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Nancy Busch wanted something a little different from her mink fur coats.  She wanted a Monkey, a Pony and a Dog–so that is what we made!

People often ask about the patterns I use and, with my bears, it is complicated because the patterns are an amalgamation of several patterns that I combined and then, those patterns have morphed over the past 16 years as I adapted them to work with every kind of material thrown my way 🙂  However, I don’t get to do different animals that often in an average year so I usually use an existing pattern.

This was the first time I’ve used this monkey pattern.  I normally like to use the monkey pattern from the book Adventures in Toy-Making by Gillian Bradshaw-Smith (published in 1976).  It is a fun pattern and I like the look.  However, there was a pattern in another book I have Sew Soft and Cuddly Animals by Donna Childers (published in 1978) that has had me intrigued for some time so I decided to give it a try.  It is a more difficult pattern, but I do like that the features are more defined.  The face, ears, foot and hand pads are made of doe suede.  It had the right texture to go with this fur.

 

This pony pattern is also found in Sew Soft and Cuddly Animals.  It is my favorite for thicker fabrics or fur usually.  There is another really good pony pattern in the book Easy-to-Make Stuffed Animals & All the Trimmings by Jodie Davis (published in 1992) but the legs are somewhat thin so they don’t work as well with thick fur or fabrics.  For this pony, I chose to add some of my own contrast black mink on the hooves and found some died black fox for the main and tail.  To help him stand, I did sink small dowel rods wrapped in poly fiber fill into each of his legs

 

For the dog, I have a lot of different dog patterns to choose from–including a variety of breeds–however, I keep coming back to McCall’s Crafts Pattern #M6620.  I’ve used this pattern many times and really like it for a basic dog even though it has a couple of different breeds represented.  It isn’t a particularly easy pattern, but the finished dog usually actually looks like a dog 🙂

 

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