Free Dove Applique Pattern
Plus a Brilliant Customer Pattern Hack!!! (and a sale)
Happy Thanksgiving Week!
This week’s new pattern is a FREE applique pattern for a pretty dove!
Of course you can combine this with all the free Christmas applique patterns to make a festive quilt. Here’s a list of all the others. . .
You can change the angle of the wing to allow it to fit into a half-block for a different grid format. Find printable guides (including yardage requirements, cutting guides, grids, etc.) for a bunch of different layouts here.
Of course, you don’t have to use it for Christmas at all. It’s a bird! A pretty little flying bird! Make it in any color you like and add it to any of your other quilt patterns. (It would be especially pretty added to the Wild Flowers pattern.)
If you think outlining that olive branch won’t be fun (I’m not gonna lie - it’s definitely fussy) then just leave it off!
Get everything you need to make the dove block here. (The link to download the templates - either printable or SVG format) is in the section with the heading Cut Your Pieces.)
Not much is happening in my studio this week. I’m spending all my time at the farmers market and grocery store and in my kitchen!
Here’s your weekly dose of awesomeness from the Shiny Happy People group!
Look at these adorable dressable elephants that Mary made. 🥰
Hang on a minute - I don’t have a dressable elephant doll pattern!
Mary contacted me with an intriguing question. She has a bunch of patterns for the Dress Up Bunch doll clothes and loves the Squeak doll. She wanted to know if I thought she could sew the Elliott Elephant head onto the Dress Up Bunch doll body.
What a brilliant idea!
I knew that Elliott was quite a bit bigger than the Dress Up Bunch dolls, but I did some quick math and realized that if you print the Elliott head pieces at 75% size, they’ll probably fit.
Mary gave it a try and it worked!
She sewed hers with fleece, which I think is VERY smart for this modification. Fleece is just way more forgiving than woven cotton so it can stretch a bit to adapt to anything that’s not matching up exactly right. (This post has more tips for making Dress Up Bunch dolls with fleece.)
One more thing to keep in mind - if you reduce the size of the pattern pieces, you’re also reducing the size of the seam allowance. You don’t want to do that! So after you print out the smaller pieces, you’ll need to draw new cutting lines 1/4 inch from the dotted stitching lines. An easy way to do this is to tape two standard pencils together. That creates two lines drawn exactly 1/4 inch apart. Trace the dotted stitching line with one pencil and the other will draw in your new cutting line.
Magic!
ALL the Dress Up Bunch doll bodies are the same. (That’s how the clothes fit them all.) So you could do this with any of these doll patterns you may already have - you don’t need to go out and buy Squeak. But Squeak is the only one where you assemble the body and head separately and then sew them together, so you’ll need to make that adjustment to any of the other patterns.
This group of stuffed animal patterns all have the same neck size, so you should be able to make the same adjustment to use any of their heads at 75% size on the Dress Up Bunch bodies.
You know I love a good mix & match project - this is taking it to a whole new level! Thanks, Mary, for the brilliant idea!
Head over to the Shiny Happy People group on Facebook to see lots more wonderfulness people are making with my patterns—and to ask questions and share photos of your own projects. It’s my favorite place on the internet.
In an effort to make this newsletter short enough to go through most email providers without getting chopped off, I’ve broken out some favorite pieces to give them their own days.
Wednesday is for inspiration - favorite artists, books, recipes, and more. In last week’s Five Happy Things - Pie, this got nearly TEN TIMES as many clicks as the others!
Friday is for oldies but goodies from the archives. Last week this post got the most clicks. It IS super cute. 🥰
And last Monday, this and this were tied for the most clicks!
You can always change which newsletters you receive by clicking this link. In the Notifications section, choose which mailings you do and don’t want. Easy peasy!
Oh hey! Everyone and their uncle is having some kind of sale this week, aren’t they?
I’ll join in the fun too. 🥰
Starting now and running through Sunday night, use the discount code CHILLY for 20% off your entire order at Shiny Happy World.
Unlike a lot of other sales you’ll see this weekend, mine is low stress.
No lines. No complicated timetable. No need to leave the house. Nothing goes out of stock.
Shop whenever you like, from wherever you like, wearing whatever you like.
(As soon as I finish my grocery shopping I’ll be in soft pants and slipper socks all week long.)
I hope you have a fabulous week!
Best,
Wendi
🥰