For cb, Barracuda, and E's birthdays, and for T and M for Christmas this year, I decided to make them some stuffed monsters. I got the idea from here and pretty much followed her instructions, so I won't repeat the instructions on my blog. Just a few additional tips:
- To get a larger variety of colors, I bought a packet of paper-sized felt instead of buying it by the yard. This way, each monster required 2 pieces of felt (one for the front and one for the back) with plenty of scraps to use for eyes and other accessories.
- Don't make the arms and legs (or any other part for that matter) too narrow. The more narrow, the more difficult it is to stuff. Try to keep everything wide enough that you can fit your index finger in after it is sewn together. Even if your finger doesn't fit, you can still use a pencil or other similar device to stuff those areas.
- Once you've sewn the front and back together, make sure everything you thought was sewn together is actually sewn together. Once I started stuffing, there were a few places that I noticed holes in my top-stitching. I ended up having to close those by hand, which was really annoying.
- Also, make sure the opening you leave is as small as you can make it and still stuff through it and make sure it is on a straight edge. The closer it is to an arm or leg or other non-straight part, the more difficult it will be to sew closed because those other stuffed parts will get in the way, especially when back-stitching.
I think these little guys turned out adorably - too bad I have to wait until December (and February and June) to get the kid's reactions.
