Well, as fate would have it, my very first What’s Up Wednesday post is already a day late. But I thought I would post it today anyway. I am hoping to get on top of things before next week.
What’s Up in the studio right now? Lots and lots of my Taggy Giraffes, my original design. These cute little, labor intensive Giraffe’s of mine are fast becoming my bestseller – flying out the door almost as fast as I can make them, photograph them and post them online.
I made a batch of gender neutral / masculine one’s last time – so thought I would throw a few more feminine prints and colours into the mix this time, to satisfy the girly girls among us too.
I am not sure which part of this process is the most time consuming, as each step seems to take a while. There’s just no way to cut these out quickly – even with a rotary cuter. I seem to also spend a great deal of time sifting through my boxes and boxes of fabric choices (note to self – don’t buy more fabric!) looking for the best combination of prints, without being too matchy matchy.
I have a jar of pre-cut taggys, which helps speed things up a little – but then choosing the 10 taggys that feel right with both prints is what takes the time. Sometimes I decide very quickly, other times not so much. I go back and fourth wondering which colours will work best and decide which order to sew them in.
Decisions, decisions, decisions!
Once chosen, each taggy is painstakingly pinned into place, together with my Gus and Ollie tag for a tail. Once pinned and after quite a few jabs to my finger tips, I take them over to the sewing machine.
The entire giraffe is double seamed all the way around, to make it and the taggys extra tough. The sewing itself becomes a juggling act between trying not to jab my fingers some more and making sure the taggys are secure but also visible. This leaves a very narrow margin for error.
Next is the joyous part of trying to turn this now skinny and tiny giraffe skin inside out for ironing. A chopstick comes in handy for this part and as it’s slowly pushed inside out, each taggy reveals itself like a little rainbow of surprise.
Once both sides have been ironed, my trusty chopstick comes back into play, ready for the stuffing. The stuffing process is probably my least favourite part, albeit knowing I am on the home stretch. It never ceases to amaze me, just how much stuffing fits inside these guys. I do like them to be firm, but not lumpy – which means a gradual build up of stuffing, while maintaining the air inside it is needed.
The result is some gorgeous, firmly stuffed friends ready for grabbing and chewing as well as being robust enough to throw into the washing machine. The very last step is to sew up their bellies by hand and voila!
I hope you like my new range – there are still more to come and I know every baby that has received one of my Taggy Giraffe‘s has loved them. They’re the perfect size for babies to hold, they love to sink their sore little teething gums into them and Mums & Dads love them too, because there light, fit in the nappy bag and best of all, are washable.
This batch will be listed in my Etsy Shop as soon as their bellies have been sewn and I have photographed them. If you can already see one you’d like – email me now and I shall reserve it for you. It can be in the post next week!
Have a lovely rest of your week,
Gus and Ollie 