Finally.

Sometimes the time that elapses between the desire to create something and the actual finished piece can be quite lengthy. Way back in 2008 when I started Ordinary Mommy the second hair clip I released was a whale. I love whales. They are such big, beautiful, graceful, and mysterious creatures. As a matter of fact, all five of us are pretty smitten with them. Over the years I also created whale necklaces, and a wee whale hair pin, but for the last year I've been desperately wanting to design soft sculpture whales for the shop. It was always in the back of my mind, and I would work on the idea here and there. It can get frustrating to make patterns from scratch without a background in design or any formal training. I wanted them to be mine, without being influenced by other pattern makers, so I avoided looking at pattern books. Something finally clicked in my brain last week. I knew I was ready.

I started by making a rough mock-up with paper, and taping the pieces together. This way I not only avoid wasting a lot of felt, but it's much quicker to tape pieces together as opposed to stitching everything. This is a very rough estimate as to how a pattern is going to work, so once I began to cut into the felt I found that it still needed just a bit more tweaking.

These little fellas are rather time-consuming, but I'm so pleased with the final product. Wire has been sewn into their tales to make them bendable, and each whale has one of a kind markings. I hope you enjoy them too! The blue whale can be found here, and the beluga is available here.  

// Please remember that these designs are my original work and may not be copied or reproduced without my express permission.