Mr. Scarecrow

Liz is whispering a secret to her new friend, Mr. Scarecrow. He's from McCall's 6413, with a few minor alterations.

Liz helped me make him, as much as she could. She picked out all the fabrics from my large remnant bag, and also selected all his buttons. She helped stuff him and the birds as well. And for the first time, I let her help me iron (when using the Wonder-under on the appliques). A nerve wracking experience!! But she was very attentive, and just loves to help.
One of the more major changes I made was to hand stitch on the smile and his nose. the pattern calls for drawing it on with a fabric marker, but I much prefer the look of the hand stitching. The trim isn't purchased, it is something my aunt gave me years ago in this bag interesting trims that I think were mostly from the 70's. :) I honestly never thought I'd find a use for some of it, yet it keeps coming in handy. This orange looped yarn trim made perfect "straw".

I didn't have quite enough to put on the row between his shirt and overalls, as the pattern calls for, but I got it everywhere else.

We ended up using almost all of my interesting and unique buttons. This pattern requires 21 buttons!! It was fun to use my single or double leftover buttons and odd finds I've made for the birds eyes, boots, etc. Even his eyes don't match, the top one is a size larger than the lower one. I also didn't use gardening gloves, as I was trying not to spend any money on this project, so his hands are actually rubber household cleaning gloves. They are a tad big! lol.

I didn't have metal or plastic rings either, so I sewed braided yarn loops onto his back to hang him on the wall.

I love the cute little blackbirds, and think they are a great addition. Overall, I think this pattern is adorable,and makes a great fall decoration.

I didn't use batting as the pattern calls for, since I didn't have any on hand. I used fiberfill instead and just stuffed him pretty loosely. This makes him a bit puffier than the pattern version, but that has it's benefits, it means he can sit up for display, and doesn't HAVE to hang on the wall. As a matter of fact, I kind of like him sitting better than hanging, I think.

So, hello Mr. Scarecrow, and welcome Autumn!