My 5-year-old son has a thing for cats. For years, his favorite stuffed animals have been two cats named (accurately if not imaginatively) Fat Kitty and Skinny Kitty. He has an assortment of Garfields from my husband’s childhood, and of course the Huckle I made him for his birthday. He also likes to “read” Calvin and Hobbes, so I decided to make him a Hobbes stuffed animal for Christmas.
Looking back, it only took me three evenings to make, but it seems like much longer! The orange plush was very annoying to work with (and is more hunter blaze orange than pumpkin orange). I ended up using the same Simplicity baby doll pattern I used for Huckle. I altered it by scanning the pattern, then laying it on top of an enlarged picture of Hobbes in Photoshop. That worked fine until I realized that in doing so, I made the neck opening too small to be able to sew the head on as directed. So I had to sew the head on by hand after it was stuffed. Luckily, the wretched orange plush hides all the stitches. I sewed strips of black fleece to the orange before assembling the pieces, and then found it impossible to line them up when sewing the arms and legs together. And I’m sure there will be orange and white fuzz floating around my house well into 2010.
I’ve decided that I worked too hard on this to let Santa take credit. But I’m curious… how do you fellow crafters handle gifts that you make for your own children for Christmas? Do you let Santa take credit or do you give them as gifts from yourself?
Happy Holidays to all of you… especially those who helped me with encouraging comments and advice months ago when I first started this blog.
Cute! I haven’t posted my Christmas gift crafts yet, but I have to say I take the credit when I give them to the kids. Too much work not to, yes! Also, invariably the kids have seen the materials floating around the house, so they know they can’t have come from the North Pole. And sometimes I accidentally leave out half-finished projects, blowing my cover entirely. It never seems to ruin the fun, though.
Hi I’ve just found your blog by happy chance and Love all the crafts. As to taking the credit for hand crafted gifts at Christmas, definately! As a child I remember how special it made me feel if someone had put a lot of effort into making me a gift and I want my sons to feel that and appreciate it too. It also means that they can say thank you. It’s still just as magical as it would be if it had come from Father Christmas because of the love thats gone into making it.