Two By Two

Now that I shared with all of you that were expecting a little baby boy, I can share a little project I just completed for his nursery. After seeing some adorable giraffes on Esty, I thought it would be fun to attempt make one for my baby's nursery. I think handmade baby gifts add a bit of whimsy to nurseries. I did a simple Google search and came across a pattern on Womans Day. Oh how I love Google!!

I headed to Joann's a few Saturday's ago armed with 50% off coupon ( I swear buy coupons now) looking for the perfect 'giraffe' fabric. I came across not to floral print in the quilt section { Tabari was with me } and he agreed the print was cool and would make a cool giraffe. I'm glad I got the big brother to be approval. Originally I planned on making two matching giraffes, but thought the same print in a different color would look amazing! I went with blue and green. I like that the giraffes will be in a bright saturated color. Here's the fabric I choose. I decided to do the gusset { under belly } in a solid green fabric, I call this color artichoke/inside avocado its also a quilting fabric. I'm pretty much in love with this shade of green. 

I thought the giraffe was darling the designer made, however I wanted to put my own stamp on it, so I made a few little tweaks. I added a mane using little white baby poms { which are the cutest thing ever } Instead of buying 'what I needed' for only a $ 1.99 I bought a role of pom poms for future projects, don't know for what yet. I also decided to add a flat fat tail and opted not to stitch eyes. 

I followed the directions and enlarged the giraffe pattern 200% and cut the paper pieces out and then placed each pattern on top of the fabric and cut.

I've never sewn anything so small before and with so many curves { on a sewing machine } so this was a challenge for me. I would say the giraffe was machine sewn and hand sewn about 50 / 50. The upper was machine sewn { mane hand sewn }  and the lower half was and hand sewn. Which made it easier for me, since I was attaching a middle piece 'gusset' so the giraffe would be able to stand. I also hand sewn the ears on, they were tricky!! But I like how they look they give them more character.

Here's the two giraffes I made standing side, or two by two. I love how the pom pom mane gives these little guys so much detail and looks darling. I made the blue one first and its far from perfect, its underbelly needed a little outside stitching, I underestimated the seam allowance, but tit stands it still looks cute.  Thats whats important to me. The green one, is pretty much perfect.

I love that the artichoke belly & fabric pattern ties both of them together.

Here's a close up of the white pom pom mane. The pom poms add fun and charm to the giraffe, making it even cuter.

Here's how thier ears look close up and thier faces. I love that the fabric I choose gives face extra demension.

I so excited to place these two in the nursery, but for now they are kicking it in the living room, standing two by two. 

I loved sewing these little giraffes and seeing how they turned out after being stuffed. I'm taking orders :) lol I also saw a cute How To for a stuffed puppy, also on Womans Day. I might end up making that one too. Of course I have a few other sewing projects for the nursery I'm working on, so stay tuned. 

What do you think? What stuffed animal would you love to sew/ have sewn for you?