Friday 25 September 2015

oink

So I made a pig.  Mum bought the pattern and an FQ of fabric at the Festival of Quilts and asked me to make him for her. He is weighted down and holds a basket for threads.  I'm not sure what made me decide he was a he.  It's not like he caused my any trouble at all.  Do you randomly assign things as male or female or is it just me?



The pattern is by Cross Patch.  I've got no idea who designed the fat quarter as it was selvedge-less.  I had an urge to sew and, coincidentally it was an empty Sunday so off I went.




The pattern was quite good, other than it didn't give any instructions at all for making the nose!  As you can see in the photo above, the snout is rounded, but pigs have a flat nose and the pig in the photo had a flat nose.  There was even a template to cut his nose out of felt.  I wung it and it was fine.




The eyes are embroidered on, I'm not that happy with them, but you can barely see them as the ears flop over the top all the time anyway.  Another thing overlooked by the pattern designer is a tail and I didn't think to add one in.  This could be a Manx pig.



There is supposed to be a yo-yo on his bum somewhere, but having made the yo-yo as instructed, I thought it looked silly on his bum so I left it off.  It was my first ever yo-yo.  And my last.  Don't like them.


I used a Tilda fabric to line the basket in mum's other favourite colour.  She's going to use it when she's beadweaving to catch all the bits of beading thread that get cut off.  She also said she'd use it for keeping her scissors in after finding a small collection down the side of the sofa cushion.


He's weighed down with aquarium gravel so sits very sturdily and securely on a table top, waiting for bits of loose thread.  At the end of the pattern I was instructed to sew the basket tabs to the bottom of the rabbit's feet.  Good job I didn't get confused and go and sew up a rabbit...




If you are a pattern designer, can I suggest proof-readers??

15 comments:

Oops-Lah said...

What a cutie! Had to laugh at your post title ;)!

Sharon - creativity and family said...

He is rather cute and would make a great bin. x

Flickenstichlerin said...

Too cute, love th elittle pig.
Greetings,
Sylvia

Bethany said...

Haha--I not only assign gender, I give everything a name!

Rachel said...

You are quite right. But good proof readers are expensive, and pattern designing isn't lucrative...!
He looks very sweet and sturdy. And no, you are't the only one to assign names and genders at random to things. My laptop is male (he's called Crichton, after The Admirable Crichton, in hopes that he will get the idea!) while my tablet is female...

Jo Ferguson said...

I have to admit that I'm not a yo-yo person, either. Love the pig, though, and think it's a wonderfully whimsical way to hold threads.

Jane said...

He might have caused a few problems, but he is lovely, great fabric.

Anonymous said...

Your pig is so cute, love the fabric too!

ukcitycrafter@live.co.uk

Kerryp77 said...

He's fab! I don't just assign gender, I like to name random stuff too. The heavy duty stapler at work is called Margaret!

margaret said...

he looks very happy sitting there holding his bag. I so agree it is so annoying when there are errors in patterns, it must put a beginner off as they will not know how to adapt if there are instructions missing etc.

Sarah in Stitches said...

LOL... They definitely needed a proof-reader! Love your little pig, he looks so cute :D

Sandra :) said...

You should notify the designer of any error(s) you find - the good ones don't want to send out patterns with errors, so they'd appreciate the heads up. The bad ones - well - they deserve a kick in the behind :D Actually I'm appalled at how many patterns and books are being published with mistakes - apparentyl proofreading and pattern testing are lost arts now :(

Mr. Piggy is very cute, and useful! I'm wondering ... perhaps we should send his photo and a sexy bio to Miss Piggy? I hear she's available now! She's high maintenance, but I bet your guy could make her go weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee weeee weee weeeeeeeeeee allllllllllll the way home - if he put his mind to it :)

Janine @ Rainbow Hare said...

This pig is fantastic - I love him :)

Anita said...

I find the same thing with some latest knitting patterns. Half the
time you have to guess things. I feel your frustration. It puts you
off a bit.
Cheers, Anita.

Sheryl said...

Love the pig, he looks great.