I'm not sure what sounds giraffes make...

... but this one says hi!

I know I was quick in getting started, but I've only just managed to finish of my version of Mrs Perkins using the pattern I bought last week.

I think I underestimated the amount of work required to make up a softie, or maybe it's because I suck at hand sewing, but ta-dah!


Things I learned while making my first soft toy:
1. I am very sloooow at hand-sewing
2. Stuffing certain shapes require stuffing, re-stuffing and then sometimes de-stuffing to get things padded out evenly
3. You use a lot more stuffing than you expect
4. Ladder-stitching isn't too hard once you watch a YouTube video about it
5. Sometimes patterns really could be explained a little better - so read them over three times, and then three times again
6. Doll making needles are long for a reason - I only just made do with some tapestry ones I bought because the giraffe had a relatively thin frame. I'm glad I didn't choose to make an elephant first up!
7. The Mentalist isn't a bad show (I watched about 5 episodes over the course of giraffe creation) - it is quite entertaining and Simon Baker-Denny sure has come a long way from dancing in with no shirt on in video clips

I definitely have areas to improve - right now this little giraffe has slightly lumpy legs (even if I did go about with Point 2 above several times) so I'm going to have to work on that. I also need to get better and faster with the hand-stitching as this was quite time consuming even if it didn't seem to be the case from reading over the pattern.

I love how cute it is though - and I'm already getting excited thinking about other colour combinations I could put together!