I left myself too little time and too little patience, which as you all know, is a recipe for cursing and bad sewing-related behaviors. It turns out that I didn't need the cry break and I kept my mouth in check, because this pattern came together JUST AS IT WAS SUPPOSED TO. Imagine that. Actually, it's not hard to imagine at all, because Hillary knows what she's doing and takes into account that most of us do not.
The first thing I did right was to cut out the pieces accurately. I traced the pattern onto freezer paper* and lightly pressed it onto the fabric. I used scissors to cut (my rotary is just too big) it out and I ended up with perfectly perfect little pieces. This is going to completely change the way I handle small pattern cutting.
I stuffed the giraffe with cotton stuffing from Bolt (nice and firm and easy to work with) and sewed the alpalca tail and horns on very securely. It's ready and wrapped alongside a go-to Gyo Fujikawa book. One of the three hundred birthdays between now and Christmas has been taken off the list!
Do you have your copy yet?
(*For those of you who have never used it, freezer paper has a paper side and a waxy/plastic side that melts a tiny bit when you heat set it to fabric. I pulled up my pieces after I cut them and will be able to reuse them-- you can buy Reynolds brand Freezer Paper in most grocery stores.)
