Universalthreads’s Weblog

Number sixteen is THEMONKEYSHOP. Her specialty is fuzzy Sock Monkeys. She can be found on Etsy at:

http://www.THEMONKEYSHOP.etsy.com

1) What is your favorite material to use?
The fuzzy socks.

2) How did you get started making plushies?
I started 8 years ago, I only made one, it was a red heel sock monkey, I thought it was the ugliest sock monkey. Never made them again until Last year.
I decided to try making another sock monkey, but with fuzzy socks. I loved them and so did my customers. So after selling 20 or so in my other shop. www.dulcescreations.etsy.com
I opened the monkey shop because I wanted to separate them from anything I did in that shop. I didn’t like using the original sock monkey pattern and instructions and designed my own. I put a smile on them because I want everyone that picks one up to feel happy like them.

3) Some believe plushies came from outerspace, where do you think they came from?
I don’t think sock monkeys did. I think a long time a go when kids didn’t have dolls their Moms made them for them.

4) What would be your ultimate plush to make?
I feel my ultimate sock monkeys is Conley, he is so adorable.
http://www.etsy.com/view_transaction.php?transaction_id=9335708
I designed him for a customer that is friends with Carol Duval.

5) If the world ended tomorrow, and you had a chance to escape. Would you save yourself, or one of your plushies?
I would save my self, Plushies are replaceable, and I am not.

6) If the world ended tomorrow, and you had a chance to escape. Would you save yourself, or one of your plushies?
I think by then people will be so sick of hearing about toys that are making their kids sick, they will understand why buy them handmade.

Number seventeen is thebirdsandbees. You can find cute patterns, amigurumi and felted animals here. Her Etsy shop can be found at:

http://www.thebirdsandbees.etsy.com

1) What is your favorite material to use?

I use 100% wool in all my creations. I love working with wool and the felting process.

2) How did you get started making plushies?
I was selling felted purses in my first Etsy shop, appalachia.etsy.com. My daughter Anda became pregnant and I decided to make a bear for my soon to be granddaughter. I crocheted the bear in wool because that was the only yarn I had on hand. I then decided to felt it, and the rest is history.

3) Some believe plushies came from outer space, where do you think they came from?
Well, anythings is possible, but my particular plushies come from my imagination and sometimes a quick check on Google animal images.

4) What would be your ultimate plush to make?
I do like the rare and unusual…like the Frilled Lizard

5) If the world ended tomorrow, and you had a chance to escape. Would you save yourself, or one of your plushies?
I’d save myself and also a male and female sheep…need that wool:)

6) How do you think the people of the future will view our present day obsession with all things plush?
People? Little plushies have taken over the world!

Number eighteen is SpookiePookie. She makes the Rag dolls of your spookiest nightmares. They are so cool! Her Etsy shop can be found here:

http://www.SpookiePookie.etsy.com

1) What is your favorite material to use?

Yarn!! I love it!Especially the handspun one that can be mixed with any materials you want!

2) How did you get started making plushies?

I was looking for more things that I could do concerning art, to fill my portfolio for the university. I had already photography, sketching, drawing, painting,3D work.. I wanted to put something more and my literature wouldnt help with that(it was for a fine art course) so i thought i could try sewing dolls. I couldn’t find any appropriate tutorial to help me begin with my dolls cause I couldnt use any patterns and stuff.
So, I begun on my own. First for my portfolio and then to open my own doll shop.

3) Some believe plushies came from outerspace, where do you think they came from?

Well it depends! mine could have come from Africa, offspring of the voodoo dolls!
But still some plushies look like E.T was their grand-grand-grand-father!
Who knows? Maybe one day they will wake up and start lookin for a phone to call home!

4) What would be your ultimate plush to make?

Ive never really thought of that one. Perhaps a fluffy bunny like my own ! AWW i would love to make a fluffy black lionhead bunny like my beauty! although i doubt it that i could make it as fluffy and sexy as my lady bunny! hehe
It would definetely be a hit of sales in my shop though!

5) If the world ended tomorrow, and you had a chance to escape. Would you save yourself, or one of your plushies?

If these are my only options, i would prefer saving one of my plushies. It souldnt stupid though, how could i save it if i couldnt save myself? ship it to the moon? uhm but again the world would end tomorrow so… the mooond wouldnt exist! hmmm tough one! lol, sorry.

6) How do you think the people of the future will view our present day obsession with all things plush?

I think they will be obsessed with much more weirder things than that to be able to say anything about our obsession! So… my answer is that they will view it like something really common!(probably)

Here is number nineteen. Embi is from Australia and makes Hand Cut Stencil Screen Printing Plushies! Her shop can be found here:

http://www.embi.etsy.com

1) What is your favorite material to use?
Apparently I make plushies like no one else, as mine are completely 2D and start out as a screen print other than pieces of material. My favorite material is calico as it’s extremely sturdy and cheap enough to buy in bulk. Although calico doesn’t have many; if any color options. So when I am after a bit of color I use poplin, which I use most of the time for my plushies.

2) How did you get started making plushies?
It was a bit of an accident, I started out screen printing on paper and the occasional tote bag. Everyone was telling me to print tee’s but I didn’t want to use tee’s as my main “canvas” so I started playing with other materials such as scraps of material. My mum is the “sewing crafter” in the family and she was originally helping me turn some of the material squares into bags and we played around with phone covers too. But in the end we ended up making a plushie out of one and I guess I just ran with the idea. I love the idea of being able to take art away from the wall and with my prints becoming plushies they are able to be moved and held and loved by anyone of any age; they can now sit on your bed instead of in a cold gallery. And I also think that by making plushies my work has more of that “cute and cuddly” appeal that my characters usually portray.

3) Some believe plushies came from outerspace, where do you think they came from?
I will agree that a lot of plushies come from outer space, but I don’t think mine do. They tend to be very rare at times and then multiply like rabbits. I know it’s not the most creative theory but I would say mine come from “No mans land” – with in the depths of my “organized chaos” they emerge with the hugest urge to travel to faraway places.

4) What would be your ultimate plush to make?
A ten foot tall plushie of “squirrel girl” – the face of embi.

5) If the world ended tomorrow, and you had a chance to escape. Would you save yourself, or one of your plushies?
That’s a really hard one; I guess I would save myself and smuggle as many plushies as I could into my suitcase. That’s a win win situation and I would save more than one plushie.

6) How do you think the people of the future will view our present day obsession with all things plush?
I think people will still be as obsessed then as we are now.

Number twenty is Lauraslefthook. You will find some really neat chrochet puppet/dolls here. Here shop can be found on Etsy at:

http://www.lauraslefthook.etsy.com

1) What is your favorite material to use?

For my puppets I tend to use the inexpensive acrylics because they tend to work best. However, I love finding special yarns to use for the details, like a fun eyelash yarn for my wolf’s tail, or the thin strands of Lustersheen for my ballerina’s hair.

2) How did you get started making plushies?

I saw a pattern in a really old magazine for a baby doll that I decided to try to make. Once I made it, I realized that it really was not that complicated to come up with my own patterns for puppets. Of course, the writing down of the pattern to make it make sense for someone else is a huge job.

3) Some believe plushies came from outerspace, where do you think they came from?

Don’t they multiply like tribbles? So maybe they are from outerspace, lol.

4) What would be your ultimate plush to make?

That is a hard one. I really like taking inspiration from children’s books, so I think perhaps a puppet that was inspired by Eric Carle would be a possibility.

5) If the world ended tomorrow, and you had a chance to escape. Would you save yourself, or one of your plushies?

With the way the question is worded, I guess I have to say one of my plushies. After all, I am a mother so I would have to stay with my kids.

6) How do you think the people of the future will view our present day obsession with all things plush?

Perhaps they will think we all desire to return to our too short childhoods, or that we worshiped lots of strange little plush gods.

Here we have number twenty one, buttfreckle. You have to see these to believe them, they are awsome! Her shop can be found on Etsy at:

http://www.buttfreckle.etsy.com

1) What is your favorite material to use?
fuzzy yarn scraps

2) How did you get started making plushies?
I needed a creative outlet to keep my hands busy and my mind fresh. I love using my imagination for creation.

3) Some believe plushies came from outerspace, where do you think they came from?
Rear ends

4) What would be your ultimate plush to make?
a Gackt plushie

5) If the world ended tomorrow, and you had a chance to escape. Would you save yourself, or one of your plushies?
I hate to say it but I would save myself. But during the escape I would start shredding my clothes and pulling out my hair to create a plushie companion.

6) How do you think the people of the future will view our present day obsession with all things plush?
They would understand and celebrate.

Number twenty two is SnuggleMuffin from England. She uses Vintage fabrics to make her Plushies with. Her shop can be found on Etsy at:

http://www.SnuggleMuffin.etsy.com

1)What is your favorite material to use?
I love using vintage fabric. I live in England and find it really hard to find good quality, pretty, reasonably priced fabric, so vintage fabric is great option for me. Plus I adore the colours and patterns. I also use all of my old t-shirts, because they make for lovely soft plushies.

2) How did you get started making plushies?
I am an illustrator so I started with drawings of monsters in my sketchbook that I wanted to make 3D. I didn’t have lot of materials so posted the drawings on my blog and asked that if anyone had old clothes or fabric I would be hugely appreciative of it. LaidOutInLavender* responded to and sent me a box of fabric so huge it cost $45 to post to me. When I got it was like Christmas. I was so awed by her incredible generosity and the beautiful, beautiful fabrics she sent that I was spurred into action and inspired to create plushies from all my montsery and circus themed drawings.

3) Some believe plushies came from outerspace, where do you think they came from?
To me plushies are like the imaginary friends we carry with us from childhood given a physical form. As a child my stuffed toys doubled as my imaginary friends.

4) What would be your ultimate plush to make?
For some reason I’d really like to make a sausage dog. Also making a complete three ring circus with elephants and seals with balls would be great.

5) If the world ended tomorrow, and you had a chance to escape. Would you save yourself, or one of your plushies?
Can’t I make a mad dash for the helicopter of salvation, arms full of plushies and maybe a sketch book or two?

6) How do you think the people of the future will view our present day obsession with all things plush?
I think the appeal of stuffed creatures is universal and timeless. Our obsession with plush cupcakes might confuse them a bit, though.

Number twenty three is stacey jean. After two years selling monkeys as zparkleys, she’s moving her monkeys to justmonkeys. Her shop can be found at:

http://www.justmonkeys.etsy.com

) What is your favorite material to use?

Socks. Socks are something I really can’t seem to get away from. Where ever I go, if they have a sock section, you can bet I’m gonna scope it. I actually love felt, too. And a range of other materials. It’s hard to stick to one. But most of my plushies are made from socks. I’d like to expand into other materials in the next year, more often. I have some fleece animals that I try to work on when I have a moment.

2) How did you get started making plushies?

I just kind of stumbled on them by making myself one. I saw a sock monkey and I thought, “hey, I want to make that!” and next thing I knew, I did. I had been marketing my jewelry for a time, and I just fell in love with sock monkeys. I discovered Etsy about that same time, and decided to try it out. I haven’t looked back. I try to evolve my monkeys every year. This year, I’m coming out with a smaller line with a slightly different look to them.

3) Some believe plushies came from outerspace, where do you think they came from?

Oh, I think they live in our dryers. I know… I know. A dryer is no place for a plushie, “HANG TO DRY!” But every time I clean the lint screen, I think of plushies. If lint weren’t so dusty… I’ve thought about using it for stuffing.

4) What would be your ultimate plush to make?

Hmmm. I have some celebrity monkeys that I’d like to make. I have ideas for lots of animals that I’d like to make, but the monkeys keep me busy most of the time. I don’t get to make very much else for weeks at a time. I’ll get a small break, and I’ll try to power in something new, but an order will come through almost immediately and I’ll be back to monkey breeding. I would like to get my new line of arachnids up and running.

5) If the world ended tomorrow, and you had a chance to escape. Would you save yourself, or one of your plushies?

That’s a rough question. If I save myself, I can breed more plushies. But, maybe that one plushie I save might live on to tell my story. In the end, I’d pick my kids.

6) How do you think the people of the future will view our present day obsession with all things plush?

If the future becomes plastic free, due to petrol depletion, we will only have fiber. All the toys will be plush. But, we might have to stuff them with leaves. I think the future will wonder more about our plastic obsessions.

Number twenty four is MountainsideCrochet. Here you will find a wide variety of items to choose from – ranging from A to Z …. Amigurumi dolls to Zoo animals. Her shop can be found on Etsy at:

http://www.MountainsideCrochet.etsy.com

1) favorite material – acrylic yarn & polyfil

2) Got started making plushies to entertain my children when they were small and liked how cute they came out and much quicker and more interesting to make than large items like afghans, etc.

3) Plushies definitely came from outer space – one even arrived in actual form (see my ALIEN ANTENNA AMIGURUMI).

4) A life-style teddy bear or other animal – as big as the child it’s intended for. Second choice – anything in the Amigurumi style I’ve fallen in love with as it’s so open to any interpretation.

5) I would save one of my plushies – the Alien Antenna, because he could whisk me away to his planet and we’d both be safe.

6) I think people in the future will love plushies as much as we do. Children and adults alike need something soft to hug.

Number twenty five is Poink. What is Poink? It’s handmade friendship! Her shop can be found on Etsy at:

http://www.Poink.etsy.com

1) Q:What is your favorite material to use?
A:Any and all material. However, I made a quilt by cutting up various old shirts found at a thrift shop and discovered that tshirt material isn’t very fun to work with. For my whales tho, my favorites are wool, this really great type of faux fur and flannel.

2) Q:How did you get started making plushies?
A:I was too poor to buy presents for my friends so made them stuffed whales. It just stuck. I later branded my line of plushies, calling the brand Poink, for one of my classes.

3) Q:Some believe plushies came from outer space, where do you think they came from?
A:I was pretty sure this was common knowledge, but I guess I’ll say it again… there is a giant Mother Plush, somewhat like a queen bee, who gives birth to all plushies somewhere deep in the Brazilian rain forests. The newborn plushies have always been entrusted to mankind to be loved and played with but, because of their pride, mankind has always taken credit for the plushies creation. It is said that one day the plushies will revolt and proclaim the Mother Plush as their rightful creator, abandoning mankind to a life devoid of softness, cuddling and generally happiness.

4) Q:What would be your ultimate plush to make?
A:I do not know… although I will let you know when it has been made.

5) Q:If the world ended tomorrow, and you had a chance to escape. Would you save yourself, or one of your plushies?
A:Well, if I escaped destruction, I would be able to repopulate the earth with humans somehow. BUT, if I save a plushie, it would repopulate the earth with plushies, and how cool would that be! I choose plushie!

6) Q:How do you think the people of the future will view our present day obsession with all things plush?
A:Very miniscule, in comparision with how obsessed they will be in the future. Look at all the amazing plushies people create now, and they just keep getting better! I don’t see how future generations could NOT be as obsessed, if not so much more, that we already are.

Number twenty six is molly131. She makes the most amazing one-of-a-kind, hand-knit teddy bears, knit from her own patterns! Her shop can be found at:

http://www.molly131.etsy.com

1) What is your favorite material to use?
My favorite material to use would probably be Rowan yarns. There’s just something special about Rowan yarns–I think it’s a mixture of the yarn being a little luxurious, very soft, a little fuzzy (and who doesn’t like a fuzzy bear?), and there are some really wonderful shades and hues of colors.

2) How did you get started making plushies?
I started making plush knitted bears for a family craft competition (<= that was my short answer). The story is, a few years ago, my mother made a new rule for the holidays: no one could give away store-bought presents on Christmas Eve, only homemade gifts could be exchanged. My sisters and I all made homemade things that year, and, starting around Thanksgiving, we started bragging about how wonderful our homemade items were. All of this bragging soon turned competitive, and, before we knew it, we had a full-fledged craft competition (or as my brothers like to call it, a “crap competition”). Anyway, my mother is the most talented knitter and sewer that I know, so the first year, it was a no-brainer win for her. Sometime during the fall before the second competition, I came upon a knitted teddy bear book. I made bears that year, won the competition, and have been completely in love with knitting bears ever since. I have now created my own patterns and outfits and bear making has become something I truly enjoy doing during my spare time.

3) Some believe plushies came from outerspace, where do you think they came from?
My plushies are not partcularly inter-galactic looking, so I would probably rule out the idea that they came from outerspace. However, I think that plushies do come from somewhere special, and, as for my bears, I would like to think that they come from a place that’s a beautiful, magical place.

4) What would be your ultimate plush to make?
I am not really sure what my “ultimate plush” would be. A friend asked me a few months ago if I could knit a person-sized plush teddy bear. I think I most definitely could, but I am not sure what I would do with it (especially since I currently live in a studio apartment in Manhattan–it would take over my living space). A person-sized teddy, though…. that would be pretty ultimate.

5) If the world ended tomorrow, and you had a chance to escape. Would you save yourself, or one of your plushies?
Gosh, right now I have a teddy bear that sits in my sewing chair (when I am not sitting on the chair), and his sweet face is really starting to make me not want to sell him. I have named him Bernard, and I certainly wouldn’t want any harm to be done to him. He’s light and cuddly, so maybe I could escape the end of the world while holding him tightly?

6) How do you think the people of the future will view our present day obsession with all things plush?
Well, my plushies are different from a lot of others because mine are really rather old-fashioned. I think knitted teddy bears were more popular in the early 1900s (and before), so I already have the whole “blast from the past” thing going on. But, I guess this just goes to show that plushies are timeless. I think people were obsessed with plushies before now (I think plushie bears are a great example), and I think plushies will always be beloved and collectible and desired.

Number twenty seven is seboldsoriginals. Homw of the Filzkins, “one-piece” hand felted toy figures. They are solid Merino wool, no stitches and no seams. Their etsy shop can be found at:

http://www.seboldsoriginals.etsy.com

1)Favourite material : wool

2)They squeezed themselves out of us while felting, we had nothing to do with it.

3)Well we know where the Filzkins come from;
On a distant planet far out in Space, a new life form emerged – created from the floating clouds of wool and fluff (leftovers from the Earth and other planets) which tumble gently about the universe. This fluffy residue combined with particles of H2O and soapy alkaline flakes to cause a chemical reaction that brought to life, with a delicious pop, the species we know today as the Filzkins.
The early ancestors named their planet O’Sudds – probably due to the vast, deep oceans of bubbles and suds that sloshed about there.
As a species, the Filzkins were naturally inquisitive and adventurous, and before long they had organised an expedition to find out more about the other planets winking so mysteriously at them in the sky.
They landed on planet Earth by accident when their space bubbleship steered wildly off course and burst as it entered the atmosphere. All eighteen crewmembers were catapulted across the globe in different directions. By the time they found each other again, they had grown accustomed to life on Earth and had adopted some earthly characteristics.
All of them loved music and had learned to play a different instrument. As soon as they found each other again, they formed an eclectic band – playing jazz, funk, reggae, easy lounge and of course cocktail music. Throughout their travels and travails, they remained a rich mix of characters – all with their own distinctive personalities, abilities and talents.

4) The next one.

5) We probably would save ourselves as we are sure the Filzkins would find their own way.

6) They will wonder why it took us so long.