Woozy Waggies: Under the Needle

Or, Frustration: 1, E: 0.

Sewing the tail together was an inauspicious start. Of course, I could have read the instructions first, but I keep confusing this pattern with another Scotty dog pattern that was sent at the same time. That pattern's instructions, such as they are, are printed hither and yon amidst the pattern pieces. The Woozy Waggies pattern has what passes as actual directions, contained in one location, though they’re rarely more explicit than “join E of body to E of face.”

Getting back to step 1. After correctly sewing and joining the tail to the Eiffel Tower-like back legs, the legs are sewn to the body.

It is at this point I realize I’ve cut two identical body pieces, rather than flipping the pattern piece to create mirror images. Luckily, there is a lot of fabric. With that minor annoyance taken care of, the back strip is joined to the body. The two pieces need to be stretched and clipped for a smooth fit. An experienced seamstress would know this; a beginner, relying on the pattern for instructions, would be SoL. (The seam was clipped after the photo was taken)

Now the real fun begins. The narrow face strip is about an inch longer than the body to which it is sewn.

Did I somehow miscut? Are my notches way off? Lining up the cloth pieces against the original pattern shows that everything is cut and marked correctly. The body is cut on the straight grain and can’t possibly stretch so much as to fit the face piece. As I stew over this, desperately wishing I had some beer, I read the instructions again. “Next join E of body to E of face. Whiskers may be inserted” blah blah blah “Next, join notches F of face and back, forming the ears.” No clue about the mystery inch in the directions. Stew, ponder, sigh, fret. Finally it dawns on me that the face strip wraps around the body to form the nose.

It seems obvious now, but it wasn’t at the time, and there are no procedural sketches or diagrams.

Using very short stitches, I staystitch both edges of the face strip in the nose area, just shy of the seam line, so that I can clip the turn without worrying about clipping too deep.

Pin, stitch, disaster. Because the pieces are so small, and because of the curves and stretching involved, pins aren’t enough to keep the fabric edges aligned, unless you want to use about 16 pins per inch. Hand basting is the only way to go. (Here, the small pieces are a blessing.) The pieces go together quickly, and if my blast-through-this-damn-piece pace obliterates Scotty’s brow bone — well, so be it.

As I join notches F to form the ears, or ears, I can’t help but notice that said ears are really quite tiny, quite tiny indeed.

Tiny enough that I know there’s no way in God’s green earth I’m going to be able to turn them inside-out. Rip stitches, sew a really narrow seam, trim as close as humanly possible, finger press, turn, and voila! Poke through tips and side seam with the trusty bamboo pointy thing. View lumpy, frayed ears with displeasure. Grit teeth.

At this point it’s obvious that the fabric I’ve chosen is a little too heavy to capture Scotty’s every winning detail. The fabric is a lightweight denim, far thinner than the velveteen or corduroy I’d envisioned for the final version. Still, I’ll forge ahead. This first go-round won’t be anything to write home about, but it’ll allow me to work out all the pattern quirks and puzzlements before committing to better fabric. And if I enlarge the pattern by 30% or so, it’ll give me a lot more room to work with. We want those ears turned on a dime, damn it!

Next: The Underbelly