I really wanted to make a toy like DebbieOwl, but without the ableist obsession with symmetry. I won't have time to stitch her tonight, but here is AjRabbit. It's basically the same thing, but I cut out the body shapes freehand (after many unsuccessful attempts to draw a purpsefully uneven bunny). AjRabbit has busier fabrics, so I think I'll use white thread to sew her face and arms on to make sure they are visible. I'm hoping that the slightly smaller oval at the bottom will eliminate the nom bum problem.

I did double up some: the front and back have to be the same so they fit together, and the oval for the bum has to be even or the toy wont sit up right (I used the same probably-more-complicated-than-it-needs-to-be technique I used for DebbieOwl, but made it a little smaller). I also doubled the things I needed two of: arms, eyes, ears, but since they are going on at different angles, that will not be so noticeable. And there's no reason they can't be cut out separately to get slightly different shapes; I was just feeling a bit lazy about cutting out pattern pieces. 

Since going to the hacker conference, I have been thinking a lot about how radical politics do and don't get taken up in DIY projects. I'm very happy to have had a few hours to think about representations of animal bodies and ability this weekend, in addition to the politics of intellectual property and commercial pattern publishing. 

I'll stitch AjRabbit up tomorrow, so I can add a picture and mail both the toys to their recipients. :)