June 6, 2008

Friday Archives: elephant evolution

Once again I'm joining the Friday Archive fun over at Loobylu with a project from my (not so distant) past.
Do elephants wear plaid?
A year or so ago, after seeing herds of little elephants on Etsy and this documentary, I decided I needed to make an elephant softie. I printed out some photos of elephants and traced a simplified outline as my pattern. There were a few aborted attempts as I worked through the proportions before I finished this little guy. He was a little skinny, and his trunk was kind of wonky, but I thought he was cute.
Grey & pink
His sister turned out a little softer and rounder, although she was a little unsteady on her feet as her center of gravity wasn't quite right. More research was conducted into how other people made stuffed animals to determine the correct proportions for optimal "cuteness." Shorter and wider seemed to be a theme so a few more iterations of pattern adjustment along with a few more half-finished elephant carcass rejects.
flower elephant.jpg
Finally, this little girl emerged with all the softness and squat proportions that I was going for. Just in time to be given as a new baby gift along with a few embellished onsies. I was so thrilled to see my little elephant on the changing table when we went to visit a few weeks later. Sometimes I worry when giving a handmade gift that the recipient won't see it the way I do, but this gal seemed to be getting lots of love.

3 comments:

Caitlin said...

She's way cute! I love the stitching around the ears.

One Shabby Chick said...

They are all adorable but I do think that last little sweetie is too cute!

Java Venus said...

She is really cute!