Fabric mushroom

While browsing around Etsy, probably prompted by something seen on Instagram, I found A Little Vintage. In amongst the dolls and other items with faces or eyes (which are absolutely not for me although I do appreciate the work involved in all of them), I found her fungi. Not something I had come across before, but beautifully made. Although I haven’t bought one yet — my favourite one sold while I was thinking about it — I do keep an eye on the shop.

So, when I found a sewing pattern for a mushroom by another crafter I follow, Ann Wood, I had to have a go at making my own. And within a week of buying the pattern — a record for me — I had made my first mushroom.

As it was the first one, I kept it simple and stuck to the instructions, only adding the French knots on the top. It was a little fiddly in places, especially putting the stuffing in and getting the shape of the stalk right (not helped by me deciding that I wanted the base to be quite a bit fatter than the top and then cutting the fabric only just big enough to go around it).

The tricky thing was coming up with a way to display it as it obviously won’t stand up on its own.

Finally! A use for one of the many jars that I have kept in case they came in handy. I painted the inside black and made a cardboard cone to get the top to the right size to hold the mushroom in place. I used brown Powertex to glue scrunched up tissue around the outside and give it a base layer of colour, and added scraps of gauze for extra texture. Pigment powders brushed over the top gave some colour variety. The final touch was to glue on green “foliage basing material” to give the effect of moss.

All in all, I’m rather pleased with how it turned out. There were no really difficult techniques and the instructions were easy to follow, but it’s been a long time since I did any sewing that didn’t involve mending something.