Pendleton puppies for Sew Expo February 27, 2013

I just got back from Quiltcon and my first visit to Austin, Texas, and it was so fantastic! I am working on a post about it with lots of photos, but in the meantime, slowed down by a major post-flight cold, I wanted to share a little project I sewed last month for the Woolen Mill Store: a set of Pendleton puppies!

Oliver and Madeleine

Michelle asked me and several other sewists to make some projects with Pendleton’s wool, especially their marvelous plaids, for their Sew Expo booth. I sent her several ideas and was so excited when they picked my favorite one, the George the Puppy softie from Jennifer Paganelli’s book, Girl’s World.

George the Puppy

I’ve made several in quilting cottons for my kids and I knew they would be so adorable in wool plaids of different scales and colors. It’s a super fun little pattern to sew.

three mic-macs

A few tips/details on sewing them in wool instead of quilting cotton: I cut mine on the bias instead of on the straight grain as directed with absolutely no issues.

Plaid dog (on the bias)

For the curves, I “clipped” them with pinking shears, turned them right side out, and then top-stitched them for stability. No interfacing or any other materials necessary.

Making plaid ears

I love how the ears turned out!

Making plaid dog ears

And how the bias lines of the plaids looked along the seams.

plaid is fun to sew

Pearl and I named them Oliver and Madeleine and had a little indoor-outdoor photo shoot.

Oliver and Madeleine

One of my favorite things was making a tiny wool-felt binding collar with a mother-of-pearl button “tag” for each of the puppies.

Oliver and Madeleine

Buttons just find their way into a LOT of my projects. I love them so much.

Oliver

The two puppies are so cute together. I used Pendleton’s ombre plaids in shirting weight, which is lovely to sew. I mixed larger-scale plaids for the bodies with smaller, more delicate plaids for the ears.

Oliver and Madeleine

If you go to Sew Expo, I hope you’ll stop by the Pendleton booth and say hi to Oliver and Madeleine! Check out all the beautiful Pendleton project samples everyone sewed in Michelle’s post here.

If you go:

Sew Expo
February 28-March 3, 2013
Puyallup, Washington

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