The Whimsy Patch

Patterns on the Way!!!

 

 

For those of you who are watching and waiting, I wanted to offer a sneak peak at one of my up and coming pattern releases.  I'm looking at roughly one more week before I will be releasing my first handful of patterns--the Sweet Dreams Fairies and an accessories pattern pack, the Lovey Sized Mod Dollie, one of my Whimsy Chaps patterns, and a couple more TBA!  I'm very excited but they definitely take some time.  I'm cleaning up my patterns to get them just right.  I'm writing up directions and drawing tutorials.  I kind of feel like I'm back at university working on a class project!

Wish me luck! 

Sweet Dreams Fairies and Sugarplum Dreams

Since the beginning of this year, I have been dreaming up new ideas for the Whimsy Patch and revisiting old ideas to try and figure how I might improve them.  The Sweet Dreams Fairies are the first dream that I've been able to sew into reality and I am so excited to be releasing them!  These fairies are daintier than my usual chubby lines and they include a ton more handsewn detail and embroidery work.  I've always had a thing for miniatures and I chose to indulge that obsession and try my hand at some miniature plush treats to include as accessories for these lovely ladies.  You will see the first fruits of this endeavor below.  As I continue to prepare the patterns for sale this week, I will be working up a few more mini treats to include inthe accessory pattern pack.  Think tiny cakes, lollipops, ice cream sundaes, cupcakes and more!  Once released, the Sweet Dreams Fairies pattern pack will include the pattern for the fairy body, three different wing styles, three hairstyles, fairy shoes, a lollipop, and embroidery and hand sewing suggestions (though you can machine sew the wings if you prefer speed to the slowness of hand sewing!).  The accessories pattern pack will include the patterns for five different mini felt plush treats.  So cute and fun!  Below you can meet our new friends:

 

Meet Tilly, our sweet little Lollipop Princess.  She's the daintiest of the fairies and she adores polka dots so she recently had some embroidered on her lace-like wings.  (Embroidery is the tatooing of the Whimsy Patch, by the way.)  She's been make handcrafted lollipops almost since birth and really loves mixing flavors and making swirly patterns in her pops.  She says that, "The visual experience of the lollipop is almost as important as the taste experience.  Almost." 

 

And Sherry, the Princess of Upside-Down Cakes, has the feistiest personality of the bunch.  She loves making upside-down cakes but refuses to be conventional.  She--though you might find her occasionally taking a bite of one in private--has vowed to never be caught making a pineapple upside-down cake.  She notes that they "frustrate [her] because there are so many other varieties of upside-down cake.  What a way to smother creativity!" 

 

Strawberry Chocolate Truffle Upside-Down Cake is her favorite to bake:)

 

And meet Gigi, the Princess of Ice Cream Sundaes.  She's both practical and sweet.  She thinks of her job making ice cream sundaes as "a most important job.  I help children to celebrate everything that's great about childhood and I help adults remember what it was like to be one."  She also believes that their is nothing wrong with a classic.

 

She says she will teach you how to make her favorite--Vanilla Bean Hot Fudge Sundae with Extra Sweet Cherries and Sprinkles.  Mmmm.....

All three of the Sweet Dreams Fairies will be available in my Etsy shop tonight!  The patterns will be available within the week.

Oh, My Goodness! They are done!!!

Wow!  These lovely ladies took me a lot longer to complete than I expected--granted, I only had about an hour of sewing time per day for about 3 weeks there.  Fortunately, in the last week, I was able to include sewing as a regular part of my daily juggle so I could complete these gals:)  I'm really enjoying all of the handsewn goodness and coming up with new patterns.  I will blog more about these ladies individually tomorrow.  I will be releasing this pattern set and an accessory set within the next week or so!  After tomorrow, these fairies will be for sale in my Etsy shop.

Good Things Come to Those Who Comment

Hello, all!  I am still busily working away on my new line of Sweet Dreams Whimsy Fairies.  These little girls will appeal to those who enjoy hand-stitching and embroidery work.  That's also why these gals are taking me so long to complete!  They are very detailed and include a lot of small details--hand stitched felt wings with embroidered details, handsewn shoes, and little plush goodies handsewn and held in their hands.  They will be lovely when complete, but they are still a few days out.  I'm making them to be wall hangings so they will be hung by ribbon and will look so sweet decorating some precious darling's wall!  The completed fairies will be available in my Etsy shop but I will also be selling their patterns--likely here on my blog.

Many of you know that I am in the process of getting my older patterns ready to sell as well.  I'm tweaking my tried and true patterns, making sure they will be easy to sew for my customers, and taking care of writing directions that will be simple to follow.  I'm excited but also impatient to get them ready!

Now, I would like the help of all of you who are excited to start sewing some of your own Whimsy Patch creations.  As I think of what I want to create next, I would like to ask for your input. 

What sorts of patterns would you be interested in seeing come out of the Whimsy Patch in the next year?

--kits with fabrics cut and ready to be pieced and sewn--fabrics will be combined Whimsy Patch style!

--Dolls with clothing patterns?

--More of my usual patterns with clothing and accessories sewn in place?

--Dolls with plush accessories--Think dolls with plush lollipops, mini teddy bears, plush picnic baskets, etc.?

--Embroidery stitching patterns of Whimsy Patch scenes and dolls?

--Dolls vs. creature companions?

I'm in the process of brainstorming and would love to see where my customers' interests are.  With an ever tightening economy, I am aware that more and more of you are likely turning to crafts that you can make yourself.  The Whimsy Patch wants to evolve with this economy and I look forward to see your interpretations of my work.  Even though the times are hard economically speaking, it's exciting to see what directions this will push us creatively!

So, here's the deal, for those of you who comment on this post, you will get a free Whimsy Patch Mod Dollie pattern with your first pattern purchase from my shop.  That means you will get two patterns for the price of one once my patterns are released.  I expect to open my pattern shop with five options to choose from and then new patterns will trickle in from there:)  (At this point, I plan to release all patterns in PDF format, by the way.)  You can expect to start seeing patterns in my shop within the next two weeks.  I will email those of you who comment when the pattern shop is open!

Thank you in advance for your input!

Momentum and New Directions

As many of my blog's regular followers know, I have been very busy over the last six months and this has led to some much needed time to recouperate and rethink the Whimsy Patch.  I absolutely love what I do, but with my family in the toddler phase and likely increasing this year, I cannot continue to run Patch the way I have for the last--almost--2 years now.  I've been brainstorming a lot and have many new ideas for the coming year. 

I have been considering many things:

--time I have to put into business each day
--limited time to devote to filling orders
--desire to have more time to make new patterns and come up with new ideas
--need to help out the family budget rather than hinder it!
--likelihood that we will become a two child household this year leaving me with even less time to sew

All this said, I've been thinking about ways to revamp my Whimsy Patch approach.  In the past, I really wanted to be a largely custom order based business but I also wanted to have plenty of time to devote to sewing new ideas, coming up with new patterns, and also contribute to magazines and Plush Team projects.  Ultimately, I have realized that I was still thinking with my pre-child-in-the-home-brain.  I cannot do everything that I would like to do, but the last thing I want is to see the Whimsy Patch die.  If I'm going to keep going with this, I must change directions.  I've decided I want to try a few different things:

1. sell patterns for items and start using a creative commons license for many of my items--I'm actually excited about the idea of seeing other people reinterpret my dollies.  This used to scare me, but I'm in a different place now.
2. sell kits so that people can make Whimsy Patch dolls and have all of the pieces ready aside from stuffing, thread, and needle, etc.--I want to do this for customers out there who would rather have all the pieces ready to make one of my dolls.                                                                                       3.  continue filling custom orders but on a limited basis--I would probably place a certain number of spots in my shop each month, likely fluctuating by season of life.

I'm hoping these ideas will help me to gain some momentum and get the Patch moving again.  I wanted to at least give a sneak peak into one of my new lines.  I am now making Mini Fairies in sets of three.  I will be selling sets that I make but will also sell patterns and ready-to-make kits.  These gals will appeal to those who like to do a bit more handstitching and enjoy using felt.  You can take a peak below.  I hope to have the first set complete within a few days and will post pics then.