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Wishing everyone a safe and happy Christmas. I hope that the new year brings you peace and maybe something exciting. I made this little painting of a fox and owl enjoying a Christmas tree in a snowy forest, as a card for my children. We are in Australia so Christmas doesn't look like this for us, but this is the Christmas I dreamed of as a child. Next year it will be a wombat and wallaby gazing at a decorated gum tree :) Best wishes, Margeaux  Forest Christmas by Margeaux Davis 2018. Watercolour, pen and ink.
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School holidays means drawing instead of sewing. I don't know why. Also there are lots of fairy wrens flitting around at the moment. If I sit very still, they come through the windows and hop around on my desk. Here's a little watercolour drawing I made, inspired by my little friends.  We've had almost a week of steady rain here in the Northern Rivers so I've been sketching my boys with their gumboots and umbrellas, among other things...  I've been busy designing some little clothing pieces for my Willowynn stuffed animal dolls. So far I've made a jacket (with or without hood), overalls, pants and some little dresses. I hope to have the sewing patterns / templates for these clothes available for you to download and print in a couple of weeks. I can't wait to see the clothes you make for your Willowynn stuffed animal dolls!   Sewing patterns for jacket and overalls coming soon
An alternative (or an addition) to the chocolate eggs for Easter... and a little present that can be handmade by you. My bunny and bear soft toy sewing pattern is available to download via my online shop. Plenty of time to sew this before Easter!
 This little bunny rabbit softie would be an adorable companion for a baby or small child. Designed to be endlessly carried around and looks so sweet nestled in amongst a child's pillows. I think this is the perfect project to upcycled that piece of fabric you’ve been saving for something special, like an old baby blanket or soft flannelette sheet.
To make the bunnies you see here, I used an old woollen blanket and soft pieces of grey and pink flannelette from baby bed sheets. Happy Easter!  Well it's taken me a lot longer than I anticipated but my platypus sewing pattern is now available for you to download. I've really loved creating this unusual Australian animal soft toy and I hope you enjoy sewing it. It's a fairly simple tutorial, full of step by step photos, which includes machine sewing and some hand sewing. Great for advanced beginner sewers wanting to tackle a slightly more complicated soft toy project that includes darts, gussets (and some soft sculpture techniques for making the webbed feet). You can download the pattern via my website or my Etsy store.     June has been a very busy month for me. I've been working on some new designs, new sewing patterns and creatures. These three (above) will be available in my online store from 10am (Sydney time) Monday 26th June.
My fox is made from an old (and very vibrant) orange woollen blanket. The other guy is kind of a wombat/bear blend... also made from an old woollen blanket. I'm actually not sure what he is but I like him. I'll just call him a wombat. And then there is a platypus. There's more about him in my last blog post... what a journey. I hope you like them! My son needed a platypus (and this photo of me making it) for something at school. It took me several prototypes to get the shape you see here and there are still things I'd change... but I'm thinking of maybe offering it as a sewing pattern. Would you make a platypus? They're pretty fantastic creatures.  Would you like to make these little hanging fabric ornaments? I've put together a sewing pattern for them which is available here. These ornaments make great little presents, and not just for Christmas trees... enjoy!  ...and my fox and wolf toy sewing pattern is also now available to download. Phew... these ones took me ages. Thanks for waiting so nicely.  I've been working on a new design for a little fox softie using the basic shape of my bunny and bear dolls. This is what I have so far... His face is longer and more pointy, he has a tail and I've given him a white ruff and belly. I'm planning to make this into a sewing pattern which will hopefully be available by the end of September. *Fox soft toy sewing pattern available here. This particular fox is made from scraps from upcycled woollen blankets and stuffed with organic corn fibre fill.  
My blue whale sewing pattern is finally finished and available in my online shop as a PDF download. I'm so excited about this as it is one of my favourite toys to make...and they make the perfect gift for a small person. Enjoy!
A tiny baby I made for Alma's doll. |
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I can't wait to see how you go...please just ask if you have any questions and I'd love to see photos of your finished bunnies or bears.
I'm busy working on a new sewing pattern and tutorial explaining how to make my bunny dolls. It will (hopefully) be available for you to download very soon. So excited...
*Update: My Willowynn bunny and bear sewing pattern is now available here.
*Update: My Willowynn bunny and bear sewing pattern is now available here.
There's a pan of watercolours, brushes, a jar and watercolour paper in a cardboard box in my workroom, which my little boys use whenever they feel like it.
Beautiful little paintings keep appearing...
Beautiful little paintings keep appearing...
I love the special (and weird looking) ornaments on my Christmas tree. My little boys have been making theirs and I made these...
Christmas ornaments by Willowynn
Then I made some more... I actually can't stop making them now :)
I think I'll make a sewing pattern for them. Do you make your own ornaments or Christmas decorations? Feel free to share a link in the comments below. I'd love to see...
Christmas ornaments by Willowynn
My little boy asked if we could make a decoration to hang above his bed...so we made this.
We made it by tearing up old egg cartons (for some reason I can't bring myself to through away egg cartons...) and dropping the bits into dye pots (just food colouring and water). Then we left them to dry in the sun. They really look like little flowers...
Then we made them into garlands using a large needle and strong thread and hung them from a stick...
I got the idea after seeing this post about a window display made from egg cartons at Anthropologie on the Lovely Wren blog.
Have you made anything lovely from egg cartons you'd like to share?
My little boy sorting through my button tin...he's made a rainbow.
My little boys and I made a few of these little tiny cardboard ships the other day. They wanted a little ship for their whales to swim underneath...
Once we'd designed and made a template, we sat down and made lots and lots of little ships using cardboard from an old box, craft glue, a wooden skewer and paper. If you'd like to put your ship in water, you could use waxed cardboard from an old milk or juice carton.
Here's the rough template we came up with (below). You could save this photo and print it off to make your own boats. Here's how...
Cut out this template and draw around it onto a piece of cardboard. Cut it out and fold it into shape, using glue to secure it all together. We used clothes pegs to hold it in place while the glue dried.
For the base inside that holds the sails up, just cut out a small rectangle of cardboard and fold it to give it three sides. Then poke a hole in the middle (for the skewer). Position it into the boat with glue and poke the skewer piece into the hole.
You can make sails however you like. I made three little sails out of some paper from old book pages. Just poke holes at the top and bottom edges of the paper and thread them onto the skewer. Have fun!
For the base inside that holds the sails up, just cut out a small rectangle of cardboard and fold it to give it three sides. Then poke a hole in the middle (for the skewer). Position it into the boat with glue and poke the skewer piece into the hole.
You can make sails however you like. I made three little sails out of some paper from old book pages. Just poke holes at the top and bottom edges of the paper and thread them onto the skewer. Have fun!
Have I mentioned my little boy loves blue whales? I made this one for him. I made seven (!) prototypes before I was happy... *This design is now available as a sewing pattern.
Today my boys and I turned some old cardboard boxes into houses. Something that I thought would be a fun thing to do for maybe half an hour, ended up occupying them for the rest of the day. I just cut in some windows and a door and stuck on a roof with masking tape...
Here are the houses at night with a lamp inside one of them. Pure happiness. I can't believe how happy this made them (and me).
Hello and welcome...
My name is Margeaux Davis and I'm a soft-toy sewing pattern designer, doll-maker and illustrator.
I work from a tiny cabin studio in the Northern Rivers region of New South Wales, Australia.
Here I'll share what I'm making, as well as some hints and tips to help you sew your own soft toys...
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