Scarecrow and Yard Sale

Yesterday was our annual village Yard Sale and Scarecrow competition. I always love things like this. 

The weather did not turn out to be great but it did not seem to deter visitors to the village, and for a while it appeared that no-one could move their cars anywhere. There were over 70 yard sale participants and almost as many scarecrow entries. 

At the time of writing this, I am not sure who won the competition - I do always want to win, but to be honest I don't care either way. I was just thrilled with my scarecrow lady. 

To me the fun is taking part and getting all creative. Here is my entry, which I titled "Last Tango in (Paris)".  

 I made her from old clothes and stuffing. Her body is a round feather cushion which is past it's best. I cut off a bit of the roundness at one end and sewed it up on the sewing machine to make a flat top. Next I pulled an old white t-shirt over that and added a corset type of vest from my wardrobe. 

Her head is made from 2 t-shirts - both of which are past their best. I sewed a rough square from one t-shirt and stuffed it with oddments - I do a lot of crochet and always keep the ends in a bag. Also, if I have a woolly jumper that I will no longer wear, I cut it up as the softness of the fibre makes for a great stuffing.

I tied a piece of string, just less than halfway up, around the head to create a shape and then manipulated the stuffing to make full cheeks with the string naturally creating the eye line. 

I made a sort of oval shape from the second t-shirt - simply by sewing, by machine, a sort of oval shape and leaving the stitching of the sides of the t-shirt in place. I pulled this over the stuffed head and then tied it all loosely together at the bottom. 

To make the wig I used a pair of old nylon tights with the legs cut off. I pulled the excess leg parts to the back of the head and tied it into a bun. I stitched various black wool remnant lengths from a centre parting to the back of the the head and over the bun. I stitched two bangles to the roughly where the ear would be.  

To paint the face I used textile paints and sketched out big eyes, lashes and brows. These I painted in black. The mouth is very full and pouty and the cheeks are accentuated with a bit of blush. I ironed the face several times to set the paint. 

Assembly of the scarecrow was a bit tricky and I sort of made it up as I went along. I kept the stake I used for the scarecrow last year, and hammed that into the ground. I dropped the skirt over the stake and let it lie on the ground. I pushed the arm stake through the sleeves of the t-shirt and screwed it to the stake (I pre-drilled the holes). I set the arm stake deliberately skew-if so she looked like she was dancing. I tied the skirt to the body with a bit of string and pulled the vest down to cover the join and tied it up. 

I used a garden cane - cut to a point and wrapped with tape, to hold the head in place. I pushed it up the back of the body (again through the t-shirt) and into the head as far up as I could wiggle it. 

To finish it off I tied a scarf around the neck and stuck a few feathers under her hairline. I stuffed straw into the t-shirt making sure that some spilled out of the armholes. I had run a line of stitches down the middle of her chest and stuff straw into the t-shirt to make an ample bosom, which in true to life fashion, tended to end up under the arms! 

The last thing I added was a fresh rose which I stitched onto the mouth. 

I think she is great!