{"id":11944,"date":"2018-03-19T01:00:51","date_gmt":"2018-03-19T05:00:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mimikirchner.com\/blog\/?p=11944"},"modified":"2018-03-18T20:57:07","modified_gmt":"2018-03-19T00:57:07","slug":"little-traveller-by-simone-gooding","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mimikirchner.com\/blog\/archives\/2018\/03\/little-traveller-by-simone-gooding\/","title":{"rendered":"Little Traveller by Simone Gooding"},"content":{"rendered":"

I’m part of a blog tour for Simone Gooding’s new book<\/a> but most people don’t have blogs anymore so it is mostly an Instagram tour. But I still have a blog and I am happy to show you this beautiful book!<\/p>\n

\"3-29-parsnip<\/a><\/p>\n

Simone<\/a> reached out to me to ask if I would participate in the tour. I had never actually seen her work before but thought it looked right up my alley. I received the book before I left for LA and was impressed by how attractive it is- gorgeous photos and thoughtful design. I love the details like handwritten page numbers.<\/p>\n

\"3-29-parsnip<\/a><\/p>\n

She asked that the tour participants choose a project. I decided on Thistle, a sweet bunny, because I thought it would interesting to see how someone else put animal clothing together. The rest of this post is my review: of the book and also of me, as a maker. Any time I make someone else’s design, it is all inside-my-head arguing and I am not very good at following directions. Weirdly, I want the directions to be there and then I can discard them if I want to. I know. I might not be the best person for a job like this! So this was my experience.<\/p>\n

I cut out the pieces and got the bunny together. I used shoe button eyes because I had them. Ears-hmm. Not quite liking how they look. Tail? I used a wool felt ball instead of the pattern directions.<\/p>\n

\"3-29-parsnip<\/a><\/p>\n

I wasn’t happy with the eyes or the ears. I took the button eyes off and embroidered them instead and then they looked more like Simone’s original design. My way had changed the shape of the head. Not good. I took the ears off and played with the placement. I sewed them on my way. I know- I can’t just follow the directions!<\/p>\n

\"3-29-parsnip<\/a><\/p>\n

Then the clothing. There was a lot of hand-sewing called for in the instructions. Um… I mostly didn’t do that. I was disappointed that the dress was sewed onto Thistle. I like a dressable doll and it would have been easy to make it that way.<\/p>\n

\"3-29-parsnip<\/a><\/p>\n

Here is the dress from the back. You can see that the fit isn’t great.<\/p>\n

\"3-29-parsnip<\/a><\/p>\n

Next, the jacket. It looks really cute! And isn’t she the sweetest? She stands up by herself too- I love that! It’s not exactly looking like Spring around here.<\/p>\n

\"3-29-parsnip<\/a><\/p>\n

So my review would be-<\/p>\n

On the plus side-<\/p>\n

It is a beautiful book. Gorgeous large color photos. 10 projects made mostly from wool felt. Full size pattern pieces that I easily copied on my copier. I appreciate that! It is a nicely made book too- when you open to the design you’ve chosen, the book stays open on the table.<\/p>\n

But then…<\/p>\n

I don’t think this is a book for beginners. If you don’t have some experience hand and machine sewing and also with basic toy-making, you might have problems. I never discovered what the seam allowances were suppose to be until I’d finished because they are listed in the supplies area and not with the pattern pieces or the sewing instructions. I am bad about reading through the entire design before I start- I’m more of a jump-right-in kind of maker and so factor that in about my experience. There are no markings for the placement of the arms and legs, or for the ears. The pattern pieces are great and all fit together but the written instructions were confusing to me. I ended up having to redo several parts; ex. the arms of the coat were too tight so I restitched them with a smaller seam allowance. I would have liked photographs of the bunny with no clothes on and with just the dress, in addition to the glamour shots of the finished doll. I ended up with a lovely little bunny though so all of this being picky.<\/p>\n

I’d recommend this book for a maker with some sewing experience who’d like to jump into the world of felt and make adorable animals and lots of accessories.<\/p>\n

\"3-29-parsnip<\/a><\/p>\n

Simone is having a giveaway<\/a> on Instagram if you want to check it out. Here are the other participants of the blog\/Instagram tour. There is a hashtag #littletravellerbook if you want to check it out on Instagram.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

15th March – Simone Gooding (@simone_gooding)
\n16th March – Winterwood (@winterwoodcraft)
\n17th March – Kerri Horsley (@sewdeerlyloved)
\n18th March – Shelly Down (@gingermelongirl)
\n19th March – Mimi Kirchner (@mimikirchner)
\n20th March – Lauren Wright (@mollyandmama)
\n21st March – Anne Sutton (@bunnyhilldesigns)
\n22nd March – Jennifer Goldsmith (@frazzydazzles)
\n23rd March – Manuela Trani (@nuvolinahandmade)
\n24th March – Jess Cunningham (@pastyourporchlight)
\n25th March – Simone Gooding (@simone_gooding)
\n26th March – Jo Molony (@deerdarlingdolls)
\n27th March – Minki Kim (@zeriano)
\n28th March – Jooles Hill (@sewsweetviolet)
\n29th March – Sedef Imer (@downgrapevinelane)
\n30th March – Ayda Algin (@cafenohut)
\n31st March – Katy Livings (@katylivings)
\n1st April – Jodie Carlton (@jodiericrac)
\n2nd April – Melinda Hume (@mooseandbird)
\n3rd April – Simone Gooding (@simone_gooding)<\/p>\n

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I’m part of a blog tour for Simone Gooding’s new book but most people don’t have blogs anymore so it is mostly an Instagram tour. But I still have a blog and I am happy to show you this beautiful … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[7,14],"tags":[484],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mimikirchner.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11944"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mimikirchner.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mimikirchner.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mimikirchner.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mimikirchner.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11944"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mimikirchner.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11944\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11955,"href":"https:\/\/mimikirchner.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11944\/revisions\/11955"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mimikirchner.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11944"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mimikirchner.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11944"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mimikirchner.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11944"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}