My crazy patchwork elephant

There hasn't been a lot of sewing going on here this week because I've been sick. As I've got nothing new to show you, I thought I'd show you something I made a few years ago. This is my crazy patchwork elephant that lives in our lounge.

with his blanket on

Some of you have commented that my house must be filled with beautiful things, but just understand, this elephant sits beside the large flat screen TV, the MySky, the PS4, the PS3 and the WiiU (ie gaming central). I do have a few of my tasteful items scattered around the house amongst the nerf guns, shin pads, football gear and school books, but it will be a few years yet before I gain total control of the house.

without the blanket

I learnt to make this elephant at a class at Nancy's Embroidery about 5 years ago. It was taught by a lady who worked for Bernina at the time.

The class sample had been made from silk fabrics, but I didn't fancy working with silk, so I chose a range of cotton quilting fabrics that worked well together.

We were give templates and traced each them onto interfacing. We then did crazy patchwork over the templates until they were filled.  Most people did their crazy patchwork on their fancy machines, but I chose to do mine by hand using perle threads and a variety of embroidery stitches.

We put crushed granite in the base of each leg so the elephant would be stable and stand up easily. We stuffed the body and added the finishing touches such as the tail, the eyes and the blanket.  I got my braids from a wonderful shop in Wellington which has now closed down. It was called Scherazad Silks and was run by an old Sikh man who imported wonderful silks and braids. I really enjoyed choosing the braids for the blanket in that shop.

the other side

It was a challenge to make a 3 dimensional object. Getting the ears in just the right place was probably the hardest part, but I did really enjoy making this elephant. Now I look at him each night when I get to relax in front of TV at the end of the day.

The facts:
his back is 10" high
his trunk is 14" high
he is 17" long