Denim the Dinosaur
My kiddo requested I make a something for his teacher. We decided to go with a dinosaur since her classroom is decorated entirely in dinosaurs. It’s taken me nearly the entire school year but I finally finished it.
I had started out with a slightly different design that was more 2D, smaller, and in brown corduroy. I discovered all my choices were not the best when I was turning it right-side out. The material was shredding and the neck and tail were too thick to push through such narrow openings.
I decided to go a little bigger and in a material I was a little more experienced with. I also opted to go with a more 3D shape. I sketched out the pieces, and cut and pinned them together. And then my brain went on hiatus for months. I wasn’t using a pattern. I was going off what I pictured in my head of how some stuffed animals are pieced together. Why I didn’t just examine one of the many around me, I don’t know.
I avoided the dang thing for months. My kiddo eventually gave up asking if I was going to work on it. And then May came. I knew I had only a few weeks left to try to do something with it.
I managed to stitch it together. I got the tail and head turned right-side out. Then I realized the brachiosaurus I spent months avoiding had virtually no neck and flipper feet.
I chopped its head off and reattached it with a long tube for a neck. I tacked the legs to the body. I made adjustments to the tail because it was looking real weird.
My kiddo painted the eyes and spots and stripes. I tied a ribbon around the neck to disguise the rough job I did attaching it to the body.
I’m so tickled at how well it is standing up on its own. I’m tempted to keep it for myself and send his teacher some chocolate instead.
Materials:
Two pairs of jeans the kiddo had outgrown (big holes in the knees so they weren’t getting donated or handed-down)
Lots of plastic grocery bags cut up for stuffing
Paint (20 years old)
White ribbon (saved from who-knows-what)