Thais

When I came across a link to this dear little bear, how could I do anything but follow it up? I think I was already sold on ordering the kit, but reading her story left me in no doubt.

Early in the morning, when the sun is lazily waking up, Thais is already busy at work, making aromatic croissants with custard. She is a professional pastry chef, and it's not for nothing that her pastry is known as the best in town! All day long Thais bakes various tasty things to make her beloved customers happy. And after a busy workday Thais likes to listen classical music and enjoys her hobby – embroidering.

Clever marketing, eh?

It didn’t take an ace detective to realise that the kit originates in Russia, so before I made any purchase, I wanted to feel confident that I was making a secure purchase, never mind needing to understand the instructions. I was glad to find a UK source of Miadolla kits in Amazing Craft then!

The box arrived a couple of days ago and unpacking the various sheets of patterns and instructions was enough to deliver a stern warning: Thais is not going to rush into this world!

I had failed to grasp the significance of the three hearts on the box, of course.

I began by reading everything in the box. Well, everything I was able to read, that is - I just looked at the pictures in the Russian version! The first thing I noted was the varying seam allowances on each piece, observing at the same time, that none of these were included on the paper patterns.

Helpfully, one of the Russian diagrams showed these seam allowances and offered some reassurance that I was on the right track. I find it so much easier to take in visual instructions than a paragraph of information.

The pattern was quite clearly printed and thankfully, there were English labels on each piece too. I began to mark the seam allowances on that printed pattern but didn’t get very far before realising that the pieces were printed so closely together, there wasn’t room to do that.

So I traced each piece onto freezer paper, leaving enough space between each piece for its seam. It took a while and I was very pleased of my lovely lightbox (which I drop in here as a great gift idea!)

I cut pieces of card to use as an accurate measure for the three different allowances and began to add dotted lines around each piece according to the instructions.

It took forever and I was glad I had the afternoon to complete the job. I’m not sure I’d have felt much like returning to it another day!

I didn’t count the number of pieces but felt sure they were multiplying when I wasn’t looking!

All that was left to do was to cut out each paper pattern piece and work out which fabric to cut it from. Again, I consulted the Russian diagrams and laid out the pieces as shown, ironing them in place using the magical properties of freezer paper! Thais herself is made from a plush velvet fabric rather than fur, but it still has a directional pile - I was glad to see that was clearly marked on the diagram too.

I brought the pieces back from the ironing board and surveyed the challenge. I think cutting out is a task best left until tomorrow!