Hello everyone :3
Thank you for staying by with us all these years are we continue to strive and work hard to provide the best service possible for each and everyone of our treasured friends. Today let us talk about the long process of getting the lovely Haru cloned, let's go :3
Who is Haru?
Meet Haru :3 - isn't he the cutest boy ever?!!?
Adopted by mom Hanan 8 years ago, he was made by the manufacturer (made soft Doo Doo) who used to supply the now closed Mini Toons shop with soft toys.
Haru arrived back in May 2021 flattened and leaking like crazy due to his degrading Nylon Skin and styrofoam bead filling (he is a beanbag plush) and both mom and doctor realized that he will be a long time patient forever more as would need a lot of care and maintenance to continue preserving him at his current "falling apart stage" in life. (still looks super cute flat :3)
It has always been discussed in the books to perhaps create a sister for him to share some of the love and take the pressure off him a little to make sure he stays healthy and well for many more years ahead. It definitely helps to have more of this adorable design around too :D
So finally after one year of struggling to get him well and healthy (which we totally did - needs a separate blog post) we also finally developed enough and studied him enough to make him beautiful clone sisters!
Mom checked him in on one bright day in Jul, and there we went!
Step 1: The patterning
Two challenges will always hit us upfront when duplicating an old plush
1) The distortion of original paneling (the parts that makes up the plush)
2) The inability to lay flat (we should not be ripping out all the seams)
So doctor, with her years of experience, started drafting and patterning out the paper patterns that she estimates would create Haru. It took a lot of studying on all his original panel placements too!
Figure: Version 2 of the tail with the tail curve corrected
Figure: Editing the main body panel
Figure: Checking eye position relative to seam
Had to decide on
1) How to position and sew all the seams
2) Direction to cut the fabric
3) Steps to sew the plush to completion
Before correcting and adjusting all the patterns to fit well to each other.
Then, when we felt confident with the pattern, we began making mock ups in Muslin/ Calico to check the pattern, with more alterations along the way
Step 2: Fabric Selection
We did not want to utilize the original Nylon Fabric used for the original Haru (well know for its leakage and rapid degradation) so we had to source for a new fabric.
But first, we color checked with mom on her preferences for a good sister to Haru. His sister must match him. Right? :D
Mom chose a lovely pink and we can't wait to start!
Step 3: Creating the embroidery file
Haru's left and right eyes are slightly different. Which we found out only halfway through the designing process
The white of the left is distorted (likely due to the fabric not being taut enough during embroidery) while the right side is perfect.
This was a difference that we originally did not notice (we used the left to design) until we checked with Haru's right side and realized a difference.
The facepalm moment of shock below XD
So we quickly corrected the offending mistake and worked on improving our embroidery. Which was initially really holey (you can see all the fabric showing up underneath)
And the embroidery is done!
Step 4: Production
We went ahead to make a duplication of Haru outright from Minky (our mistake) and completely forgot that while Minky is very stretchy, The original Haru isn't. So the final product ended up looking really fat, ugly and shapeless. So we scrapped her and produced one from 100% cotton (non stretchy) to check the shape and seams.
And the 100% cotton one is Momo :D
We made more amateur mistakes along the way.... like accidentally sewing herself to herself.. doctor wanted to cry because need redo (machine embroidery can't really be neatly removed without massive scarring)
And took a lot a lot of caution to make sure all the pattern lines are drawn perfect and beautiful
And after all that work, we got momo :D
Haru's first true blue sister who looks exactly like him!
And thus, the patterning is considered to be complete and we can officially begin on making the intended minky sister.
Drafting Anya
Embroidering Anya
And Anya!
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Closing Notes:
Even after 3 fully completed sisters for Haru, Doctor still feels that she can improve upon this plush study and has imported velour (still on the way) to construct Haru a new sister again :D
So while we wait for the velour to arrive, Haru has gone home with his 2 pink sisters to share the love, and let us look at their lovely photoshoot!
Big thanks to mom Hanan for blessing the two of them with names
a) Momo for the peach colored cotton sister (Japanese for peach because she's the perfect peach color)
b) Anya for the pink minky sister (after the little girl from spyxfamily with the pink hair)
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Come look at their adorable photoshoot!
Want a Haru?
Click here to order
Watch the video here 😄