Pork Products

With the exception of those who abstain for religious reasons, who doesn't like pork? Pork products are amazing! With that in mind, why wouldn't I want to bring a touch of it to my sewing:

(What would make this 100% better is if I had used bacon or ham-print fabric! Maybe next time.)

You know how it goes - there are a ton of projects I am working on or could be working on, but I wanted to work on something small for the immediate gratification factor. Sewing my own tailor ham and sausage seemed to be the perfect fit.

I had some Amy Butler fabric purchased a few years ago from The Needle Shop, a fabric store in Chicago.  I loved my purchase at the time, but the fabric fell victim to a combination of me choosing the wrong pattern to make (a strange skirt that I was convinced was a different pattern) and choosing a design that I might not actually wear. The half finished skirt and scraps languished in a bag for a couple of years.

I came across this tutorial on Tilly and the Buttons and decided I had to give it a shot. I made both ham and sausage with a double layer of the Amy Butler fabric and some coarse weave "something".  (If you haven't noticed by now, I don't always pay attention to fabric content when shopping.) I can say that it's than finer canvas.  Funny thing is that I purchased it for lining for the failed skirt, purely based on the color.

I chose two layers because my fashion fabric had a bit of stretch that I hoped the bottom layer would stabilize.  I also was using a coarse stuffing and wanted the extra padding to try to hide the bumps.

 And the stuffing?

 

I purchased some hamster/guinea pig bedding a few months ago.  I think it works well, or at least well enough for me.

I really like my new sewing toys, and I think I have enough of the Amy Butler fabric to also replace my ironing board cover.