I've had this book, Soft Animals A to Z by Carolyn Vosburg Hall, for a while, and although I'd read all the patterns I had never sewn anything from it.
It is a fairly new book as soft toy pattern books go, published in 2003, and it is ambitious. 26 patterns of every sort of animal. Lots to learn, for sure.
I chose the pig to start with because I liked the way the ears are attached.
There is a slit cut in each side body, really more like a triangular dart. The pre-sewn and turned ears are inserted into the dart after the side bodies are attached to one another and then the dart is sewn up, trapping the ears in the seam while also shaping the head. Cool!
Okay, more about under bodies. The under body on this pattern reaches all the way to the snout and as it gets near the cheeks it widens. The cheeks come out looking really full and, well, piggy.
Overall I really like this pattern. It is really well drawn and well designed. I think the tail could be thinner and longer, but that's a small thing and easy to redraw.
