Graduation Teddy

Happy graduation to all ye fresh grads! It's graduation season now back in Singapore, and so I'm blogging about this now even though I made this graduation teddy a couple months back in May, before I left for Africa. 

So I adapted the pattern of the Valentine Teddy by All About Ami and made it into a graduation teddy for J. Stephanie (of All About Ami) has another pattern that she created specifically as a Graduation Teddy, but I decided I preferred the look of the Valentine Teddy and so adapted it. Such an adorable teddy! All credits to her for creating such a cute bear.

I had a hard time deciding between a black bowtie or a red one, but ended up going with the black because it seemed more formal (black tie geddit haha). I think a red one would have looked cute too.

As for the mortarboard, instead of crocheting it, I made it with felt and cardboard.

How to make the mortarboard:
2 square pieces of black felt (about 5.5cm x 5.5 cm)
1 square piece of cardboard (about 5cm x 5cm)
1 rectangular strip of black felt (about 8-9cm)
1 rectangular strip of cardboard (slightly smaller than the felt piece)
1 round piece of black felt (about 1cm in diameter)
1 round piece of cardboard (slightly smaller than the felt piece)

Basically I stuck the two square pieces of black felt and the square piece of cardboard together using glue, with the cardboard piece in the middle and sewed the sides together using the blanket stitch. The circular headpiece is made by glueing the rectangular strip of black felt and its corresponding cardboard piece then sewing the ends together to make it circular. Then I glued it to the square board piece. The tassel was made from embroidery thread, with help from All About Ami's tutorial here. Finally at the top I attached the round piece of black felt (with its corresponding smaller cardboard piece) to the square board, with the ends of the tassel in between. Then I glued completed mortarboard piece to the teddy's head.

Had such a fun time making this teddy, I hope J liked it. Didn't think he would appreciate a bouquet of flowers...

Also made a simple card using card stock and black paper. Got inspiration from Googling mortarboard vector images and this was what I came up with. 

Laptop case: sanrio characters

Cute laptop case and matching pouch for my charger!

This was made sometime back in January actually, by mummy dearest (: I came up with the idea and chose the fabric and matching red zip. The red drawstring of the charger pouch is ripped off some random paperbag I had...you recycle what you can. Also, the laptop case has sponge padding and black lining inside...like you know, a real laptop case. I mean, it is a real laptop case.

Close-up of the adorable fabric. Apparently it was imported from Japan, and it cost me $30/m (read: EXPENSIVE) But looking at it makes me happy, so I suppose it's worth it, since I've been bringing my laptop around everyday, and I take naps on it during lectures.

My macbook sitting happily on the desk with its new cover on.

Oh and this was my tidied and re-decorated desk! Back in March. Months have passed and it no longer looks as neat...and those are cork/wood coasters stuck on the walls as decoration in an attempt to be y'know, quirky. And also an attempt to make use of some of the useless things I buy and chuck somewhere. The coasters were picked up at a school bazaar a long time ago.

INSPIRATION ♥

gingerbread men by amy. this reminds me of the owl i made! gingerbread men are cute too. i shall make these for christmas.

noteboard

noteboard that a friend requested (: she wanted it in greens and yellows, but the fabric was really pretty, so it ended up being blue, green and yellow. i think it turned out pretty well (:

first time using a staple gun! bought a staple gun to staple the fabric and the strings on to the wooden board. it requires steady hands. i ended up having to hammer in the staples more...but it's a very handy thing to have.

an idea of what it's meant to look like...

badge: owl

an owl badge made of felt and stuffed with cotton, made for a friend (: she has named it marshall. i shall not comment on the name (it looks more like an oliver)

school has started, and this sem i shall be more busy than ever ):

sock doll: christmas bunny

this baby bunny was made on christmas day, so it shall (uninspiringly) be called CHRISTMAS.

adapted from the book Go Forward Happily: Sock Sewing in Danta's Classroom (快乐向前行:丹塔的袜子娃娃). he's really quite cool (you can check out his website here!)

cut up socks

stitched and stuffed

faceless

mummy amused herself with CHRISTMAS by making the bunny put on a mini tee printed with her jc photo

and then putting her to sleep

first 袜子娃娃! :D my stitches are really rather ugly. it was unexpectedly hard to sew, especially 'cause the short black threads from the knit of the socks kept dropping. and it was tough sewing neat backstitches too, so the mouth and whiskers of the bunny look rather messy. but oh well, first try. ♥ my christmas bunny (:

shoes: train & tracks v2

version 2! the train kind of became my favourite motif after i made the pair of shoes for my sis. and apparently i'm not the only one who thinks it's cute, 'cause this design was requested by a girlfriend of mine (: this was made for her birthday this year.

removed the elastic strap, painted the rim red, and added some trees to the side

and i sewed the felt pieces down this time too.

oh and subsequently she decided to attach red ribbons from the side of the shoes (from the rim) so that she could tie a bow in the middle, and i thought that was rather cute, but i don't have pictures of them, so try to imagine...

shoes: train & tracks

one of the first pairs of shoes i ever made. this was for my younger sister, and she requested for it to have something to do with trains. i loved it when i completed them, they just looked so cheery. my sis loved them too (:

left shoe - train

right shoe - tracks

shoes: teatime

shoes i made for one of my best girlfriends as a birthday present (: i was inspired to sew a pair of teatime-themed flats for her 'cause she loves teatime as much as i do. really, what better way to spend an afternoon than having a chat over a cup of tea and a slice of cake? or simply, just a cup of tea, nice pastry and a good book. my idea of a perfect afternoon.

in truth, the felt pieces were rather hard to sew on, having turned stiff from the glue used to stick on the fabric. towards the end it was only with sheer force and the aid of a thimble that i managed to poke the needle in at all. but the result was pretty satisfying. the shoes turned out pretty sweet (: