Ruth Bader Ginsberg: The Value of Trial and Error

The Ruth Bader Ginsberg "DISSENT" ornament was one of the first I made. I had a Notorious RBG maternity shirt, and when I wanted to see if I could do faces it was my first crack at it.

RBG--first attempt.

Not bad for a first crack at it. But then I made a bunch more ornaments and this one--though really popular--was bugging me a little bit. I had learned not to accidentally split a stitch on small details (you can see that her "lace" collar is pretty wonky in places), that thinner, stiffer felt works much better for lettering, and better techniques for doing eyes.

So I decided to give it another shot and got this:

RBG -- Second attempt.

Much better eyes. Thicker, denser face felt, more conscientious collar stitching. Incorporating my husband's feedback that the letters were a bit hard to read, I included the center stitch that I had been including on more recent ornaments.

Here's the before and after:

I think I'd make the center-stitch a light grey color, were I going to improve this a bit more.

Free Patterns: Crest of Hyrule, Weeping Angel, Saved By the Bell, Julia Child Badge

I'm posting more free patterns. These are mostly by request/made as gifts and are either too simple to bother selling or have copyright issues that make me not want to do so (or I think interest will be low).

So here are free patterns! You get a reference picture, supply list, and full-size pattern pieces by clicking on the links (either title or picture) and downloading/printing the PDFs from my google drive.

Step-by-step instructions are not included because they're time-consuming to write--but you can always email me--craftsubversive@gmail.com--if you have questions.

The Crest of Hyrule (Legend of Zelda)

Weeping Angel (Doctor Who)

Julia Child's Cooking Badge

Saved By the Bell Logo

More free patterns--Leia, Yoda, and a Minion--can be found here.

Current Times Call for Current Measures

I had mentioned in this post that I had considered making an Elizabeth Warren ornament, but that she wasn't distinct-enough looking. There also weren't any short, pithy, memorable Warren-associated phrases that would overcome the recognizability issue.

Enter current events. Hello, current events. Elizabeth Warren tried to read a letter from Coretta Scott King giving facts that applied to why Sessions was a bad choice for Attorney General. And she was silenced. Banned from speaking.

McConnell stated: "She was warned. She was given and explanation. Nevertheless, she persisted."

Boy howdy. Hullo Elizabeth Warren ornament. Your silencing has become a battle cry.

Free Patterns: Leia, Yoda, Minion

I ended up creating quite a few ornament patterns at the requests of others or as gifts. These patterns don't necessarily contain original (non-licensed/public) characters--so I don't feel quite comfortable selling the patterns. In some cases they were just really simple so I don't feel like they're worth selling.

However--since they're already designed I might as well share them. Simply click on the links to open the PDF patterns in google drive (anyone with a link may open, download, etc.)

The PDFs contain a supply list, reference picture, design picture, and full-sized pattern pieces. They do NOT, however, contain step-by-step instructions. (This is what takes a *lot* of time with my patterns.)

You can email me (craftsubversive@gmail.com) if you have questions or need assistance. However, with the lack of instructions in mind, these might be better for slightly-above-novice crafters.

Cartoony Leia

Cartoony Yoda

Minion

Have fun! There will be a few more freebie patterns to come.

Firefly Finger Puppets!

AKA: Ain't nobody got time for Simon Tam.

I just posted a pattern for these Firefly finger puppets. Hello Captain Mal, Inara, Wash, Zoe, River, Jayne, Kaylee and Shepherd Book!

I originally designed the finger puppets to be part of a page in a Firefly busy book (that I'm still working on designing). However, a Firefly-fan-friend needed a Christmas present, so I made them and gave them to him. There will be more finger puppets to come (Star Trek TOS characters and some Star Trek TNG supplemental characters--the TNG busy book I originally made from someone else's pattern had no female characters at all. So.).

Now I have to make a second set for my busy book, so I'm looking at improvements.
Mal, Wash, and Kaylee are all really good.

Shepherd Book, Zoe and Jayne are recognizable but on a level just below Mal, Wash, and Kaylee.

Inara and River? Pretty generic. There's a reason I didn't do Simon Tam--he's totally generic. I'm not sure what to do with Inara and River, frankly. Inara might benefit from a less cartoonish lip. River might need hair that doesn't look sort of like dreads. I could make an alternate party-Kaylee and an alternate freed-hair Shepherd Book, too.

Oh, and Saffron, I feel, could be included. Cleavage stitching might need to be employed.

Other finger puppet sets I'm considering making:

• PBS Pack (Mr. Rogers, Bob Ross, Julia Child)
• Star Trek captain series (Kirk, Picard, Sisko, Janeway, Archer)
• ABBA (Because, well, why not.)
• Golden Girls (let's be honest...I should probably do a whole busy book page design for that)
• All 12 Doctor Who Doctors (and some supporting characters--though, frankly, this is a market that has some play in this space already. Whovians are crafty.)

As I say. When I start doing a thing, I really DO a thing. 

Techniques: Eyes, Part 2

Tina's eyes are...not ideal. I mean, not her. Her felt representation.

As I mentioned in a previous post, eyes have been difficult for me. The best technique I came up with was to cut out an eye hole, carefully cut out an iris (which is hard, because it's tiny), glue the iris in, and then stuff little fluffy bits of spare white felt in to fill the whites of the eyes.

This technique tended to work better on brown or tan felt "skin" than on cream "skin".

It looks pretty good on Neil deGrasse Tyson, for instance. 

I decided to take a bit of a risk and try something different. Behold, the technique of stitching the top part of the eye and then making a french knot for the eye itself:

Wellstone!

Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony

What I get is a greater amount of eye precision (though French knots can be tricky if your thread decides to get weirdly bumpy or oddly shaped in your knot) without looking like it's too raised up from the page (causing a pop-eye).

This didn't really work when I stitched the lower part of the eye:

Bob Ross looks...kind of creepy this way.

I'm wondering if I should re-do my patterns with this instruction (or maybe just an alternate method description). It will likely, however, get too confusing. So I should just commit to one method or the other.