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Posts: 10Hello everyone,
I am looking for some help with a dog that I am making as a Xmas gift. My question is probably something super-easy, but I´m a bit stumped with it.
I´m not an expert teddy maker, but I´ve made a few - enough to give me the confidence to try my own design this time. However, I am having some trouble trying to to figure out how to shape the face, and I have attached a couple of pictures here to let you see what I am trying to do. I would like the muzzle to come in near the eyes as I think it gives it a really nice ´doggy´ look, but I´m not sure how to achieve this. I´ve marked arrows on the pic to show what I mean - I hope its clear enough! Is it something that is done with a bit of needle sculpting after the head is stuffed, or are the pattern pieces cut in a certain way to make this shape naturally? If it is needle sculpted then I think I can do that...but if its the actual pieces of the pattern that make that shape, then could anyone point me in the direction of a pattern that I could buy with similar shaping? The jump from bears to dogs is trickier than I thought, but I am determined to get it right!!
(Photographs courtesy of Alisa´s Wonderland - my dog-making idol!!)
Thank you for your help xxx
Well, I was hoping someone would chime in who had actually made faces like this, but I'll give you my guesses.
It looks like a two-piece head, but there's so much fullness to that nose, I wonder if there's a gusset or insert piece on the underside? As far as the eye indentations, it seems as if needle sculpting is involved, but there's also a definite "crease" visible on the brown dog, so I suspect there could be a dart there as well to create the shape.
Have you written to Alisa for advice?
Becky
Posts: 10Thanks Becky!
I wondered about a gusset too but I wasn´t 100% sure if there was one or not - I´ll maybe give it a try in some practice material first and see how I go.
I hadn´t thought about contacting Alisa directly - maybe she wouldn´t mind helping me with a technicality!
Thanks so much for replying to me, its much appreciated xxx
Good luck! For the underside of the nose, I was thinking of the kind of teardrop shaped insert you see here (third from left under the photo).
Becky
Posts: 10That´s really helpful Becky, thank you so much. I´ll give it a go and let you know how I get on. Thanks again! xxx
Having looked at the brown one closely, it appears to have a five part head. There's a star seam on the bridge of his nose. I'm guessing his nose is very wide in the centre, possibly like a 'D' so that the centre top seam is straight and angled at the sides to fit the shape of the head pieces. Goodness it's difficult to describe! Possibly of little help here. Still think it's needle sculpted too. Hope you get your answer.
