Plushie Hats completed so far
It has been a while since I last posted, and I know it's been a month but I have an excuse! I was busy making the hats! It was surprisingly easier than I thought it would be, granted, making the templates were a bit fiddly, and I had to make a few designs and through trial and error I figured out how to make the details, like the ears or markings, and eyes and whatnot, fit and resemble more of the designs I had in mind instead of something that was not a hat. Anyway, some pictures of the completed works so far:
The Pooki Hat
I decided that for my hats that they would have eyes and noses and blushing marks but no mouths, I tried to make mouths but cutting it out of felt was too time-consuming and fiddly, and if you cut it wrong then the hats would smile weird, so better (for me) to not have mouths on the hats at all - unless it was a hat that really needed a mouth for it to be what it is, like a pacman hat or something. For the Pooki hat I used yellow fleece, but maybe I'll try a light brown colour next time, the yellow is too bright and it looks more like a pikachu dog rather than just a dog *sigh* but i liked making the studs for the collar! My dog actually has a red collar too and a black name tag, but no studs, he's too much of a softie to sport studs.
Toothless Hat
I like how this one turned out, but the ears flop everywhere, have to figure out a way to make them stay upright without having to resort to using wire, I'm worried that if I use a wire frame in the ears, and attach it to a wire circlet under the hat that it would be too uncomfortable to wear, not to mention the danger of maybe having a stray wire poke you in the head. I'll have to figure out a way to sew on the ears so that it perks up somehow.
Panda Hat
I actually made a purple and black panda one for my sister, although the one pictured above is the first one I made.
She really likes pandas, so now she wears the one I made to sleep in, like a night cap.
The Fox hat
This one was pretty popular with my friends, not sure why it is, but I did make one for a friend for their birthday. At their birthday party, another friend of her's ended up wearing it all night, and it was a costume party too, with an 80's theme, so the hat was kind of out of place - but it was pretty awesome to have people tell me that the hat is cute and that it looks good ^_^ mission accomplished! I can make decent hats :D
The Flop-eared Bunny Hat
I wonder if the ears are too long? Or too short? This hat takes up alot of fabric to make though, the ears! Goodness the ears may be a bit too wide.
The Cow Hat
This one turned out ok, not really happy with the horns yet, and considering if the cow needs a bell on the front or not ... hmm, at least that would be easy to make, just hot glue some felt on that is shaped like a bell
The Leila (Cat) Hat
My cat is multi-coloured, and she's a sweet cat, unfortunately it would be too difficult to get all her colours into this hat, since her fur is white, orange, brown, grey with black stripes randomly everywhere in patches, so I just settled on orange, white and brown with some black markings, but the markings on the face is exactly how she looks, so I'm happy.
The Jasper (Cat) Hat
This one was easier compared to the Leila hat, since Jasper is only black and white, his nose is black though, but on the hat you won't see his nose otherwise so pink nose it is!! But here is a picture of them, to kind of explain my inspiration for the cat hats ^_^
They totally commandeered my bed, but aren't they adorable?
Pikachu Hat
This hat I made for a friend of mine, he really likes Pikachu, and even though I previously didn't plan to make one, it was easy enough to make a template for the ears and the brown markings for the back of the hat, the ears flop around, but Pikachu can twitch his ears everywhere so I left it at that. I heard that my friend actually was driving around in his car wearing this, so pretty pleased that he likes it.
I'm planning on designing a few more hats, like a tiger hat, and some fruit hats, like apples, strawberries, oranges, things like that. I'm not too big on the idea of making Pikachu hats for the Wai-con, if I do become a trader, since then I would have to make more Pokemon themed hats, and that may just be one too many designs to make. Not too big on the Toothless hat either in that context, since these are from anime and movies, and I'm not sure if I should capitalise on something that isn't my design or idea - hmm, don't know what I will decide. It may be fine to make one or two as gifts or maybe commissions, but not as a mass thing.
Also, I've been thinking of making some mobile phone charms or handbag charms, I was browsing the net and stumbled across some charms made out of polymer clay, a type of clay that can be fired using a normal everyday oven, opposed to the normal clay that used a kiln - which I don't have - and was intrigued. I loved using clay and making things out of them when I was in school, but never thought I would have the chance to again, since I don't have a kiln, nor do I know how to get access to one. But this seems doable. I will have to see if I can get my hands on that type of clay, and if I can make them
^_^
The Pooki Hat
I decided that for my hats that they would have eyes and noses and blushing marks but no mouths, I tried to make mouths but cutting it out of felt was too time-consuming and fiddly, and if you cut it wrong then the hats would smile weird, so better (for me) to not have mouths on the hats at all - unless it was a hat that really needed a mouth for it to be what it is, like a pacman hat or something. For the Pooki hat I used yellow fleece, but maybe I'll try a light brown colour next time, the yellow is too bright and it looks more like a pikachu dog rather than just a dog *sigh* but i liked making the studs for the collar! My dog actually has a red collar too and a black name tag, but no studs, he's too much of a softie to sport studs.
Toothless Hat
I like how this one turned out, but the ears flop everywhere, have to figure out a way to make them stay upright without having to resort to using wire, I'm worried that if I use a wire frame in the ears, and attach it to a wire circlet under the hat that it would be too uncomfortable to wear, not to mention the danger of maybe having a stray wire poke you in the head. I'll have to figure out a way to sew on the ears so that it perks up somehow.
Panda Hat
I actually made a purple and black panda one for my sister, although the one pictured above is the first one I made.
She really likes pandas, so now she wears the one I made to sleep in, like a night cap.
The Fox hat
This one was pretty popular with my friends, not sure why it is, but I did make one for a friend for their birthday. At their birthday party, another friend of her's ended up wearing it all night, and it was a costume party too, with an 80's theme, so the hat was kind of out of place - but it was pretty awesome to have people tell me that the hat is cute and that it looks good ^_^ mission accomplished! I can make decent hats :D
The Flop-eared Bunny Hat
I wonder if the ears are too long? Or too short? This hat takes up alot of fabric to make though, the ears! Goodness the ears may be a bit too wide.
The Cow Hat
This one turned out ok, not really happy with the horns yet, and considering if the cow needs a bell on the front or not ... hmm, at least that would be easy to make, just hot glue some felt on that is shaped like a bell
The Leila (Cat) Hat
My cat is multi-coloured, and she's a sweet cat, unfortunately it would be too difficult to get all her colours into this hat, since her fur is white, orange, brown, grey with black stripes randomly everywhere in patches, so I just settled on orange, white and brown with some black markings, but the markings on the face is exactly how she looks, so I'm happy.
The Jasper (Cat) Hat
This one was easier compared to the Leila hat, since Jasper is only black and white, his nose is black though, but on the hat you won't see his nose otherwise so pink nose it is!! But here is a picture of them, to kind of explain my inspiration for the cat hats ^_^
They totally commandeered my bed, but aren't they adorable?
Pikachu Hat
This hat I made for a friend of mine, he really likes Pikachu, and even though I previously didn't plan to make one, it was easy enough to make a template for the ears and the brown markings for the back of the hat, the ears flop around, but Pikachu can twitch his ears everywhere so I left it at that. I heard that my friend actually was driving around in his car wearing this, so pretty pleased that he likes it.
I'm planning on designing a few more hats, like a tiger hat, and some fruit hats, like apples, strawberries, oranges, things like that. I'm not too big on the idea of making Pikachu hats for the Wai-con, if I do become a trader, since then I would have to make more Pokemon themed hats, and that may just be one too many designs to make. Not too big on the Toothless hat either in that context, since these are from anime and movies, and I'm not sure if I should capitalise on something that isn't my design or idea - hmm, don't know what I will decide. It may be fine to make one or two as gifts or maybe commissions, but not as a mass thing.
Also, I've been thinking of making some mobile phone charms or handbag charms, I was browsing the net and stumbled across some charms made out of polymer clay, a type of clay that can be fired using a normal everyday oven, opposed to the normal clay that used a kiln - which I don't have - and was intrigued. I loved using clay and making things out of them when I was in school, but never thought I would have the chance to again, since I don't have a kiln, nor do I know how to get access to one. But this seems doable. I will have to see if I can get my hands on that type of clay, and if I can make them
^_^