Why Not Sew a Frogums?

When I first got my sewing machine, I didn't even know how to thread it.  I had to have my friend Natalie come over and show me how.  I'd taken Home Economics in high school, where part of the curriculum was to sew shorts and a drawstring bag, however that was many years ago and I'd since forgotten everything I'd learned.

So Natalie came over and showed me how to wind a bobbin and thread the machine.  But the next problem was that I didn't know what to sew.  For someone just starting out, cutting and sewing a whole pattern can be intimidating...so that's why I decided to sew a Frogums. 

A Frogums is just my fancy way of saying a bean bag frog.  What I did was simply trace out by hand the outline of a frog on an 8.5" x 11" sheet of paper.  Next, I cut out two pieces of fabric using my Frogums pattern and sewed them right sides together, leaving an opening just big enough to be able to turn the frog right side out and to stuff it with beans or rice.  Lastly, I whip-stitched the opening closed and glued on some felt eyes or google eyes.

As you can see, I made a ton of these Frogums.  I had one that drove around in my car with me for years, staring at people out of the back window.  I gave a bunch of other Frogums out to family and friends.  One sat on my desk at work.  I gave one to a friend who kept it on a shelf above the family sofa.  One day her husband expressed that he felt as if the frog was always watching them, or "lording it over them", as he so eloquently put it.  Frogums were popping up everywhere - so much so that it was almost like one of those plagues from the Old Testament.  Some people would laugh and joke at my frog sewing hobby, but that was okay with me because I knew that sewing Frogums was just the beginning.  When people started to see the great clothes that I eventually began making myself, they weren't laughing anymore!

So this is why I always say to beginners, it's okay to start small and work your way up.  Or in other words, "Why Not Sew a Frogums?"

A Frogums for my Car

Pokémon Frogums

For My Desk at Work

For My Friend's Daughter

 

A Plague of Frogums