Saturday, July 2, 2011

Hetalia Mochi Bean Bag and (yet) Another Stencil

Updating just as I promised ♥

For another gift I made a Hetalia mochi bean bag.  Hetalia is a Japanese Anime, so you are not wrong in your confusion if you are someone that does not watch anime much or at all. For those who don't know: Hetalia is a show made of short segments where countries are given human forms and personalities, which are typically based off history and ridiculous stereotypes. It is a specific type of humor - lots of sarcasm, history metaphors, and jokes based on the crazy stereotypes people create. I don't recommend it if that type of humor is outside your comfort zone.

Now, I digress; the Hetalia characters have mochi (wiki it) forms. I made one character, France, from white flannel, plastic stuffing beads, thread, felt, stamp ink, and fabric paint pens.

The pattern is a circle for the bottom and 4 rounded triangle/half petal shapes.  Google "mochi pattern" and you can find one if not multiple templates.
I used my sewing machine for the 4 triangles things and part of the sewing the circle to the connected 4 triangle things. I left an opening so I could flip the fabric right side out (since you sew things with the wrong sides facing out, so the seems and ugly stuff are later on the inside). I used the opening to poor in the beads too.  After filling the mochi, I hand sewed the opening closed.  After sewing the base was complete, I added details. I cut out a rose from red felt and sewed it to the bean bag.  A mouth, eyes, and France's flag (on back) were added with fabric pens.  Lastly, some cheek color was added using pink stamp ink.

I think it turned out cute. I would do his mouth a little better and not add fabric marker to the inked cheeks next time, but overall I was very pleased.









Kissy France face








Back of mochi. 
Flag to indicate country - I didn't know if people would be able to tell







My second craft project for today.... Another Stencil!

This is actually the box I sent the gift in. I decorated the top with an image from the Ministry of Silly Walks.
I found the pattern through google [here].  The normal procedure followed: tracing, cutting, ironing, painting.
I don't recommend boxes for stenciling with freezer paper.  The paper doesn't always want to come off.  I figured it might be like that, but I didn't have anything else at the time.

The completed piece.

For those that may be interested in following me another way or just want to look at my photos of my projects, I have a Deviantart profile [right here].

If you plan on coming back for future posts, please follow through blogger, a reader, or on Deviantart.  It will give me a better idea of my small reader group (friends, crafters, cookers, etc.).

Be back soon!

4 comments:

  1. Hola! I had found this page while trying to see how other people made their mochis. I am making mini mochi plushies for my friends next year and to try my first project with sewing. But I can't seem to get it right T-T. I used a template that's like how you described and i have already sewed the triangles together. But I can't figure out how to sew the circle onto the bottoms of the triangles. Any suggestions? How did you do it? Any help whatsoever is greatly appreciated! :)

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  2. Hi!

    I used Coconut-Lane's pattern from DeviantArt.
    I stitched together the triangles first and left a hole in one of the seams of I could turn it right side out at the end. I pinned the circle part to the bottom of the triangle and then stitched it all the way around. Putting a circle piece on can be tricky when matching seams, so you may need to adjust the pinning as you go, so you don't end up with weird puckering/bunches.

    Hope that helps and doesn't read like a mess.

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  3. No that really helped. I got the bottom on finally and it looks great. Also I like how you put the French flag on the back. You know I might steal that.... XD
    THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!! ;D

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  4. Your welcome. :)

    I added the flag because I wasn't sure it was recognizable as France, haha XD.

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