Category Archives: Plush

Hopping Along

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When I first spotted this pattern on Etsy, I couldn’t resist getting it – the style reminded me of a Jellycat bunny. I used some of the tie-dye effect plush fabric I’d bought a year or two ago, which gives the bunny a blushing sun-kissed kind of feel.

The drawn pattern is good, and the bunny turned out exactly like I’d expected it to. However, the instructions are really poor in comparison. They don’t seem to have been proof-read at all, which leads to unfortunate errors such as telling you to sew the seams with wrong sides together…. of course that’d result in either the fabric being wrong-side out, or the raw edges of the seams being on the outside!

Ignoring the written instructions, I just used the drawn pattern combined with my knowledge of toy making. And the end result is a pretty cute looking bunny. I did deviate from the pattern on attaching the arms – I prefer to machine sew limbs in place, so I know they are really securely attached. So I added them into the side seams before turning the body the right way out.

Overall, I’m pleased I bought the pattern (it wasn’t an overly expensive one), but I wouldn’t recommend it for anyone who doesn’t already have some experience or knowledge of sewing toys – if you really need to follow the written instructions, you won’t find this an easy make!

Pattern: Bunny pattern from Etsy
Fabric: Plush fabric from Plush Addict

Hoppy Easter

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Ok, I know it’s not Easter Sunday just yet, but Hoppy insisted on not having to wait another week to be featured on my blog!

Made from the same pattern as his furry brother, Hoppy has a totally different look due to the plush fabric I used instead of faux fur.

The dimpled fabric wasn’t the easiest to lay out without the dimples going flat, but it was a lot easier to sew than the faux fur. I used the same kind of fabric throughout, just changing colours for the paw pads and the underside of his ears.

Hoppy is thread jointed, so he can move his arms and legs. This was my first (proper) attempt at thread jointing, but it was surprisingly successful!

Pattern: Atilla by Emma’s Bears
Fabric: Dimpled plush from Hobbycraft
Safety eyes: Hobbycraft

Atilla the Bun

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A little deviation from the bears I have been making, this is my first attempt at making Atilla the Bun by Emma’s Bears. The faux fur isn’t the greatest quality, but I wanted to try using a black pen to add some shading around his eyes and on his nose, so I didn’t want to use fantastic fur in case I made a mess of it!

I still haven’t stitched over his nose shading – I don’t know that it really needs that, as I think his nose looks pretty cute as it is 🐰

A tiny piece of white felt gives his eyes a bit of a lift, while his paw pads were cut from some faux suede, just for a different texture to the faux fur.

I didn’t add any toy joints into Atilla so he’s permanently in this waving pose. I think he came out quite well, although I don’t know I’d be in a hurry to use that kind of faux fur again!


Pattern: Atilla by Emma’s Bears
Fabric: Faux Fur from Fashion Fabrics
Safety eyes and faux suede (used on the paw pads): Hobbycraft

What is black and white, and red all over?

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There aren’t many sewing patterns out there for penguins which look like they’re sliding down a snowy bank, so when BeeZee Art released her latest penguin pattern, I knew it was one I wanted to try making.

Rather than sticking with the traditional penguin colours, I decided to use some tie-dye effect plush fabric I had lurking in my fabric bag. Of course this means that Percy Penguin looks like he’s been out in the sun for too long, but I quite like the colours on him.

As yet, Percy doesn’t have his feet attached, but because I added some plastic pellets to his tummy, he balances really well without his feet.

It’s strangely tempting to make more penguins in various different colours…. and hopefully make sure that their flippers come out at a better angle next time – Percy’s look like they aren’t quite right somehow.

Pattern: Penguins by BeeZee Art
Fabric: Tie-dye plush from Plush Addict

Jumbo (finished)

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Do you remember ages ago when I was working on the Jumbo bear pattern by Emma’s Bears? Well, I’ve finally got him finished!

Jumbo lives up to his name – he’s so big, he takes up the entire chair! So at the moment, he’s sitting on the floor, looking out of the window. 

I didn’t have the right size eyes, so his eyes are a little smaller than intended, and I think I was a bit stingy on stuffing as his head really could do with a bit more padding in places. But for my first time sewing such a large bear (and having to hand stitch some seams because my sewing machine struggled), he’s come out really well!

Pattern: Jumbo by Emma’s Bears

Sea Pancake

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I’ve been following BeeZeeArt on social media for a while, and loved the Stingrays she’d made, and was especially taken with the Mini Sea Pancakes she’d sold at a convention. Up until that point, I hadn’t realised that Stingrays are known as Sea Pancakes, but once I saw those, I knew I wanted to try making some myself.

Some brown minky fleece works really well for Daddy’s Sauce on top of the (sea) pancake, with a pat of yellow butter on the top of that.

I had a play around with different shades for the ‘sauce’, ranging from a deep brown Daddy’s Sauce style, to a more pale caramel shade (seeing as I thought the brown minky I’d ordered was going to be darker than it actually was!).

The larger Sea Pancake just has some pats of butter, with no sauce – after all, not everyone likes sauce drizzled on their pancakes, do they?!

A relative has already suggested some colour variations, so once I’ve got the right shades of minky fabric, I can get sewing!

Pattern: BeeZeeArt

Jellycat Inspired….

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Whenever my Mum sees a display of Jellycat plushies in a shop, she stops to run her hand through the fur of the PomPom birds.

Pompom plushie by Jellycat.com

Rather than buying a Pompom, I decided to try making my own…. which was going to be an experience, considering I had no pattern to work from!

I sketched out the rough shapes, making two 5-part spheres for the body and head. I found a long pile faux fur, although it’s still a bit shorter than the faux fur Jellycat use for theirs.

Jellycat say the pompoms have “suedey legs” so I cut the legs, neck and beak from faux suede. I was planning on using a plastic straw in the neck to help it hold up the weight of the head, but I left that out in the end, as it was too fiddly to try getting the stuffing around it!

My version of the Pompom is a little taller than Jellycat’s, and the legs aren’t quite the same proportions, but it worked well as an unusual gift!

Pattern: Self Drafted
Inspiration: Jellycat
Faux fur & faux suede from Fashion Fabrics

Forest Bear (finished)

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Yes that’s right, the pear-shaped project is finally finished! Yay!

I machine stitched the arms and legs, but hand stitched the paw pads – they were just too small and fiddly to even attempt to sew by machine.

The main problem came when I realised I’d sewn the limbs ready to attach for a non-jointed bear, but had forgotten to add in holes in the body to sew them in (oops). I had to be creative with a way around that, which results in carefully trimmed the fur on the body where the limbs would be sewn on (the only way it’s possible to see the back of the fabric) and sew the limbs directly to the body.

Ok, I’m calling Willa “finished” but he still doesn’t have a nose…. he’ll get one (eventually), but for now he’s finished.

Pattern: Willa Bear by Emma’s Bears
Fabric: Faux Fur from Fashion Fabrics
Safety eyes: Hobbycraft

Forest Bear (UFO)

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Think back to last year, and the fake fur I purchased ready for Christmas…. yes that’s right the green is the same as the bat I made earlier this year, and this is the project I mentioned that had gone pear shaped!

Willa is a smaller plushie than I’ve tried making before, and it’s proving more fiddly on the smaller pieces. The head was reasonably successful though, and I even attempted some fur trimming around the muzzle to try and get a better shape.

As usual, I’m leaving the nose and mouth embroidery until the very last minute…. that can make or break a plushie, which means it’s the most nerve-wracking part!

 

Pattern: Willa Bear by Emma’s Bears
Fabric: Faux Fur from Fashion Fabrics
Safety eyes: Hobbycraft

Strawberry Dragon (finished)

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Strawberry is finished! When I started, the only alteration to the pattern was going to be printing the pattern at 150% for a larger dragon. In the end, I made a few more alterations just to hopefully end up with a sturdier dragon.

I cut the spines from two layers of fleece rather than using felt. With a dragon this size being given to to my cousin’s little boy for his third birthday, I wanted something that would be soft, yet sturdy if he was picked up by his spines.

The arms and wings are meant to be ladder stitched onto the body, but I cut a slot and machine stitched them on the inside just to make sure they stay attached! This gave Strawberry a small dart-like shape on his sides, but the fleece is quite stretchy so once he was stuffed you couldn’t really see the dart shape.

A slight error in reading the pattern meant I machine stitched the tail base to the tail sides and bottom part of the body, rather than leaving that gap to add the stuffing. So, as I was finding the foot pads challenging to sew by machine, I stuff him through that gap, and hand stitched the foot pads at the end!

Hopefully K will approve of his not-so-scary, cuddly dragon.

 

Pattern: Yoki the Dragon
Fabric: Red apparel fleece from Fashion Fabrics
Safety eyes: Hobbycraft