Making giant mushrooms

Well, looking through a folder on my desktop that is labelled sort me, leads me to come to the conclusion that I have pictures for a tutorial that is still yet to be posted. Oh my, that will not do, So I better get on it...
Here is how to make a inflatable hanging giant mushroom. Like the ones I make for the Mushroom Forest.
things you will need:
-Inflatable beach ball
-Fabric about a meter and a half for the cap depending on size of beach ball
and enough for a long tube stem usually about 4-5ft long by 2ft wide
-Coloured felt for dots
-Fabric glue for the dots
-Velcro about 2ft or so
-String or twine to attach to the ball
-Duct tape
-Amazing goop

-Wire (I use 18g Galvanized steel)

-Fabric paint

Step one

Take 3-4 lengths of the string long enough to go around the beach ball loosely. Fold the strings in half  and tie them off to create a loop. Make a hanging cage for your beach ball using the rope and some tape.

 I like to line up the string to the lines on the beach ball. Make sure to leave enough of a peak at the top to give it a cone shape.

I usually use electrical tape to place where it goes and then duct tape it down.

 make sure to tie off all your strings at the bottom.

Step 2

now we are going to make the cap piece. First we measure our ball around its biggest point. 

then we make a bell/cone shaped pillow case for the ball You can use 2 pieces or 3 pieces to do so you want the top piece to stay open so the string can pop out the top.

 After you have sewn all the pieces together leaving your hole at the top we sew a hem at the bottom leaving a space to feed wire through.

 Take some wire and feed it through the hole.

 Connect your wires at the end. This causes the cap to keep better shape

Step 3

now take your cap and place it down on the pice of fabric you want to use for the under side. make sure the wire is fully sreached out and trace out the bottom

 now we are going to put Velcro around the edge of the bottom fabric and then around the inside edge of the bottom of the cap piece we just made.

 now we have a bottom for the cap. Using fabric paint make the frill lines.

Step 4

 Next we make the stem. By making a long tube that is bigger at one end than the other

once sewn together sew a hem at the bottom for wire, and wire it like you did with the cap piece.

Step 5

 While the fabric paint dries Hang the cap from somewhere that wont get in the way And cut out dots from the coloured felt.

Glue your dots to the fabric in whatever pattern pleases you.

Step 6

 Only do this if your fabric paint is dry.

Measure where the top of your stem is going to sit on the underside. then amazing goop the stem to the underside of the mushroom.

 try to make it so the fabric tube is all the way open when its glued down.
Once that is dry your dots should be dry and you can assemble the mushroom. The cap folds down and the ball deflates and the stem and bottom wrap up nicely for easy storage or transport making them wonderful decorations for interesting parties...

You can make them light up by sewing el wire around them in pleasing patterns.

 I believe I also have another collection of picture of The mushroom forest on display again to post yet so there should be more soon.

Furry Red Leg Warmers

This is a step by step tutorial on how to make a pair of reversible furry leg warmers. You will need 2 types of material Type 1 fun fur. Type 2 a soft not too stretchy material for the lining. You will need enough of each to make 4 panels of your pattern. Make sure you have a good sturdy needle in your sewing machine fun fur has a tendency to break needles. i break a needle or 2 on every fur project so i make sure to have plenty of replacements on hand.
Step 1
Make your pattern. To make your pattern you need to measure from somewhere below your knee to the ground add 2" this is measurement B. Then you need to measure around the leg at the top of measurement B half of that number plus 1" is measurement A. Measurement C is 2x measurement A .The extra inches are for our seams. Now draw your pattern out on paper and cut it out. It should look something like this.

 now cut out 4 panels of your pattern on your fabric. make sure when cutting your fur that the fur goes downwards from A to C on each panel.
(In this case of leg warmers I didn't have enough fur to make four panels so I made the 2 back panels out of 2 half panels sewn together to make a full panel if you don't have enough fur to do full panels but can do it this way just allow for a 1/2 inch seam in the centre.)

Step 2

Take each of your inside and outside panels and match them up an inside one to an outside one, make sure that the fur is facing the inside and the soft side of your lining is facing the fur. Then sew along edge A. This is so that when you unfold it it looks like this with the seams on the inside.  

Do this to all 8 pieces so that now you have 4 long pieces.
Make sure to clean up all your seams by trimming off all the extra fuzz and stuff.

Step 3
Now we Put 2 pieces together fur to fur and lining to lining and Sew the long edge B on both sides. Make sure to line up Seam A in the centre, and when sewing with thick fur it makes it easier on your machine to go with the fur as much as possible. 

Sew all 4 panels together until you have 2 long tubes.

You will end up with some uneven edges as is the nature of fun fur

 Go ahead and clean up these edges by trimming them so they are even.

Step 4
The Elastic. now we take measurement A from before before we halved it and added seam allowance the straight measurement of around your leg at the top of measurement B. In this case mine is 14" this is approx how long we want to cut our elastic. cut 2 elastics turn them into a circle over lapsing them and inch or so

we want the elastic to be smaller than our leg circumference so that it will fit snug and hold the leg warmers up so they wont fall down.
next we put the elastic around the leg warmers all the way up till seam A.

Now we are going to reach our arm into the tube and grab the elastic at seam A and pull the fur down over the lining.

 This should now be edge A with the elastic at the top on the inside.

Now you want to pin the elastic in place by stretching the elastic so that material is flush all the way around.

At this point the bottom edge wont line up but don't worry about it yet. make sure that your seams line up

 Sew along the bottom edge of your pin line you can leave the pins in to tell you where the elastic is so you don't sew it you want it free flowing in this hem line. Just be careful not to stab yourself. make sure to keep the elastic stretched so that you don't get too much bunching under your sewing needle.

 now our top hem with the elastic will look like this

now you can trim the bottom edge so that it is straight

Step 5
The bottom hem. This is the part that I usually break most of my sewing machine needles on. Inside out your leg warmers.

now cut a few cm of the lining material off the bottom edge

now fold the fun fur over at the line of your cut lining fabric

roll the fold over one more time to hide the cut edge of the fabric inside the hem.

pin the hem in place so it doesn't slide around while you are sewing it.

now sew the hem removing the pins as you get to them, be careful here there is a lot of thick fabric in this hem. and the other seams can catch your sewing needle and bend or break it.

 before you start sewing the second one check to make sure it is the same length  as the first one. once you are finished inside them out and there you go. Furry leg warmers. All your inside seams are hidden so if it gets really cold you can wear them furry side in for extra warmth. just make sure to pick a good material for the inside lining.

Enjoy your furry leg warmers.
-sammy