Go Fish - a gift in the making.

Some sewing has been progressing and a few little drawstring bags and zipper pouches have been made. More fabric has been purchased - the stash grows ever larger and a gift has been created.

Here is a little fish in the making. It is part of a set of ten that will be winging their way to a little nephew and niece. Each little fish has a washer sewn inside so that they can be caught with a magnet. I would love to link to the site from which the idea sprang but in the mysterious ways of the Internet it is no longer there???? This blogger has also made some and linked to the original site but has noted the disappearance of said site.

I have used the freezer paper method to create each fish and simply tucked a metal washer (I had some of these and decided to use them instead of the suggested magnets inside the fish) in the centre of the fish as I sewed around the edge of the freezer paper fish shape. There are two layers of fabric with a piece of batting in the middle add a little bulk.

Once I have sewn all around the edge I removed the freezer paper fish shape and cut outside the stitching with my pinking shears. Then I moved the washer to the mouth end of the fish and used my zipper foot to sew a curve around it - trapping it in place. I was able to reuse the freezer paper fish for each of my different fabrics as I just pressed it in place with a warm iron and then peeled it off after the stitching was done.

In the end there were ten little fishies. They will packed in a post bag very soon and my lovely Mum with help by acquiring the required magnet and pole to create the rest of the fishing game at it's destination.

I can remember making a set of fish for my own children but they were not as colourful as these. I made them from scraps of fleecy fabric (I cannot remember what used inside to be caught by the magnet) and used safety pins to add numbers to the bottom of the fish so that they could play a game and see who could catch the more valuable fish with the higher numbers to win the game. They were also just as happy to go fishing with no numbers attached - they would use my cane laundry basket as a boat and sit there quite happily fishing away. The magnet was a big horseshoe one that we tied to a cardboard tube with some very thick white cord. Not very attractive but very practical and created in minutes.

I think I will be making some more of these for me and others.

I am still creating the crochet play food and and now made pancakes and a salad bowl with lettuce, tomato pieces and onion strips but have no photos yet.