Scottish Pookie

(Topic: sewing, crafts, weighted bear)

Hi Friends!

Remember a few weeks ago, when I knitted a hat for Pookie? One of the things hubby noticed was that Pookie's hat, when set on top of his head, looks like a tam. Hubby joked that Pookie would start borrowing daddy's bagpipes! Well, you know me: this put a flea in my ear, and I started planning...

The beginnings.

 After much thought and tinkering, I came up with the beginnings of the pipes! A plaid bag (cut from an old flannel shirt) and some dowels from the craft store. They are stained using sharpie and then sprayed with an art sealant. I wrapped the base of each pipe with more fabric, glued on, so that it would not pull through the bag once inserted. I shaped the mouth piece and drew fingering dots on the chanter part. The holes were made using a large knitting needle, wielded as a sort of bodkin for creating a mostly not-cut hole for the pipe to exit through. And the whole thing is stuffed with polyfill, since Pookie can't fill up a bag with breath, so it needed stability!

Finished pipes!

Oh wait, where's that tam that started it all?

 At this point I had started to think that he needed a full outfit. All of this was made in secret from the hubby, who I was intending to surprise, but I had several friends in on it, and they all concurred that he needed a kilt. So I went back to the old flannel shirt, and started cutting out as many rectangles as I could, given what was left of the shirt! I also salvaged the buttons (most of which are now in my button box) and one of the plackets that had been concealing the button holes - it might make a good waistband, with less work on my part.

I sewed the rectangles end to end, matching up the woven plaid. This gave me a long strip, that I sewed into a large (but short) tube. I hemmed one side of the tube, and then pleated the other side. I re-pleated 3 times to get it to fit the waistband length properly and to have the pleats line up with the plaid stripes the way I wanted!

On the ironing board.You can see the back opening on the other side of the board, and all the pins holding the pleats in place as I iron. I left them in place until I had the waistband attached, then also did a second line of stitching about a half inch lower to hold the pleats in place to look more tidy on Pookie.

Front waistband and pleating detail.

Back closure detail.

Oh, and I threw a sash together, too. Why not? That's one of mommy's brooches, borrowed as a sash pin. He's got his dance shoes on - they were meant to be formal wear but the fabric was too thin, so there will be another pair of black shoes coming at some point.

Amazing grace, how sweet the sound...

(side/back view: note the one taller pipe, like on real bagpipes)

Ready to surprise daddy!

The whole ensemble was a success, surprising and delighting daddy when he came home from a trip! Pookie is now ready for any Scottish celebrations, and can't wait to find out if blueberry shortbread exists!


Yours,

Sarah

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