Haley Moore – Project Leader

Haley is the creator of the Sew By Numbers template.  She has directed live events and created artifacts for several Alternate Reality Games, written eight plays for two award-winning high school theater groups, and built interactive art for TEDxSMU with the Dallas Makerspace.  She also writes for the transmedia blog Workbook Project, and co-hosts their Transmedia Talk Podcast.

She is based in Coppell, TX.

Oguz Yetkin – Software Lead

Oguz is a PhD student in Bioengineering at the University of Texas at Arlington.  He holds a bachelor’s from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in both Computer Science and Molecular Biology.  He has spent the last 12 years in industry as a software engineer, specializing in interactive 3D graphics, scientific visualization, and Virtual Reality.

Oguz was a team lead on several projects at the NASA Langley Research Center, and also spent a year working exclusively on VR software and hardware at Mechdyne.
 

Wes Lewis – Software Developer

Wes is a recent graduate of the University of North Texas in Computer Science.  He is a freelance developer who contributes to projects at the Dallas Makerspace and works on video game projects in his spare time.

Toader will be receiving her prizes in the mail – including that sweet trophy! – and her doll’s pattern is marked with a special winners seal.

Judging this was extremely hard; I’m amazed at the level of quality in the submissions we got, especially considering that all the entrants were using the Sew by Numbers template for the first time. Goiku entered this awesome Snow Wolf, which I’m also sending her in the mail as a thank-you for entering.

Many thanks to everyone who entered!  You can download their designs – and many other dolls to make – here.

If you’d like to try your hand at designing a doll, the Sew By Numbers templates are always free and open.  I’ll happily post any completed dolls here on the site – just send them to sewbynumbers at gmail.

You can also get new dolls, contest updates and news by adding Sew By Numbers on Facebook or Twitter, or by joining our DeviantART group, #Sewbies

Download Pattern

Download Pattern

They’re very keyed into the idea of personal and local manufacturing and opening their designs, which makes them close in spirit to Sew By Numbers (although different in implementation). I’m excited to see what comes of this.

Download Human Boy

Download God Mode

So far we’ve only had one entry, so I’ve decided to sweeten the pot a little. On top of a sweet trophy and sweet swag for the winner, if you enter and I post your design on sewbynumbers.com*, I will also make your doll for you and send it to you in the mails. I offer that service in the store for approximately a scad of cash, so this is your chance to get some valuable handcrafting done for free.

Creating Sew By Numbers toys is a little different from anything you’ve done in the past – it’s more like designing papercraft. In putting together the templates, I did everything I could to move the sewing details out of the way, so it would be easy for 2D artists and graphic designers to make plushies.

As I’ve put together the ones that were done by hand on flats at last year’s SDCC, its become clear to me that the pattern is much more flexible and forgiving than I anticipated.  Even a 30-second sketch can produce interesting results.  So consider this an invitation to try the medium out and see how it handles.  BUT I’ll only be offering this until June 13, so get those entries in soon!

*For a design to feature on the site, it must be complete and have a credit on the credit line, like this.

During Comic Con 2010, I ran around the con floor and other locales with a bag full of blank dolls, searching for artists to vandalize them. These are the results.

This character comes from Teerawat Palantisena, another contributor to LAVAPunch.  He drew on a flat, and I put it together later.  The mascot for LAVAPunch is a toy spaceman, by the way.

I love all the little details on this guy – the patches on his sleeves and the view from the back of his head.

I don’t know what’s up with the bottom; maybe it’s a breakfast space taco.  You can find out more about Teerawat, and view more of his amazing art at teerawat.com.

During Comic Con 2010, I ran around the con floor and other locales with a bag full of blank dolls, searching for artists to vandalize them. These are the results.

On the last day of San Diego Comic Con, I finally got the nerve to ask the great Mike Krahulik of Penny Arcade to draw me something. I had run out of dolls at this point and was giving out blank flats for me to sew together later. I was tired, and I could tell he was too.

“Eh, just put a face on it right here,” I said.  And he did.

Despite a few of the lines getting clipped out when sewed together, it looks really great; the doll has tons of personality.

(Unicorn butt courtesy the front cover of The Splendid Magic of Penny Arcade.)

By the way, aside from being an awesome webcomic, Penny Arcade also runs an awesome charity, which I’ll be raising money for by crafting this fall.

Happy July Fourth Weekend, Everybody!

Sew By Numbers is holding its first ever plushie design contest starting today, because I just finished making THIS:

Tiger Puff, get down from there.  You are not in the contest.  YOU ARE NOT THE BEST DOLL. >:O

This trophy could be showing up in YOUR mail box, with a doll YOU designed in its place of honor!  (Never fear, you’ll also be able to take your plushie out and play with it.)

If you’re going to San Diego Comic Con, you’ll want to enter this contest, because I’m also giving the winner these.

(OR $25 and 10 sheets of homemade printable fabric, if thats more your style)

I came back from SDCC with an amazing collection of sketch dolls last year.  The winner gets five fully assembled blank dolls, with individual storage bags to prevent smudges.  (BTW, these sets and many other things are on sale in the store right now.)

Finally, the winner will be added to the Sew By Numbers “A List” of artists.  These are basically the people I’ll call first when I start putting together a series of dolls for retail sale.  They will also get their winning entry featured in a SECRET PROJECT that we’ve been working on, with possible further rewards.

How to Enter

1. Design a Sew By Numbers doll!

It’s July 4th weekend, which is all about freedom (and hot dogs), so this contest is a free-for-all.  Send in your heroes, villains, companions, pets…anything goes!  Designing Sew By Numbers dolls is easy, and requires no sewing skill whatsoever.

Traditional Artists - Print out the new SBN Draw-On Template, alter it in your medium (drawing, paint, collage, etc.) and scan it in.

Digital Artists - Download the Sew By Numbers Template or the Easy Edit Template, and edit in your favorite drawing program.

2. Send it in!

Email a JPG, PNG, TIFF, or PDF of your design to SewByNumbers SPLAT gmail.com  by July 13 at noon Central Daylight Time.  Winners will be announced July 15.

Frequently Answered Questions

Will you post my design on the site?

Not without your permission.  If you’d like to see it on the site, mention it when you send your stuff in.  Otherwise I’ll write you to ask.

Do I have to print, cut, and sew my design to enter it?

No.  I do need a photo of the finished doll to feature it on the site, though.

If I win, will I get the sketch dolls in time for Comic Con?

If you live in the U.S., you should get them by July 17, the Monday before Comic Con.

This template is for folks who don’t usually do their design work in the computer, or who want to experiment.

To get a completed pattern, with stitches, just follow these easy steps:

1. Print out the Draw-On Template (PDF)

2. Draw on the printout (or paint, or collage, or…) and scan it in.  Save your work.

3. Copy your scan into this finishing template (PSD | Layered TIFF) to add stitches and outlines to your design. Resize, rotate, and move your scan so that the two cross-shaped registration marks line up.

You may need to change the color of the stitches so they are visible over the design.  Use white for dark backgrounds, and dark complementary colors for light backgrounds.

If you would like to submit your doll to be featured here, send your design, along with a photo of the assembled doll, to sewbynumbers CAT gmail.com.

I ran out of assembled dolls, so Evon drew her design on flat fabric at San Diego Comic Con before I assembled them.  When I got Evon’s doll home, it looked like this.  (Hers is the one on the bottom right).

After cutting and stitching, behold!  It’s a little dude with a HUGE COWL.  He came out great!

I like this doll especially because it breaks a lot of design assumptions, which is something that I admire a lot in toy design.

The pattern she drew on his outfit is just beautiful, too.

For more of Evon’s stuff, check out her Gallery and DeviantART.  You will not be disappointed.