Saturday, September 27, 2008

ugdads technique

The cuteness in these things is that they are not perfect. They become fun once you do some beading funky stitches with it. You will need some felt, fabric, needle, thread, sewing machine (if you have it), polyfil (stuffing),and some embellishments. I always like to work with contrasting thread or floss.


Decide how big you want your ugdad to be. You will need to allow for a little room for the stitching and bunching up to get the spherical shape. You can use felt, fabric, and/or silk. The first one I made was with some leftover quilting scraps. The second one with dyed muslin. The third was done with a piece of silk scrap. This is a great way to use your scraps.



1. Cut your fabric into a long rectangular shape. The long part of your rectangle will be the part that will be your top and bottom. The shorter sides will be the length of your ugdad. You can do some random stitching on the fabric before or after you cut the rectangle. Does not matter. You don't want the rectangle too small or you will not be able to turn it righside out.


2. Once you have cut the rectangle and randomly sewed on it, then you sew the short opposite sides of the rectangle together with a short seam. You will want to do this inside out. I did it a couple of times so the stitches would not burst anywhere when I overstuffed the ugdad. Trim threads and turn it rightside out when done. You can bead now or do it at the end. I like to bead at the end.


I did my first one with end caps. My two subequent ones did not have one. Think tomato pin cushion. If you don't want the end caps, then you will want to do this step a little differently. With the two longer opposite sides of the rectangle, do a very loose stitch with about an 1/8 or 1/4 border - leaving thread length on both sides. That is so you can pull the threads together and bunch up the side to get your sphere. Do it with both opposite longer sides. When you sew the two shorter sides together, make sure you don't sew over the loose threads or you won't be able to pull them.


3. If you are using the end caps, it will be easier to sew them on if you do the loose stitch around the outer circumference of the circle cap. The cap should be 1-2 wider than the diameter of your fabric tube. This is so the cap will mushroom. I did not use enough material and I did not get much of a mushroom effect. You will know what I am talking about when you pull the loose threads of the cap and fit it over one end of your tube. When you are sewing the end caps, match up the edges so there is only a slight overlap. Hand sew one end closed. You want the excess material in the cap so you can get that bunched up mushroom look.


If you are making it with no end cap, then you can just sew the ends closed when they are bunched up. You can use a small felt circle to hide the ends where it was bunched up. What I did on one was sew some floss through both sides with excess hanging off. I then knotted one side and pulled the other side down so I got the tomato look before knotting the other end.
4. Overstuff the one end cap and tube. Partially sew on the other end cap and stuff some more. Sew the end cap closed.


5. Embellish.
6. I put a jump ring on one end so I could wear it as a pendant.


It was a fun thing to do. The beading part was fun. Would I do this again? I don't know. It was fun but I think it's ready to move on to a different beading project.

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