When I was a kid, my mom had The Women's Day Book of Soft Toys and Dolls. Joan Russell was the author/designer of these - and for years she published patterns in Women's Day. (There are some that weren't collected in the book).
The book was a series of "themes." There was a Noah's Ark with all kinds of small animals (we made a number of those as gifts through the years - many of them were the right size for a baby to hold). There was a set of Little Women dolls. And a set of cats and one of dogs.
I really liked one of the dogs - Basil the basset hound. I was pretty young at the time - six or seven - and wasn't allowed to use the sewing machine yet, and because he was a good-sized toy, the thought of doing ALLLLLL that hand sewing was too daunting. So as I remember, my mom offered me a choice of fabrics and she did most of the sewing of the pieces on her machine, and then I stuffed him, attached the limbs, and did the face.
I had lost track of Basil over the years and thought maybe he was gone forever, but when my mom and I were looking for some fabric in the basement over this most recent break, I found him in a box.
I decided to give a try at washing him - I figured, he had been lost to me before so if anything bad happened in the washing machine, it wasn't as great a loss as it would have been for something I had been close to for the past 25 years or so. (And not-washing was out of the question; this was a somewhat musty basement in which mice had been, though I do not think they got into the box where Basil was stored).
And I should have thought of the indestructibility of double-knit. Because that's what Basil is made of:
I can't remember now if I *really liked* this fabric, or it was the best of the choices I was offered. (As far as I know, no one in the family actually had clothing made of this pattern. I think it was one my mom got on a good sale somewhere).
But yeah: double-knit is tough and will stand up well to washing. (I THINK I have heard of quilting groups asking for donations of it to make lap robes for places like nursing homes where stuff gets pretty indiscriminately washed on hot in industrial machines).
And, if anything, the stuffing he was stuffed with fluffed out a little upon washing and drying, it certainly held up fine (this probably testifies to the quality of polyfill vs. that lint-based stuffing a lot of commercial stuffed toys in the 1970s and 80s seemed to use)
I'm pleased he made it through the washing. And I realize now he matches my sofa, so that's where he's going to live, as a sort of sofa cushion.
He's a good-sized critter:
I know my mom did all of the seams. I can see evidence of my work, though: I attached the legs and the tail, I can see the big, impatient, not-matching-thread stitches like I sewed when I was a kid. It makes me smile because now I'm a lot more careful about matching colors but I admit if I'm tired or just trying to finish something up my stitches can get a little big and sloppy.
I also did the face myself. I chose the buttons (blue ones for the eyes; a coat button for the nose). The whites of the eyes are some kind of weird little circular mending-piece (I think they were meant to be ironed on, as reinforcements) my mom had. The tongue is felt, and that was the one thing I was concerned wouldn't survive washing in the machine, because I was always told felt wasn't washable - but I guess it was good sturdy old felt because it survived fine; I just had to re-anchor it because the stitches I used to attach it broke.
I also embroidered a mouth, but it's using sewing thread and is almost the same color as the fabric so it doesn't show up in photos.
1 comment:
that dog is ADORABLE! I am so glad he survived his trip thru the washer.
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