I recently hosted a Steampunk Valentine swap and the person I was sending to was Roberta Birnbaum. For Roberta’s Valentine, I decided to go with something a little out of the ordinary instead of the traditional paper kind. So, I made her a little Steampunk stuffie. I got the idea after checking the book Steampunk Softies by Nicola Tedman and Sarah Skeate out of the library. It’s a great book filled with ideas for little stuffed toys (decorative not the kind to be played with) with Steampunk flair.
I drew my own pattern for this little guy, creating the body out of a rounded arch shape and using hearts for the head and the wings. I cut the pieces out of felt, using a glitter felt for the wings and a textured felt for the body. Using embroidery floss and a blanket stitch, I sewed each piece together, lightly stuffing them with polyester fibre fill. I assembled the softie by sewing it together, creating a flat bottom on it so that it would stand up.
I embellished the softie with eyes made of metal washers, a metal ring I found amongst some random bits of hardware, and a tiny mirror. The nose/mouth is a key from a sardine can. I gave him (her? it?) a small plastic lacy heart on its chest as a little nod to my love of Raggedy Anns. Unfortunately, the metal on the face added enough weight to the doll that it no longer would stand up properly so I needed to balance it out.
On the doll’s back, I attached some items to its wings. There’s a gold pin – it’s similar to a large safety pin with a number on it and was used in war time as a laundry tag for one of the soldiers. Hanging from the pin are two fishing weights and two small heart charms.
It was lots of fun to make and I foresee many more of these Steampunk softies in my future!
lizabett says
Oh That is adorable! Much much nicer than a card!
Aimee - It's Overflowing says
Thanks so much for letting me share your cute valentine!!! XO, Aimee