4 comments about Soft Animals A to Z: Sew a Collection of 26 Realistic Toys.

1. Just imagine how happy I was when I got my copy yesterday. Sometimes we don't believe the cover of a book, but Soft Animals A to Z is really great. I especially like the zebra, unicorn, and ostrich. My son asks me for the monkey. All of the 26 animal toys are lifelike. And you'll be surprised to see even xiphosura, armadillo, and iguana are included. Step-by-step illustrations are helpful. With this book, I could make great toys for my niece and nephew.



2. I searched for a long time in bookstores, libraries, and even online before I found the perfect patterns, and this book has them! Experimenting with materials and eye positioning to create different looks also gives you much more when it comes to your "collection." The only complaint I would have is that I can't find more books by the same author for other animals, 'coz I sure love the results from the patterns she has in this one. Really a wonderful book for anyone who wants to sew nice-looking stuff toys.



3. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in soft toy making! This book contains an animal for every skill level, all you need to know is basic sewing. The instructions are well thought out and very easy to use. There is also such a variety in animals that you are sure to find one to make for every member of your family. If you are looking for that perfect book to get you started, here it is!



4. this book has some great patterns and the instructions are clear. however as someone very new to this type of sewing i found it a little bit difficult. i am sure with practice my animals will start to look like the ones in the book.

No comments about Wild and Wonderful Fleece Animals: With Full-Size Patterns for 20 Cuddly Critters.

5 comments about Teddy Bears: Twenty-five Irresistible Designs for Knitted Bears.

1. The instructions are clear enough, however I was hoping for more size varieties, 4" - 20". I am still looking for a tiny knitted bear pattern.
   
   I also deducted points for the author's insistance on one yarn, which not everyone has ability to obtain. I think an improvemnet would be using generic terms for yarns, baby weight, sport weight, 4 ply, that sort of thing.
   
   I hope that these tiny complaints will not stop others from trying this author's patterns. The one I am doing now is going together well and it is very very easy to do.



2. I am giving this four stars because I haven't made any of the bears yet. However the pictures are too cute for words and I can't wait to make one. I rarely have problems with Debbie Bliss patterns and do not anticipate problems with these.



3. I really like this book, actually. I only made one teddy bear (the one in the bunny suit), but the directions were quite clear, and I had no trouble with it. And the bear came out very cute, I thought! Just like the picture.
   
   There are lots of adorable teddies. The best part about them is the detailed wardrobes most of them wear. Alot of the clothes are also interchangeable, so you can knit one teddy bear with several outfits -- a great gift for a little kid! The outfits are mostly old-fashined-looking, and quite charming. There are also a couple of decorative teddies with flowers embroidered on them. I'm not crazy about those, myself, but someone else might be.
   
   I also like the way this book is organized -- the pictures of all the bears are on the first pages of the book, followed by the actual directions for making them in the later section. Each picture is referenced with the page number the directions are on.
   
   The thing to look out for in this book is, the pieces are very fiddly. The author has you casting off and on all in the same piece. Of course, as a result, there is LOTS of seaming. I think there are easier ways to achieve the same shaping. Some of the pieces seem weird, but it wasn't too difficult to figure out how they were supposed to fit together.
   
   Overall, a very nice toy knitting book.



4. I agree that the pictures and designs in this book are very cute and appealing. I also agree however that the designer could clarify the patterns a bit. It would help if the patterns included row numbers or stitch counts. But for the most part, the instructions are easy enough to follow. I would not recommend it for novices, but someone with a bit of experience should not have trouble...just read ahead a bit and keep track of your rows yourself on a separate piece of paper



5. Thanks so much for your quick shipment of this book. All 25 designs for these bears are so adorable. Debbie Bliss has a real winner with this book!!

5 comments about Stupid Sock Creatures Book & Kit.

1. Great fun book. I can hardly wait to lay in a supply of kinky socks and make a bunch of these creatures.



2. I purchased this kit for my 11 year old son, as he always has great fun entertaining the family with his impromtu sock puppets. The skills needed to create the little guys are a little more advanced than I thought, so I ended up doing most of the sewing...but it still has turned out to be a fantastic gift. My son and I will plan a creature out, and once he is finished, he has something to cherish that we did together. We enjoyed learning about the author from he website, and wish him all the success in the world!



3. This book takes good juju to an entirely new level. Every detail has a smile or three behind it, and the net effect is a better world. Enjoy it too much, as I do.



4. The kit comes with everything you need, however, instuctions are not easy to follow. I bought this for a 6 year old and ended up doing most of the work myself.



5. I was wildly attracted to the insane looking creatures on the book's cover and even more ecstatic when I found this kit offered; the obvious benefit that you can make a creature immediately - and I'm sure Mr. Murphy, the author, knew that once that was done, you'd be hopelessly hooked!
   
   You'd think a sock would pose many limitations, but once you get the simple, basic techniques down, you're limited only by your own imagination. The slightest alteration in stitching and element placement (limbs, facial features, etc.) can produce fantastically varying results.
   
   Important to me, a "stuffing novice", was the inclusion in this kit of the appropriate polyester fiberfill which is extremely soft and fluffy. (Michael's sells what I found was the best, Fairfield's Poly-fil Supreme.)
   
   You really can't go wrong with the wonderfully detailed instructions and helpful tips in this book. And get this... he even provides ideas on how to use the leftover scraps from each project. I think at that point, I was ready to give him my first born. *lol* Once I finished my first creature, I couldn't help but giggle every time I looked at him sitting on the back of the couch. Each subsequent creature's personality blossomed quickly and amusingly. I originally wanted to make these as gifts, but I'm finding that I just can't part with my new friends!

5 comments about Toys to Sew: Dozens of Patterns for Dolls, Animals, Doll Clothes, and Accessories.

1. I thought the doll to make inside was going to be a little different, but it's still pretty cool. I bought the book to make the doll and a bunch of clothes for my three-yr. old. The face on the doll is pretty goofy, and the head is a funny lemon-shape, but the rest of it is fab. I'm trying to decide whether to make it as is, or attempt to redesign the head a bit. I'm not the most incredible sewer out there, so I'll probably just settle for the goofy head. But there are other toys in there - the elephant is incredible, and the sock puppets from the cover are great. A really cute tea set that I've nearly finished making too...



2. This book is packed full of really cute toys to sew. However, the instructions have much to be desired if you are a beginner sewer. I've sewn toys before, so I knew what to do, but more details are needed, such as how to sew on knit fabric (for example socks are used for the cover toys -- if too short a stitch length is used, you may have stretch occurring), placement of embroidered details like eyes and nose, and how to sew on limbs so that the seams don't show. That's another issue, many of the seams are visible on these toys, which means wear of the toys may be an issue. I also would opt to put on details like the dog patch and nose after stuffing and not before, especially as the knit fabric of the socks stretches but the felt does not (nose and eyes). Fabric instructions and sizes are not clear as well.
   
   If you are not a beginner, I think there is a great deal of inspiration in the toys in this book. They look like fun items kids will love. Okay, forget kids, I love them.



3. I absolutly love the toys in this book, and so does my daughter!! With all of the lead and recall issues lately we have taken aways most of my her toys and replaced them with safer toys; many from this book. They have their own special touch like the silly high placed thumbs, big googoo eyes, and more. I made the cat and one mouse skittle and my daughter loves throwing them at me and laughing. This is a soft toy that won't hurt a fly and they are soo cute. I did add more personality to one of the mice by making her into a ballernina. I will also do a pirate one. These toys can be made so inexpensivly that I am actually able to give gifts to my nieces and nephews for Christmas. I have a hard time controlling myself!!I want to make them all!!! They are soooo cute!! The only reason I gave this a 4 instead of a 5 is that I agree with the other reviewers: the instructions and pattern pieces are lacking. If you are a beginner you will find this frustrating. With a little experience you will be able to figure out what is not told to you. There are times also that the pattern will not yield the same results as what you see in the picture. For example: the gator has pointy claws in the pic but the pattern has round blunt claws. I have learned to look over the pic well, compare the pattern and make adjustments. As far as increasing the pattern piece sizes I too found this cumbersome. I didn't drive to a print shop, but I did have to have my teenager teach me how to use the enlarging feature on my home copier/printer/scanner. So if you can enlarge pattern pieces and figure out missing instructions here and there, this book will be excellent for any parent wanting to make cute, safe toys for their children and gifts for others!! Here is a list of what you will find in the book:
   1 doll/ 4 variations: pirate, ballernia, Sony Sam, fairy. Other clothes.
   4 sock animals: tiger, monkey, dog, puppy.
   Stuffed animals: pink elephant,gator, trutle, bear, spotted elephant
   Felt toys: 4 dinos and one baby dino hatching out of an egg and bag, cat and mouse skittles (boweling), cone shapped houses.
   A hobbie horse and a wooden pull toys (like a flat wagon).



4. The ideas in the book are beautifully photographed. The materials chosen for the projects are inspiring. But the instructions are given without illustrations, and the case of the pattern I am working with, the instructions are inaccurate and inadequate. You must figure out how to correct the errors. The images and ideas are top notch, however, the instructions make at least one toy ("Pull-Along Nellie") difficult to make. A new sewer would have a hard time solving the problem of the wrong instructions.



5. The toys in this book are adorable, but the directions are SOOOOOO poorly written that it's nearly impossible to follow them and extremely frustrating! Also, in one of the toys, a piece of the pattern is completely left out of the templates section. Ugh!

5 comments about Toy Knits: More Than 30 Irresistible and Easy-to-Knit Patterns.

1. I have just finished the ballerina rabbit for my little ballerina's 6th birthday. It came out excellent, and only took a few evenings to make. I substituted yarns with no problem and added buttonholes for buttons because I don't like the ties. Next project from this book will be the dalmation, changed to blue with white spots. It looks like it will tuck very neatly into my 3-yr-old son's arms. A tip: try using leftover matching yarn to stuff knitted animals; that way you won't have to worry about any white stuffing showing through.



2. The patterns in this book are all knitted in flat pieces, on straight needles (usually US #3 with DK weight yarn). This means that there is a lot of sewing to do to finish them.
   
   I've only started one of the projects, but I already found an error: half of Chart 1 for the cow is missing. (I've decided to fill in the chart myself, copying from the photo where necessary. Hey, it's only a cow spot.) The debbie bliss website (debbieblissonline.com) has errata from her patterns, but this mistake isn't on the list. The website has no contact information(!) but I've sent a note to the publisher, St. Martin's.
   
   As another reviewer said, this book has somewhat confusing directions (the style takes some getting used to) and the lack of schematics can be confusing. On the cow, I learned that you have to join the back legs with the slanted, not straight, portions toward the middle. The directions are ambiguous about this point, but if you don't get it right you'll have to frog or dismantle a lot of knitting to correct it.
   
   About half the designs in the book are teddy bears and bunnies (they come in different sizes and wearing different costumes). The other half include some very cute and ingenious designs - a reindeer, a camel with a saddle, anthropomorphic mice and rats, a monkey with a fez, several farm animals, and a "farm set play mat" that includes miniature versions of the cows, sheep, pigs, and piglets. The miniatures are about 4 inches long; the larger size farm animals are 12-16 inches long. (I'm looking forward to making some little sheep out of wool scraps!)
   
   If you buy this book, join me in pestering the publisher about errata - without schematics or clear directions, it can be hard to tell when you've gone wrong.



3. I'm a relatively new knitter and I bought this book thinking I could make a toy for my nephew. The toys are very cute and come in a variety of easier and more complex styles.
   
   I had no problem with the knitting (except there were one or two minor errors in the pattern I tried).
   
   Making up the toy was harder for me. People with experience with sewing or with finishing knitted projects could probably put together toys quickly and easily, but I had some difficulties. There are no diagrams showing how the pieces fit together, so I had to figure it out by trial and error from written instructions, and it was harder than I expected.
   
   Also there are no instructions on how to seam the toys to produce the tidy edge shown in the photos. I was able to find such instructions instructions in other knitting books, but it would have been nice for them to be included here.



4. There is a selection of different animals to knit in this book. Some could have been made nicer by knitting tighter as the stuffing shows a lot on quite a few projects. Not as professional looking toys as I thought I'd see from Debbie Bliss but none-the-less there is a good selection.



5. I have just finished a project from this book, the instructions were very concise and easy to understand. I was a great project!

5 comments about Plush You!: Lovable Misfit Toys to Sew and Stuff.

1. The pictures on the cover were deceptively cute, however this book has only a few, not-so-adorable softie patterns inside. If I were a pro at making plush toys I might be able to make some of the cute softies from pictures alone. The buyer must realize that this book is meant to be inspirational, but does not offer much knowledge on how to make the projects it displays on it's pages.



2. I like to be inspired by a book and this one has caught my imagination and given it some ideas. Even the most complicated of these toys can be figured out easily - if you want to copy them faithfully. But, why would you? The idea, it seems to me, is to give you a jumping off point for letting your own "inner plushy" come out to play. I am a bit bewildered by the negative reviews. I love this book and think it's easily the best out on the subject. Even if I wanted to copy one of the critters exactly, it would be simple to do so - even for a fairly inexperienced sewer. Part of the fun of this type of doll is that each one is completely different from the others. I didn't think the patterns included were particularly necessary, and have to agree they are for such simple dolls that you can just take some graph paper and figure them out yourself. But then, I didn't think any patterns would be necessary. To me these are fun dolls that allow each of us to be playful and creative on our own. It's like the crochet books of the 70s compared to the ones around now - they show you the possibilities and what happens if you do this or that - and let you fly on your own.



3. While the patterns in this book are not as easy to use as other books- the information in the book was great. I have spent hours perusing the different websites of doll makers listed in the book. I recieved this as a gift and do refer back to it often for ideas with my own crafting.



4. I got this book because I figured it would have patterns and instructions for the ridiculously cute plushies on the cover. Not so much. There are very few patterns and instructions, and I find the plushies that DO have instructions are the ones that would have been pretty easy to figure out sans pattern. I can understand not wanting to publish a pattern for an item you sell on your own website, but then why put it in a book at all? Very, very disappointing. I recommend "Cute Dolls" by Aranzi Aronzo or "Softies" by Therese Laskey if you want a useful book.



5. I think this is a fabulous book! I didn't buy it to copy the plushes or for patterns-I simply got it for inspiration. There are so many wonderful artists making awesome plushes-this book gives you a sneak peak into a handful of these artists and the cool plushes they make.
   
   Enjoy the book for what it is...

5 comments about Aranzi Aronzo Fun Dolls (Let's Make Cute Stuff).

1. This is the first Aranzi Aronzo book that I picked up. I chose this over the other books because I liked the wider variety of dolls (snakes, cars, turtles, bears) that they featured. So far though I've only managed to make the bears, dogs and bunnies so it looks like I'll probably be picking up the original "cute dolls" as it seems to have more of the... er... cute dolls. Instructions are incredibly easy to follow. Another reviewer mentioned that the measurements are metric but I honestly haven't even noticed as I haven't had a need to measure anything because of the great pictures/explanations. I like the consistent reminders throughout the book to try new fabrics, to have fun and, of course, to make things cute.



2. I love Aranzi Aronzo books for their super easy instructions and light-hearted tones. So far, this one's my favorite. I actually laughed out loud while flipping through the pages. I have a boy and a girl and there are tons of things in this book that both of them love. The patterns are so easy and there's no need to measure anything. A few of them suggest enlarging them slightly, but they look great as is! I definitely recommend this book to anyone looking to make cute and easy kids' toys.



3. "Fun Dolls" can be thought of as "Cute Dolls" volume 2. "Cute Dolls" provided patterns for making 18 full-sized (8-12 inch) Aranzi Aronzo character dolls (if you aren't familiar with the Aranzi Aronzo characters, check out the Aronzo website, www.aranziaronzo.com - they're sort of like the Sanrio/Hello Kitty characters, only with more personality) and "Fun Dolls" provides more of the same (18 more patterns). However, because most of the more popular and well-known Aronzo characters were dealt with in "Cute Dolls", this time around, the patterns are for some of the lesser characters (and, in some cases, ones that I had never even seen before). That's not to say that they're not cute, they are, but if you're looking for a pattern for making Brown Bunny or Bad Guy, you should buy "Cute Dolls" instead.
   
   As was the case with the other Aronzo craft books, the patterns are easy to follow, the instructions are fully illustrated and there are colour photographs with hilarious captions throughout.
   
   This is the third book in the Aranzi Aronzo "Let's Make Cute Stuff" series. People who enjoy this book should also consider purchasing the other books in this series: "The Cute Book", "Cute Dolls" and "Cute Stuff".



4. I am very pleased with this book. It has a great selection of stuffed toys making it hard to choose the first pattern to start with. The size of the toys are just right. I also love the creative writing that accompanies the directions. All in all a great book!



5. The book really has some easy, cute and super fun ideas for doll making. The only thing is that the seam margin is WAY to small.

No comments about Happy Gloves: Charming Softy Friends Made from Colorful Gloves.

5 comments about World of Knitted Toys.

1. As a doll and critter knitter from way back, I have a shelf full of knitted toy and doll books and loose patterns, but this one tops them all! What a great collection of well illustrated, patterns, clear and easy to follow. For those of us addicted to 4 dpn knitting in the round, most of the head-body and leg and arm directions are easily adapted to that method as. Patterns call for double knit yarn but also work well with sport weight yarn. I've learned a few new and very useful tricks as well. Somewhat experienced beginners should have no trouble turning out critters they'll be proud of, and the rest of us will knit critters we never expected to. I've only made 4 so far, but am well on my way to at least a year of knitting fun with this book.



2. There are already 20+ reviews for this book, so what can I add? As an Australian, I often rate "animal knowledge" by whether you really know what a kangaroo, wombat or platypus looks like. So what are Dalmeny's like? The platypus' bill is too small, the wombat looks more like a stunted grizzly bear and the kangaroo's head is too big - but overall not bad. I would make them for an Aussie child. So the animals themselves are pretty good.
   
   Other information of interest-
   - this book was first published in the UK so needle sizes are given in metric, european and US (unlike many US books) and tension squares are specified as x-stitches over y-rows using z-needles.
   - basic techniques, making up and decorative touches are provided but only over 4 pages - more space for content...
   - a useful difficulty guide - Dalmeny specifies difficulty (easy to challenging) with a quick index at the beginning dividing the patterns up but - the lovely part - when a difficulty is given with the pattern we are told WHY eg Grizzly Bear - challenging - "The pieces aren't complicated but the adult bear is quite a big project - a real armful for a small child! If you haven't got much time, try knitting the cub, which is rated as straightforward, instead."
   - some variations of patterns are suggested to make them more interesting for the experienced knitter eg "invent your own snake patterns with cable stitch or perhaps Fair Isle designs in subtle greens and browns."
   - patterns suit the beginner (a snake!) to the more experienced (a snake using fair isle).



3. I love knitting. I've been an avid knitter for 25 years. And I found this book to be delightfully creative. The layout is wonderful. There are pictures of each project at completion, which is something I look for in knitting books. I like to have that visual in mind as I knit. There are ratings for each project ranging from easy to straightforward (involving a bit more complexity) to challenging. The ratings also include helpful information such as age appropriateness of the finished project.
   
   I did find that piecing together the items was a bit awkward at times. I think that, using some different stitches, the pieces could be shaped so that there is not so much sewing at the end. However, this has no bearing on the appearance of the completed project.
   
   I've used this book quite a bit for making gifts, and the recipients are always thrilled.



4. This is a great book with easy to understand directions and fun projects. I have a lot of books. Some good. Some bad. This book is very good. I recommend you buy it.



5. This item was exactly as advertised. Shipment was quick and I am very satisfied.