I'm sure this has been asked before, but I've done a search and looked through the first five or so pages of this forum...  I'm working on a sock monkey (my second) and I'm getting really frustrated with the fiber fill clumping.  I'm using frustratingly small pinches at a time, and I still have a monkey full of lumps.  I really like making sock monkeys, but I'm ready to throw in the towel if they're all going to look like crap.

HELP!  What do I do to stop the clump?

I swear I did a search on this, so if this has already been answered, just point me in the right direction.

I just started making cuffs from vinyl with cotton as the lining.  By recently I mean I just made my first one a few minutes ago, and while it looks fabulous, the lining was a pain in the tush, and I assume there must be a better way to do this.

What I did was cut my vinyl out, and then I cut the calico and inch bigger in both directions.  One would then assume that folding the edges in a half inch on each side would work, but apparently my ruler and rotary cutter weren't as accurate as I would have liked.  So then I tried drawing the outline of the vinyl onto the calico, which worked better, but it still wasn't great.

My question, therefore, is this:  What have you found to be the easiest method of getting the lining to match up with the outer piece?  I'll just keep on keepin' on until I get a few more suggestions.  It's not really THAT bad, I just like things to go more smoothly 

I made this over the weekend and I thought I would share it!  I'm rather proud of it    It's your basic square-bottom bag with one strap held on with large D-rings.  I'm a little disappointed that I didn't put in any pockets, but I haven't been in a pockety mood with my bags lately.  Here's hoping I do pictures right!

Full shot:

Close up of fabrics:

Thanks for looking

ETA: Holy God, that's huge!  I'm sorry, I don't know much about photo editing!

Okay, I've just had my first personal bad experience with Dritz (after reading about all the numerous problems people have with the eyelet setters and whatnot)...

I bought the heavy duty snap kit, and after five snaps the anvil "snapped" in half (har har).  I sent them a letter of complaint, and apparently due to the high volume of emails they got (probably due to crappy products?), it could be two weeks before I hear from them.

Does anyone know of any other companies that sell the same notiony-type products that Dritz makes that have a better rate of success?  I don't want to keep pouring my money into a company that sells shoddy products simply because they're the only ones that craft stores carry.  I'm not suggesting a boycott (I still like their D-rings and other non-tool products), but I want to know where I can get better quality tools so I can make professional products myself!