Pure & Thimble

[bogleech]

Watch "Over the Garden Wall" free and official on Cartoonnetwork.com

DO IT NOW. DO IT.

I don’t know if it works outside the U.S.

But if you can watch it, and you haven’t yet, it is time that you do so because it may end up your favorite 90 some minutes of cartoon in your lifetime or somewhere in your top ten, easy

[skysongthedragon]

The first quarter for my Welcome to Night Vale blanket! It will be backed in fleece and when finished sewn together with Desert Bluffs, Faceless Old Woman and Hiram McDaniel sections.

[pureandthimble]

Flapjack, Captain K'nuckles, and Bubbie, from Thurop Van Orman's The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack. I love this show so, so much. It's visually stunning, profoundly creative, heartfelt, and hilarious, so this was a labor of love. (I wish you could see the woodgrain I sewed into K'Chuckie's wooden bottom, or the sparse hairs under his hat.) Finished them quite a while ago, but I still adore them.

[pureandthimble]

Hello fellow listeners. The Glow Cloud pattern, as promised. (Tutorial here.) If you click for full view and drag to your desktop it should be the correct size. I included the dimensions of each piece in case that isn't working.

(At full size the document should be 25x25, and I think you can print it tiled and tape the pattern together.)

This is the pattern I used, but don't be afraid to change things and make it your own. Have fun!

[pureandthimble]

Lil' Walt was part of a birthday gift for a friend at work, based on her actual cat, Walter. Fun to make, and her reaction was the sweetest.

[pureandthimble]

Instructions so that you, too, can make your very own Glow Cloud. Pattern here.

SUPPLIES:

intermediate sewing skills, patience, perseverance

scissors, sewing machine, pins, purple and white thread, 6”-7”white zipper

2 pieces of white fleece cut into a cloud shape.

2 pieces of white interfacing (NOT FUSIBLE, light weight, 1/8” to 1/4” thick. It should diffuse light without being too thick or loose to sew through) cut into that very same cloud shape. 

purple felt for the eyes, if you choose to make your Glow Cloud expressive, dynamic, and full of verve. (NOTE: Your Glow Cloud can look like whatever you want, eye, no eye, you do you, fellow listener.)

Batteries

2 strands of battery powered LED lights with 50 LEDs per strand, on a silver or clear wire. I used SINOLLC 5M 50LED Multi Color Changing Flexible Copper String Lights. Be safe! Make sure the LEDs won’t overheat and never leave your Glow Cloud unattended. Also test your LEDs before you use them that would be so sad.

1. Cut your fleece, right sides together, into your cloud shape. Cut your interfacing to match up with the inside of each piece of fleece. Carefully cut out your eyes/decorations. (I’ll post my templates later, if you choose to use them.) Center the eyes on the front side of each piece of fleece, pin them in place, and carefully sew them down.

2. Lay your interfacing over your fleece, eye side up. Notate (with a pencil or very light colored marker, don’t use a color you could potentially see through the fleece) where your eye shapes are on the interfacing. You will be sewing the LEDs directly to the interfacing, and I chose not to put LEDs where the eye shape was. Starting with the end of the strand of lights, (NOT THE BATTERY PACK END) place your LEDs about 1” from the edge of the cloud and sew them in a spiral inward to the center. Use white thread and a wide zigzag stitch, and sew as carefully as possible, to avoid breaking the LEDs or the wire they are attached to. This is the most time consuming thing you will do. (Except maybe the zipper, Smiling God help us all.)

3. Once you have both pieces of interfacing bedecked in technology, cut an incision in the center of the interfacing and slide the battery pack to the opposite side. Zigzag the hole as closed as you can, leaving a small space for the wire. You’re doing this so that you can put the LEDs flush against the inside of the fleece, which keeps them from getting messed up when you add stuffing, and helps with overall glowy-ness.

4. Place the interfacing (LED side down) on the inside (non eyeball side) of the fleece. Sew around the edge to secure the position of the LEDs. Now is a good time to test the lights again.

5. I decided to put in a pocket so that I wouldn’t be endlessly fishing through polyfil to get to the battery packs. (You totally don’t have to do this.) Cut two rectangular pieces of fleece with a curved bottom to line up with the bottom of the cloud, large enough to hold the two battery packs.

6. Stitch the curvy part of each pocket to the corresponding curvy part of the inside of the cloud. Just the curvy part, leave the straight pointy bits alone for now. 

7. Attach the zipper! Right sides together, sew a basting stitch ONLY on the aforementioned curvy bit (you’re sewing through 4 layers of fleece and 2 layers of interfacing, you are a champion). Because of the thickness of the material, you will probably have to sew the zipper by hand. If you are unfamiliar with installing a zipper, please consult the internet for a tutorial, trying to describe it here would likely confuse you. You can totally do it though. You’re great.

8. Once the zipper is installed, unzip it. Then, right sides together, sew around the entire perimeter of the cloud. You are very nearly there!

9. Through the unzipped zipper, gently turn the cloud right side out. Pull the two battery packs out and move them to either end of the zipper, and then stuff the heck out of the cloud. Once its squishy-ness is to your liking, pull those little pocket flaps out and sew them closed, leaving space near the zipper for the wires on the battery packs to have a little freedom of movement.

10. Turn on the battery packs, put them inside the pocket, and zip the cloud closed. BEHOLD YOUR MIGHTY GLOW CLOUD! BEHOLD YOUR CREATIVE ABILITY! BEHOLD THE PTA BAKE SALE IS COMING UP AND THE COMMUNITY SUPPORT OF EDUCATION SHOULD BE A HIGH PRIORITY FOR EVERYONE, NOT JUST PARENTS!

Phew. Thanks for sticking with me on that one, and hopefully you will get some use out of this. If something isn’t clear feel free to ask me. My Old Oak Door is always open. Figuratively speaking.

[mizukiblue]

Kinda proud I pulled this off. Pattern pureandthimble. Should probably iron it though…

[pureandthimble]

This makes me so deliriously happy, you have no idea.

[pureandthimble]

I have improved my Glow Cloud plush, fellow listeners.

I will be posting the tutorial/pattern later today, if that is a Thing You Are Interested In. (I wish this gif did it justice, it goes through cycles of green, purple and intense multicolor as well, and the reverse is a lighted closed eye. Really lights* up a room. Also it is soft, and pleasant feeling.)

It’s an enjoyable plush+pillow, but I think I will make it into a mobile.

Remember to support Welcome to Night Vale/Commonplace Books, and your local school board.

*light does not appear to cause transparency.

[pureandthimble]

Made this lil' mountain a while back. His name is Erebor because I'm a ridiculous person.

[daxdraggon]

So I redid my old upside-down-Carlos picture that everyone liked….

[turnitonandhide]

GO TO THE MOON OUT OF SPITE

[cryptid-in-training]

My friend and I have been working on making a Welcome to Night Vale quilt and are embroidering some squares with quotes and images.  I still have quite a few more to do but here is what I have finished!  My friend is the one who came up with the idea and who made all the patterns for the quilt and the embroidering. Her main blog is Ranebowstitches but she also has a craft blog Questionablestitchery.

[pureandthimble]

Hi there. I really love your Condo Sweet Condo cross stitch. What program do you use to design your patterns? I've tried using Paint, but either it doesn't work for me or I'm just using it wrong.

I use Adobe Illustrator to design my patterns, with the grid turned on and the "snap to grid" option activated. (I'm sure there is cross stitch/embroidery software out there that would be more suitable to my needs and much less expensive, but I'm comfortable using Illustrator, and it's on my computer from my university days anyway.)

[pureandthimble]

Going through some old stuff I found two battery powered strands of LEDs. I was overcome with the urge to HAIL THE GLOW CLOUD.

This is a prototype that's riddled with mistakes, so I'll post a tutorial when I perfect my method. (For instance, don't use lights with a dark cord because it will show through.) I don't know if those LEDs are particularly safe so there's a good possibility the Glow Cloud will burn my house down if left to its own devices... Well. No plush is perfect.

[pureandthimble]

Hello friend! I was wondering if you're still offering your cross stitch pattern for the smiling god cushion? Its really fantastic and I'd like to have a go at making my own :)

I'm delighted to share. The pattern is in this post here for you and any other interested parties, and if you click on it or drag it to your desktop it should be large enough to follow. Enjoy making your own efficiency boosting home decor, and don't forget to think deeply about meadows.

[pureandthimble]

Apparently this is what I do between cliffhanger episodes.

As always, this pattern is free, in accordance with the Night Vale Code of Ethics. If you see someone selling it, let me know. If you make one yourself, show me, and I will make high pitched noises of adoration in your general direction. And don't forget to throw money, so very much money, at Commonplace Books.

And if anyone was wondering, I have been waiting for 18 years to use that rainbow embroidery floss. All Hail the Glow Cloud.

[nae-design]

Tama Japanese Arts School graduate, Yokomizo Yuri's story-telling plush designs.

[pinnings]

Made a friend! His name is Myne. (Quick day project~) #seagull #plush