Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Teddy Wolf (Five-Way Jointed Gray Wolf)


Credits to: Silver Seams
Disclaimer: No copyright infringement intended. All rights are property of the proper artist. 

The outside edges of all the patterns are sewing lines - YOU MUST ADD SEAM ALLOWANCES. The inner circles on the limbs are the recommended joint sizes.




Head - This is a fairly generic canine head as is, so with some changes in fabric type and perhaps ear shape he could be turned into all sorts of different dogs (in fact, I slightly narrowed the muzzle and am making a teddy samoyed at the moment). For the felted version, I made the head out of wool felt, then made a second out of fur to cover everything but the muzzle/face area, slipped it over the felt like a bonnet, and stitched it down. This let me trim the fur fabric to exactly where I wanted it (before stitching, that is) because I wasn't pleased with how the felting needle handled it. I also added an open mouth by cutting the felt (after lightly stuffing the head to decide where I wanted it) and then tracing the inside of the mouth onto cardstock (see Nancy's book for more detail). Then I needle felted the face on, including the eyes (because I didn't have any gold eyes and I was impatient).


Body - This is a four-piece A-line body. Only the side piece is given (cut two, one reversed). Cut that pattern piece in half and mirror each half for the front and back patterns (coincidentally, the half with the "front" seam marked is the front). It makes for a very fat little wolf, so for the samoyed I think I printed it at 100% height, 80% width or so, and I'd recommend this for long pile fur, or if you're using a knit-back fabric without backing.

Tail - This is a simple one-piece tail (the pattern is folded so it fits in the picture). For placement, attach after the legs have been put on, and while the wolf is seated. (You don't want to sew on the tail and then find out he can't sit down.)


Arms/Legs - Pay no attention to the working lines behind the curtain. That is, except for the inner circles, which will give you a guideline for joint disc size. For the pictured wolf, I pieced the inner arms, making a separate paw pad piece out of the white felt, and then used the wolf tracks to felt the paw pads on. They're fully dimensional, but you may choose to just cut pads out of black felt and sew or glue them on.

No comments:

Post a Comment