Showing posts with label soft toys. Show all posts
Showing posts with label soft toys. Show all posts

Wednesday, 28 October 2015

Childhood Sewing: A Bear for My Sister

Our attic clearout continues. This weekend's rediscovered childhood treasures included a box of soft toys belonging to my youngest sister, including the very first bear my mum bought for her when she was a day old (awww).

One of the teddies in the box was not like the others. His nose is very wonky, he's not very well stitched and his stuffing is showing but his reappearance still prompted squeals of delight. He's a scrappy teddy bear I made for my sister when we were both very small!

  
I was in primary school when I made this, I'm guessing maybe ten years old? (Update: my mum reckons I was actually about eight).


I loved sewing and one of my mum's friends, who did lots of dressmaking, would sometimes give me bags filled with fabric scraps to sew and craft with. There were some lovely velvet-y scraps in one of the bags - I wanted to make a soft, cuddly bear for my sister, and this fine fellow was the result.

 

His nose is a button I repurposed from a craft project we did at Brownies (the crafts were always my favourite bit about Brownies). His body is an old handkerchief, and he's stuffed with fabric scraps.

I didn't follow a tutorial or make a pattern, just stitched him together as best I could from the fabric I had. The result is very lopsided but quite charming, I think? My sister loved him, anyway!

 

It's delightful to have rediscovered this bear after all these years, especially as I now I design and make stuff like this for a living :)

Wednesday, 5 March 2014

12 Awesome Free Stuffed Toy / Plushie / Softie Tutorials

Stuffed toys, softies, plushies, plush, soft toys, whatever you call them they're fun to sew!

Inspired by last week's Guest Post - a review of Abby Glassenberg's book Stuffed Animals: from concept to construction - today I'm sharing a round-up of links to 12 fantastic free softie patterns.


1. DIY Nessie - We Lived Happily Ever After. Make your own Loch Ness Monster!

 http://www.welivedhappilyeverafter.com/2013/11/lochnessmonsterstuffedanimal.html


2. Mr Ted - Craft Schmaft. A modern take on the classic teddy bear.


3. Animal Bean Bags - Tried & True. Who knew cubes could be so cute?

 http://www.triedandtrueblog.com/animal-bean-bags/


4. DIY Handmade Walrus - The A & B Stories. I love his tusks!


5. Stuffed Marshmallow - Wild Olive. Super simple and SUPER cute.


6. Playful Stuffed Crocodile - Sew 4 Home. Those teeth! So great.

 http://www.sew4home.com/projects/pillows-cushions/pillow-personality-fairfield-processing-playful-stuffed-crocodile


7. Donkey Softie - Myra Masuda, on the Etsy Blog. Love the ears and the cute eyes!


8. Myrtle the Turtle - The Purl Bee. Make use of some of that pretty fabric in your stash.

http://www.purlbee.com/the-purl-bee/2013/9/15/mollys-sketchbook-myrtle-the-purl-turtle.html


9. Superhero Soft Toy - Lisa Tilse at CraftTuts+. Easy to customise to create a personalised gift.


10. Stegosaurus - Nuno Life. My favourite kind of dinosaur.


11. Plush Fox Dolls - A Beautiful Mess. Every sofa needs a fox cushion!

 http://www.abeautifulmess.com/2012/03/plush-fox-doll-diy-.html


12. Kawaii Yeti Monster - Amanda Tepie at CraftTuts+. Just adorable.


Got the toy-making bug and want to learn how to design and make your own softies? Check out the review of Stuffed Animals by Abby Glassenberg I shared last week. Abby also has lots of fun free sewing tutorials on her blog, While She Naps.

http://bugsandfishes.blogspot.co.uk/2014/02/guest-post-book-review-stuffed-animals.html