Probably in the mid-70’s, when I was sewing many of my own clothes, I bought some vintage patterns, including this 1936 McCall’s pattern for stuffed animals:
McCalls printed pattern for stuffed animals, 1936
In all these years I never opened or examined this pattern, but I wanted to make some stuffed animals and thought these would work for my purposes. Upon opening the packet, I discovered that one piece had been carefully pinned to a pretty calico fabric, which is still crisp and colorful:
It gave me a little thrill, to connect with this hand from the past, but there is only one piece cut out, the “Under Body” of a giraffe. What happened? No other tissue pieces have been cut into, and no other fabric is in the envelope. It would be too early for a frustrated sewer to give up; there are no fabric scraps and not a single other tissue piece assembled. There is just one piece was folded up and tucked back away into the pattern envelope, that’s it.
pattern pinned to fabric
Stuffed animal, interrupted.
Stabbed! 