We made this!
Tuesday, August 30th, 2005...6:01 am
I bet no one else spent part of their bank holiday sewing together a Tux! We did.
For some unknown reason, I came across an open source pattern for making your own Linux mascot (’Tux’). Even more bizarrely, myself and Hilary decided to make one: I’m trying to write a mini-thesis at the moment, which means that I need to have enough content to write a paper so I’m aiming for Pervasive2006, which has a deadline of 30th September. Of course, I need results to write a paper about, which means I need an implementation of an algorithm, which implies having an algorithm. I have none of these things but I still decided to spend 6hours on Saturday putting together a plush Tux toy.
The pattern isn’t exactly up to the standards Hilary is used to so there was a fair bit of improvisation but he came out alright in the end. And, no, Hilary didn’t do all the sewing — I did my fair share, mostly wings, feet and beak. I’ll perhaps write more when I have time about the actual process.
If you want to share in the craziness of it all, the patterns are available online and you can keep abreast of news in tux-making-land or join the other open source penguin-seamstresses on the mailing list. Our photos are also online. For reasons are aren’t terribly clear to me, his name is Torvill.
6 Comments
August 30th, 2005 at 8:01 am
You forgot to mention - he has a squeaker in his beak
August 30th, 2005 at 8:14 am
when is dean coming along!
August 30th, 2005 at 8:17 am
Funny you should say that, we bought enough material for 2 or 3 Tux! I guess we might make another if we need more entertainment during the week — it’s got to be better than going to see The 40 Year Old Virgin!
August 30th, 2005 at 2:20 pm
Why? Whats wrong with the patterns? What could be improved? After all Torvill looks great … though he has some aggressive twist somehow … As if Bill Gates won a trial lately
Really great
August 30th, 2005 at 2:21 pm
Torvill is really cute. I wouldn’t hesistate to adopt that grumpy little fella…
September 5th, 2005 at 8:47 pm
I made one, when I saw it on makezine.com. It took me four days as I did not have a sewing machine and I had never sewed anything before. I did it all by hand. Mine has a beak that is a little crooked, but he turned out okay. I think I can make 3 more Tuxes with the material. I bought a yard of each color. Way too much.
He was larger than I thought. I figured it would be half the size, but stuffing it made him huge. Oh well.
I was putting off doing a rewrite on a book, but instead made Tux. If you can figure out how to make clothes for him that would be cool.
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