kids, sew a few more turtles and dream of hind legs and tattoos.

pattern writing

Today is pattern writing day. 

So obviously I have updated the shop, baked brownies and farted about on Pinterest.

I may have glanced at Bookface and spent some time on Instagram.

I have had eleventy-five cups of tea and answered those emails that linger right at the bottom of the inbox.

I have chatted with the dog, despaired at the mess and eaten cold pizza.

 I also sewed that purple pin right into the seam of the project that of course I am not working on, because I am pattern writing.

On the road

There has been a touch of busy-ness around these parts lately. Just before I was felled by the disease-most-hideous, I was designer-by-invitation at Melbourne Urban stitches.

St Kilda was a fantastic venue - ( even if Lunar Park was closed). We stitched and chatted and laughed for the whole weekend. I got to catch up with lots of crafty friends and I  met some great new ones.

Last weekend saw me jet off to Sydney with Mellly and Me and Rosalie Quinlan for the Sydney version. I haven't been to Sydney for years and I felt a bit nostalgic for those misspent teenage times loitering about the Sydney train stations. 

We had a fantastic time and somehow ended up belly-dancing in the street.

 (photographic evidence on Instagram).

This little man was my Urban Stitches project and he joins the rest of the little hand-sewn family. I really enjoy these little guys and while I am not planning on covering the whole alphabet , I can tell you I am not quite finished with them yet.