Out of the Deep Woods: The Beginning

September 13, 2021

Out of the Deep Woods: The Beginning

What this blog is all about...

I thought to do this just for myself, but also thought I would like a recorded account of my journey to look back on, as well as a way to keep my thoughts organized (I just started and already have a plethora of pinterest links, new items on my amazon wish list, pages & pages of handwritten episode notes, & post-it-notes everywhere on top of those.) We should start this journey where all good adventures do...at the beginning...

I have been a super fan of a few movies & tv shows for years, but very few have inspired me to collect memorabilia or go all out with them as themes for things. Star wars being the primary muse. This year however, brought along a whole new level of obsession for me with Sweet Tooth.

I have never dreaded reaching the season finale more than this show and I've yet to tire of rewatching it. I may have watched this like a dozen times already.

There are a few things which are possibly contributing to this level of attachment for me:

1. Covid has meant being stuck inside with my own thoughts & company the majority of the day & the quest to keep occupied is never ending.

2. The heat over the summer has really hit me for a loop with my Orthostatic Hypotension & I feel dizzy & about to faint a lot, so I have been looking for more sit-down activities.

3. I've had a renewed passion for being in the kitchen with all the cooking & baking shows I've been watching. I have motivation issues due to my health & the amount of pain I'm in on a daily basis, so I definitely need ideas to keep my interest up. The show actually focuses on food quite a lot actually, but I guess in the apocalypse, where you just can't run to the store, that's one of the most important things to worry about. So there'll be lots of inspired by recipes coming in future.

4. As ever, I am always crafting/sewing/embroidering/etc. something & always looking for the next thing once I'm done.

5. As far as I know there is no official merch, so, for now, if I want Sweet Tooth stuffs & things, I gotta make it myself.

So here we are. A place to focus on my obsession/s & write to my heart's content without worrying about how long it is on insta or if my facebook friends would be annoyed with all the novella posts. I will have content other than just my Sweet Tooth projects, but it's what inspired me to start this.

My first foray into Sweet Tooth themed projects, started with Dog. G.U.S.'s stuffed dog made by Pubba from a variety of fabric scraps. Very post-apocalyptic vibes reusing what you have. Make do & mend folks. Honestly, I just really wanted a "Dog" for my dog. lol

I spent a LOT of time capturing screen shots & rewatching the episode multiple times trying to figure out the fabrics & patterns & still don't quite have it, but I did my best. I purchased all my fabrics from fabric.com (#notsponsored) and tried to purchase swatches as much as I could for the small bits. You could certainly hit the thrift store to find suitable fabrics , but due to my health issues & a service dog still in training, getting out to one, is a near impossible task anymore. He is so big (100lbs) & strong that I've hurt my shoulder ~~three~~ four times since we got him. His leash skills are not where they should be as a result, so that is a huge factor as well.

Items I used (I'll make a tutorial with pattern pieces in a future post):

Head: This is a wool sock that uses the heel as the top of the head, so the sock is upside down with a slit cut under the chin & cut all the way around a couple inches away from the heel. The one on the show has a ribbed top, but they are far more expensive than these. If anyone decides to make one, I have the mate available. lol Get them here.

Chin/Neck/inside legs: It is a gorgeously soft & drapey medium weight fabric & I like it so much am considering getting more to make something else. Get it here.

Eye Patches & nose: This looks like brown leather, so anything would do, but me, I apparently am just over the top. I ordered the smallest amount I could get, 1 yard, but it comes on a roll nearly as tall as me. LOL Boy, that was a shocker. Needless to say I have a ton left over. Get it here:

Eyes: These are just simple black buttons that I had in my stash. This is as close as I could find: Similar Buttons.

Ears Top/Bum: It looked some type of grey felt on top with a baby blue chain stitch along the seams & was also used as the circle piece for his bum This is what I used:

Ear undersides: These use 2 different fabrics. A brown viney type pattern & a yellow design. For the yellow I went with this & for the brown picked this one.

Torso Top: This looked to me like a red knit sweater material. The fabric I picked is very thin & I ended up putting iron on stabilizer on the back of it. Get it here:

Torso Underside/inside legs: Some type of red plaid, so I went with this:

Lower Abdomen Top: This is leftover part of the sock not used in the head (see above).

Lower Abdomen Underside: This is used both on the abdomen as well as on the 2 pieced legs. Dark denim here.

Legs: The outside of the legs are made from 2 different denims (1 light & 1 dark) & the insides are the same plaids from above. The light denim here. Dark Denim is the same as above.

Tail: I used a medium blue denim for this, but you could probably get away with just 2 denim shades. The lighting in the series makes it very difficult to determine exact shades for these, so use your best judgement. This is what I used.

Make it even cooler...

As I was making "Dog" for my dog, I wanted to be sure it had plenty of squeakers as well. I recycled a couple from toys he'd chewed apart already. The round one (in a mesh bag), on the left, was used for the head, the heel of the sock, & the oblong one, on the right, I put in his torso.