Menagerie Workshop and Shop Update!

Hello everyone, and - for those who celebrate it in North America at this time of the year - an early happy Thanksgiving!

I had so much fun at last week's Menagerie workshop. I learned so much from the process of prepping and teaching the class, as well as from my four joyful, competent participants. All skilled seamstresses, they were focused, patient, asked fabulous questions and worked with great determination for four hours to make stuffed toys together. We started out in the "do this next" step-by-step way of traditional classroom sequences and then very quickly, each participants found their own pace and rhythm, so that what was left for me was to wander around the room and enjoy watching them instinctively assemble their plushie from its disparate parts (and occasionally poke my nose in their business to see if they needed any help).

Oh, how I've missed being in a classroom! I loved the intimate size of this class, which allowed us to chat randomly between sewing an arm, or a tail, or to demo a particular technique one-on-one. So, so, fun. There was a lot of prep to do beforehand, not only of the materials we'd be working on, but even more so to anticipate the best way to teach someone in a brand new setting, with equipment and technology I'd not been accustomed to using. I mean, for the past couple of decades, my mode of instruction with you guys has been tutorials and photodocumentation. And before that, when I was a high school teacher, there were still chalkboards and white boards and OHPs and transparencies (remember those? Sooooo funny). 

Of all the things I've learned as a teacher, the most vital is this: different learning speeds. These days, we talk about different learning styles: visual, auditory, kinesthetic, and I can't remember the others. But more fundamental is the challenge of presenting the same instructional material to a group of learners who, because each is an individual, will process that material at varying rates. And as instinct leads us to slow down for the student with the most furrowed brow, this concept was drilled into us in teaching college; some professor would always be asking, at some point or other, regardless of whether it was a Science or English or Phy Ed teacher's course, "And how will you ensure that the quick learners will not get bored?" 

I almost went the way of the powerpoint presentation, let me confess. I thought I'd run a slideshow of enormous annotated photos detailing each step to guide most of the class even as I backtracked to an earlier stage to review a particularly fiddly technique with others. 

Thank the stars I didn't. Instead: handouts. Which looked just like one of my blog tutorials, with color photos and do-this-do-that in accompanying text. Did it involve more prep work? Sure, but it was worth it. Some participants followed the instructions, others deviated as they felt creative, and anyone could be on whatever page fit their speed most comfortably. 

My one regret is not thinking to take photos. Grrr! I was so focused on being present during those four-plus hours, that I didn't imagine I might want to share that experience with you guys in this post after. I did take one quick shot - just one, and only because I thought the husband and kids might like to see what it all was like - and the participants have kindly let me share it here:

I wish I'd taken photos of the setup of the room, the various animal displays of both Season 1 and Season 2 Menagerie critters, and the sewing tables stocked with notions and materials at the start of the class. When I got home, I recreated the shot I would've taken:

If I ran this workshop again in the future, I'll be sure to do a better job photodocumenting it! I also need to record all the things I'd tweak and those that worked wonderfully, because the learning process for me was at least as exciting as being able to teach in person again. One of the things that really surprised me was how much I liked cutting out pieces of fabric for the participant kits. It felt like mass-producing (which you all know I adore) but without the actual making, and I had so much fun doing it that I made way more kits than I knew we'd need. It certainly gave the participants plenty of choices on the day of, but it was mostly because I wanted to keep going with the cutting and assembling. Well, now I have kits to put in my Etsy shop for you to buy if, unlike me, you actually disprefer cutting stuff out and just want to get right to the sewing!

There are three different Menagerie kits, and each contains almost all the materials and notions you'll need to make that animal, plus the templates so you can make more of that same animal after if you want. You'd only need to supply fiberfill stuffing and sewing thread. I'll include some instructions (you'll get a black-and-white printout with your order, and I'll email you the color PDF version). 

Here, I anticipate a question: Does the kit come with the sewing pattern?

To which I will say that the answer is a bit roundabout, so bear with me as I try to explain.

These kits are intended to be used with your Menagerie sewing pattern, so if you already own that, you'll find that the print instructions, particularly for the Rabbit and Ladybug, are very similar. If you don't, the print instructions accompanying each kit may be adequate if you already have some experience sewing stuffed animals. There might be some Menagerie terminology (like "rolled ear") that's new to you and which are explained in the Menagerie sewing pattern, but instinctive people will probably be able to work around it. 

You can buy the Menagerie Sewing Pattern here.

In order of challenge level, I'd say the Rabbit is the quickest sew in that it is a classic Menagerie animal with very simple surface details. The instructions are also pretty basic, with a couple of photos or diagrams.

The Ladybug also comes together quickly but because it deviates a little more from the classic four-appendage Menagerie animal, the accompanying instructions contain more detailed step-by-steps and photos.

The Grey Cat is a new variation on the original sleepy-eyed Season 1 cat, 

so the instructions are correspondingly much more detailed. I'd go as far as to say you wouldn't even need the Menagerie sewing pattern with this Cat kit - the instructions are more than adequate. 

And speaking of patterns, I'm thrilled to announce that you can now buy my Menagerie pattern book. In print! 

Limited numbers of physical copies are now in the shop. The pattern book is the same full-color thing as the popular PDF digital pattern, except in hardcopy, 

and spiral bound for your reading (and reference) pleasure. 

For those who want to sew something a little smaller, 

I'm relisting my Spring Bird kits, 

with the option to bundle them with the sewing pattern if you don't already own it. You can select the option in a drop-down menu and I will email you the PDF pattern file after your purchase is completed. 

Finally, and I'm super excited about this - for the first time ever, there are also some actual Menagerie critters in the shop! I've been hoarding all my prototypes since day 1, only some of whom have found space in my sewing room to live

but as I'm working through the documentation of Season 2, I've needed to make duplicates for the photos. The plan was to release all the duplicates when Menagerie 2 is finished, but I. Am. Running. Out. Of. Space. Plus, I want nothing more than for these animals to find better homes and other children (and adults) who will love them now. So this is the first wave; just seven, each uniquely handmade and one of its kind.

Axolotl

Beaver

Rabbit

Dilute Calico Cat

Grey Tabby Cat

Sperm Whale

Narwhal

Lots more photos with each listing in the shop.   I hope you stop by and find fun and creative gifts for yourself and someone you love!

More patterns in print

To clarify: no, I have not struck a business deal with a commercial printer to get my patterns sent to the far corners of the world. I mean that I am incrementally making hardcopies of my thus-far-only digital patterns. I have no idea why I didn't think to do this years ago. Maybe it never crossed my mind that something in softcopy might be nice to have in some concrete, tangible form.  Or maybe it did, but after running some calculations and balking at how much it would cost to actually print full-color books, I decided to deprioritize it till later. 

Well, later finally arrived. Last year, I sifted through countless printing companies insisting on minimums of 1000 copies and found one willing to make single prints. Hurrah! I uploaded a few files as a test-run of sorts, and was very pleased with how they turned out. You can read about that here.

The impetus for finally getting all this printing done was Menagerie. So, as I've been saying for who knows how long, I'm in the (very slow but sure) process of writing Menagerie 2. In contrast to the original Menagerie which I wrote in a few months in 2015, the sequel is taking years. Partly because my life is - surprisingly - so much busier with teenagers than I ever was with preschoolers and elementary kids, but also because the animals of Menagerie 2 are exponentially more complex and ambitious than the ones in the first installment. 

Giraffe, for Menagerie 2

Whale, for Menagerie 2

Unicorn, for Menagerie 2

As I documented each new animal and its instructions, I referred constantly to the original Menagerie pattern in order to keep the terminology consistent. It got to the point where I was opening the digital file so frequently that I realized how ridiculous it was to be speed-scrolling between pages 1 and 87 or toggling between tabs. What I needed was a printed book on the desk beside me as I worked on the computer, whose pages I could flip, preferably spiral bound so it would lay flat or folded behind itself. That was the motivation for the hardcopy version. And then, since I had committed to printing one pattern, why not throw in a few more?

This year, I sent a few more patterns to the printers. I suppose I could've printed all of them in one go, but it would've been a splurge, so I figured I'd pace myself and do just a few each year. The goal is by the time Menagerie 2 is finished, all the others will have been turned into hardcopy, too. This is the haul so far: nine, which is not quite halfway through the whole collection, but in time, we'll get there.

And now, I'm packing kits for the upcoming workshop. It's a ton of work but unexpectedly fun cutting out all these multicolored shapes. The floor of our basement living room was a riot of color and fleece scraps all last week. 

And besides, assembling kits is always hugely entertaining. All those little pieces and components that get to be organized in self-contained sets!

I get excited anticipating the participants' relief that they don't have to cut stuff out themselves and can instead jump right into the sewing and constructing.

Hope you guys are doing well. November can be gloomy here in Minnesota - it has none of the crisp brightness of October nor the magic of December and its sometimes pretty and well-timed snowfalls. Sandwiched between two far superior months, November can kinda be a downer, so I hope you're able to get some sunshine and fresh air, maybe even a fun creative project or two to spike those endorphins! Take good care of yourselves, friends!

I'm Teaching A Soft Toy Making Class!

Hey, everyone!

A quick post tonight to tell you about a class I'm teaching next month at the Textile Center in Minneapolis!  

It's a 4 hour workshop in which we'll be making soft toys together - specifically, Menagerie animals, but more generally, we'll be covering stuffed animal design and structure, techniques for making various appendages and how to use seams to attach those appendages. It's part Stuffed Toys 101, part sewalong, and part This Is How We Cope With Impending Minnesota Winters.

The workshop is divided into two sections. The first is literally that sewalong I mentioned. We'll be making a sampler project, a multicolored patchwork creature that doesn't look like any animal I recognize in nature, but all those different colors are meant to help with spatial visualization and clarity in the making process.   

In the second half, you'll get to pick one of three animals - a cat,

 a ladybug 

or a rabbit -

to make on your own. Unlike the sampler project, these will look like actual animals, with familiar color schemes and anatomical features. Here's an older photo of our prototype rabbit in Kate's arms, to give you an idea of its size.

You'll bring your sewing machine and basic sewing supplies, and I'll provide the fabric, stuffing, poly beads, safety eyes, and other things needed. Want to know the best part? I'm cutting out all those pieces for you ahead of time, so it's like getting a ready-to-sew kit. I figured that it's a better use of our time together to be actually sewing, rather than fiddling with pattern pieces or prepping and laying out on fabric. You'll go home with (time permitting) two completed projects and a digital copy of the Menagerie pattern so you can make more animals at your leisure. 

I'm hoping to bring some print copies of Menagerie as well, so if you prefer a physical book to flip through, you can pick one up after the class. Fingers crossed that I'll get around to contacting the printer in time - this has been a really busy fall with the two younger girls in swim team and all three (including the one in college) in their various musical ensembles. My evenings are full with swim meets and concerts and football games but it's a good full. I'm trying to attend as many as I can, because the year passes so quickly, senior year especially.

So come join us if you're in the cities and want to make some stuffed toys for the holidays, or even if you just want to meet and sew with me! There's lots of info in the link below: a class description, materials list, cost and more, but here's a summary:

Place: Textile Center, Minneapolis, MN

Date: Friday 22 November 2024

Time: 12 pm - 4 pm

Cost: $85 + $40 materials fee (which includes the cost of the Menagerie PDF pattern)

More information can be found here.

Slightly related, to prepare for this workshop, I made a bunch of new Menagerie cats. Two of them are calicos, in honor of Maisy, our own sweet and sassy calico. I will share photos soon!

Emily Has Been Binding Books

This past summer, Emily, back home from her first year at college, found herself a new creative outlet: binding books. These are all gifts for friends. She had an idea of their respective favorite books and set about procuring used paperback versions, taking off their covers and making new ones with fabric and hard paperboard. She designed the new covers on her computer and printed them on vinyl using her Silhouette machine. Then followed heat-pressing, gluing and setting between clamped wooden boards, and painting. 

This was her first book.

The page edges are painted grey at the top of the book, blending into red at the bottom,

after which were added six black crows.

Since this is a duology,

©2024 Emily Teigland

here is the other book.

©2024 Emily Teigland 

Its page edges are painted in reverse, with five crows. If you've read the series, you might know why.

©2024 Emily Teigland

Emily made this set next for a friend who, in addition to enjoying Austen, also loves plants.

She found these endpapers online.

Here are the back covers, with quotes from each book.

This is the next set,

©2024 Emily Teigland

also a duology. Emily used metallic /pearlescent vinyl for these.

I love the intricacy of the vinylwork!

©2024 Emily Teigland

Once again, painted page edges,

quotes on the back, 

©2024 Emily Teigland

And gorgeous endpapers.

©2024 Emily Teigland

Thank you all for reaching out to comment and email me after my last post. I was thrilled and surprised to hear from so many of you, and very encouraged that you're still reading my blog! I have no plans to stop blogging, and I promise that I will post whenever I can. So much happens in our home and family from day to day, and yet very little of it can be reasonably turned into a post in the same way that adventures of toddlers or elementary schoolkids with cardboard swords and bunnies and egg-laying chickens could. For so many years, ikatbag has been a record of not just my projects but also the creative things we've done as a family. So many of our projects, for instance, were inspired by watching my girls in their various play scenarios. Each had a story, was a story - stories even I've forgotten - of princesses and fairies, detectives and world-savers, blossoming entrepreneurs and fearless outside-the-box-ers, of our literal and metaphorical journeys to explore the great outdoors, museums and organized playspaces, as well as the limitless creativity of a child's mind. These adventures were how we stewarded our time, of which we seemed to have a lot then, although it seems just a blink now. "Mum, I'm bored, what shall we do today?" was the soundtrack that seemed to play on loop, and out of that boredom came manic creative lunacy. I love how those early posts so easily allow me to revisit those long-ago days. 

My girls are older now, and other things have fallen into place in their schedules: school, band, sports, friends, travel. Their interests have expanded way beyond what I've tried to nurture as director of creative operations. And they're sharing their own photos on social media, and choosing their own ways to tell their stories. So this space seems a little quieter now that it's mostly just me making stuff. Oddly, it's not anywhere as sad as I thought it might be. Every now and then someone will bring a group of friends over to make posters, or friendship bracelets or - in a throwback to those halcyon summers of middle school - slime. And creativity has begun taking different forms than art-and-craft, too. Whenever Jenna bakes, for instance, it's artistic expression as much as it is therapy or nourishment. And there's music, too - all three girls love being in their various instrumental and vocal ensembles, and that's hard to capture in a photo, or in words. 

And so I thought I'd post Emily's most recent project here today. Not only because it's fun to see, but also because it's fitting - this blog after all, is an archive of what fearless and unbridled creating looks like in our home, and all the accompanying stories of product and process. Sometimes I'm still part of it, and sometimes not. I still get a huge rush to say, "Look what gorgeous thing got made here today!" I'm so happy that you guys are still stopping by to visit, and get to see it.

Speaking of visits and process, I am happy to report that I have FINALLY fixed the https thingy on my blog. The whole thing was surprisingly fraught, actually. I can't remember when all this surfaced but suddenly, some years ago, as a result of some Google update, websites had to switch from http to https to up their security. Now, increased security is always good, especially against hacking and other unauthorized access, plus there were instructions all over the internet promising how easy it was to do it for your particular blog platform. And to an extent, that last bit was true: I got my family blog (a dinosaur of a thing on Blogger) fixed in, like 30 seconds. Then I tried to do the same for ikatbag.

Total failure; nothing worked. Instead: all manner of restrictions, roadblocks and error messages like  You Do Not Have Authority! I eventually realized that it was my custom domain that was complicating things. Numerous forums and hours spent contacting custom-domain-third-party-sellers later, I was no further along. Then I succumbed to my grief funk - or maybe it was the wretched pandemic, I don't remember; it was all one big unhappy party - and UnSafe Blog! got punted to the bottom of my priority list. I rationalized it thus: I wasn't selling stuff directly off my blog and thus not collecting credit card numbers or anything like that, so it would temporarily be semi-OK to leave it as is while I tried to get my life back on track. Still, the thought gnawed at me that people might be leery of visiting ikatbag because of the doomsday messages greeting them each time they loaded the homepage: Unclean! Suspicious Site! Flee To Safety! And so, every now and then, I'd muster the energy to try a different forum, or re-contact some technological help desk that a search engine had newly unearthed. 

Finally, a couple of weeks ago, I got a hot lead. Someone sent me a long, long list of complicated instructions that the husband and I pored over (and he's a software engineer, so that's saying something) in the course of several days. We followed those instructions to a T, and as it seemed to be proceeding in a meaningful direction for once, we tried to have faith,  taking breaks whenever our brains hurt, which was often. There came one horrifying moment toward the end when ikatbag inexplicably and chillingly disappeared off the internet, heralded by yet another fun error message claiming I, the owner, had closed the connection. What connection? What did it mean, closed? I swear my soul left my body and floated in the ether, screaming that its imbecilic owner had somehow deleted its own blog forever, while all the other disembodied soul-victims of virtual scams jeered and hissed I Told You Sos.

Miraculously, my blog reappeared some time later, and the https thing was somehow magically in place, and everything was gloriously secure and I stopped pulling my hair out and stared at the screen and was like, What Just Happened. It was scary stuff. Let me tell you, friends, technology is a giant people-eating monster. 

BUT! I am relieved and glad to say that ikatbag is once again benign and welcoming to all and sundry. Thank you to everyone who endured the sinister warnings and continued to come read my tutorials and ramblings regardless. It may have taken literally years to sort it out, but it's now all good. So spread the word! Invite new friends and the previously-leery! How wonderful to move forward at last!

Until next time,