dreml Stuffed Animal Project (c)

dreml Patterns

dreml patterns were available for awhile, but I it took a long time to sell them out so it seemed there was little demand. Now there is interest again. At the present time (July 2003) arrangements are being made to make dreml kits available. (These will be announced on the list and in the Flea Market.) If this works, that will be your best way to get a dreml. If there is still demand when the kits are gone I will look into making the full pattern available again. Please do take note that the dreml pattern and concept is fully copyrighted. Re-drawing a pattern on your own is a no-no. Sorry about that, but I don't want to see them cropping up for sale all over the internet.

The Captain

Note: Much of this page is repitition of the previous page, but there is some additional information and it is quicker to include it in the re-posting than to try to re-edit everything at this time.

This is a very brief peek at the dreml project. There is a ton of information that has been developed on the social structure of dremls, inter-tribe relations, etc. It developed so fast, and got changed around so much as we accomodated new ideas, that there are numerous conflicts. However, all of this will be refined and will be included in the pattern packet when it is offered.

All that I am attempting at this point is to give folks a look at the dremls, as they have been developed. This will give those coming to the Birthday TOGA a chance to see some fabric options.

I hate to belabor a point or sound nit-picky, but copyright has been filed on all of this material, all pictures and the concept of the dreml included. Looking at the pictures and then running out and making something similar is against the law (and mean) to say nothing of tricky. I sweat blood for several years working out the easy way to cut and sew a critter (I meant to achieve a bear, but the ideas were applied to this guy instead). Anyway, I will be offering a pattern pack and instructions at a not too outrageous price, considering the r&d work that went into them. So, please be patient and in a very few weeks, you will be able to make your own dreml. I may make some and offer them to those who don't feel like tackling the project.

Without further ado here is some limited background and an introduction to some representative dremls:

For approx. the last four years, I have been working on a bear design, trying to create something really different in terms of its being easier to sew than most bear patterns are. I got something together about 2 years back, but it wsn't right and never got further. I started on it again this year, and I actually got him together and at least conceptually resolved some of the problems. However, while he was cute, soft and cuddly.......he didn't look much like a bear. The things I wanted to avoid in the pattern were: any three point gussets, darts, internal joints, and having to sew the ears on afterwards. However, the one complication that I did want was adjustable arms and legs. The design that I have been trying to realize has adjustable arms and legs, without the use of internal plate joints.

I pretty much met those criteria. The only problem was... when finished, it didn't look like a bear! Ann said it looks like a giraffe... I think maybe a horse. Also, my concept for simplifying the pattern turns out to not be as easy to sew without problems as I had hoped. The parts want to walk and end up a little lopsided. (Note: after making all these dremls, I know what went wrong with the bear and will revisit that project at a later date).

All of that is the bad news. Now, for the good news.

What I did create is very nicely soft and squishable, as a Treddie creature should be... The concepts I was using are valid, but the shape wanted simplifying. So, OK, I thought, what shape would work and what would it be? Well, it absolutely insisted on being a dreml! dremls have been with us for years in Treadleonia, but we have never had them in a physical sense. Now we do! That's the good news.

These two fellows are mountain dremls. Mountain dremls live in caves in the mountains. They may work in mines, gathering ore, or they may be button prospectors. (That's another story). mountain dremls have long fur to protect them from the cold of the northern mountains. Note the trekking staffs. dremls are affected by powerful urges to go on long wanderings, sometimes just to see new country, other times looking for work, or for a mate (but that too, is another story).

 There are five types of dremls, defined mostly by their work:

There are farm dremls. The males wear a kind of kilted overhaul and are likely to carry a shovel or hoe or some such. Their skin is hard from exposure to weather and smooth, like denim.

There are the plains dremls, who are cattle drovers. The males are likely to carry a stiff coiled rope or cattle whip, and also to wear large brimmed flat hats. Their skin is also hard from exposure to weather, and may resemble denim or canvas.

Male river dremls would carry a thinner pole, with a barb on the end for spearing fish. Their skin is sleek, like velvet. Male river dremls "treks" tend to long swimming explorations of rivers and coastlines.

Mountain dremls are very furry, and the males carry a trekking stick and wear a leather or canvas backpack. They mostly work in mining or button prospecting.

Highborn dremls don't really do any work, but are quite clever, especially about finances. Males may carry a briefcase rather than a trekking staff. Their treks tend to be short. They are usually found sharing offices with humans. Their professions are mostly in finance, law or politics. Unlike the other dremls, who speak low dremlsh, with one vowel omitted in most words, the hghbrns use no vowels at all. Hence, they are well suited to politics, since their speeches are largely unintelligible to anyone, including themselves. Their skin coloration is quite high-toned, like brocades.

There are many dremls who have moved into human habitations and become domestic assistants. They take on human characteristics. They may adopt button noses and yarn mouths to look more like humans. Their preferred skin tone is patchwork.

Note: females of all tribes carry a leather or canvas shoulder bag, as opposed to the back packs that males may wear. In the past, females did not carry trekking staffs, but feminism has stricken the dreml community. hlga, wife/mate to hagr, declared that a staff was a very handy thing to have indeed when one encountered a bear, and told hagr that by how and singr she was going to carry one and if he didn't like her staff, he could darn well guess where he could put it. (Loose translation from the dremlsh).

It should be noted that genetically, there has always been a lot of intermingling among the dreml tribes, so almost any combination of physical characteristics may occur. The reasons for this involve the reasons why dremls cooperate with dragons and vice versa, and why Treadleonian bears are pacifists, but that again is still another story.

While any of the types of dremls may take up residence with humans, especially in winter, and may even try to be helpful at times, one should never forget that they are at heart mischievious troublemakers. Loveable, but still troublemakers. It is very important to keep them happy. An unhappy or upset dreml is not something you want to deal with. This is most especially true of mountain dremls. Inviting an adult male mountain dreml into your home is not necessarily a wise action!

dremls in their natural habitats are omnivorous. They eat meat, fish and plants. Taken out of the wild, they subsist almost entirely on chocolate and designer seltzer water, and thrive on this diet. No one has ever seen a dreml eat chocolate, but it is well known that if you leave a chocolate bar or piece of chocolate near a sewing machine in a house with dremls, it will disappear! Biologically, this diet characteristic astounds scientists, since there is no natural chocolate or seltzer water in Treadleonia. It is surmised that in prehistoric times, cocoa trees and chemical hot springs may have existed and that the desire for these dietary items is a racial memory.

A special note about dreml culture: dremls are monogamous and mate for life. While the male dremls are a rather feckless bunch, subject to nearly uncontrollable urges to go trekking, they do work hard when home and rarely leave the family unprovided for. Raising of the young is pretty much left to the females until puberty, when the fathers will begin to oversee the training of the males. At about the human equivalent of age 15, the father will take a boy on his first long trek.

Trekking: The males all species of dremls are subject to the trekking urge. dremls usually trek in pairs, for safety. While dremls are very, very fast (sometimes so fast you can't see them move), and very strong, a lone dreml in olden times was regarded by bears and dragons as prey. However, two adult males, with their stout trekking staffs, could give a good account of themselves against either adversary. Of course, today, Treadleonian bears have become pacifists, and the dremls long ago made agreement with the dragons to supply them with food in return for their not preying on dremls. The dremls enjoy their work and don't mind supplying the few dragons who are left. In fact, there is real concern among dremls that the diminishing numbers of dragons may herald eventual extinction of that breed.

Language: The dreml language, dremlsh is very similar to human English, except that at least one vowel is left out of every word. Thus names tend to be things like hagr, edwrd, robrt, etc. Note that in dremlsh, there are no capital letters.

While playing with wilfrd, I came up with the reason that dremls go on trek. Some just go for the sake of going, seeing new country. However, for others it is a way to make a living. These are the button prospectors. dremls are quite vain, and terribly proud of their shoulder buttons, often their most cherished posesson. Treadleonia is very, very old, and the country "back of beyond" was once settled. Such settlements are, of course, now far underground, except for some areas of the mountains where seismic action has raised or lowered geological strata. Ancient buttons are much valued, far beyond new ones, and the dreml prospectors dremls delight in prospecting remote these areas for old dumps and trash middens, looking for ancient buttons.

Somebody said where are the female dremls, so obviously it was time to make one. By and large, the females can't be told from the males except by their behavior. If a dreml is carrying a baby in a front pack, it's female. If it is wearing a shoulder pouch/purse type carrier, it's female. If it is carrying a stout stick or equivalent, or wearing a backpack, it's male.

This is a female dreml of the "highborn" persuasion. She is identifiable by the extremely ornate skin pigmentation. highborn dremls carefully arrange their marriages to enhance this characteristic. (At least within the limitations of the law. But that's another story). This dreml's name is gwndln. Note that there are no vowels at all. highborns speak a pure ancient dremlsh that has no vowels and is called "hgh drmlsh". Most other dreml groups have gradually adopted some vowels over the generations, though there is always at least one missing, even in low dremlsh.

As noted previously, highborn dremls tend to find their life in finance, law and politics. The latter is particularly difficult as a result of their speaking hgh drmlsh. Their constituents usually can't understand them. In fact, most of their constituents feel the language difference is purely an affectation and that highborns can often not understand what they are saying themselves.