Stegosaurus Remade

I'm excited that for the first time, I've been commissioned to sew! I'm thrilled, because it involves making stuffed animals and those are so much fun. I love coming up with the patterns and designs, but I just hate stuffing them! Today, I got a chance to remake my Stegosaurus from a few months ago (original post here). This was my first stuffed animal and the only one I have used a pattern for so far. I feel like making this the first time gave me a good start because it made me understand the general how-tos of a simple stuffed animals. I've been able to expand on it since then. I could see a significant improvement in my second go at it. The feet were very difficult for me to do the first time and I had jagged looking feet pads. I decided that I would baste the feet to the legs first this time and it helped. The feet pads turned out much smoother and circular. The legs also turned out thicker, which I like. I'm still experimenting with stuffing brands and different techniques, but please do tell me your recommendations! In the next week I get to remake my turtle and design a doggy hand puppet. I've never done a puppet before, so I'm excited for the challenge! Well, that's what I am working :) That and moving... but moving is not nearly as fun.

Stegosaurus: Adorable Homemade Plush Animal

I had a 3 year old boy's birthday party to go to on Saturday and Friday night I made an impromptu decision to sew something for the party. I have tons of polyfill and had been interested in doing some stuff animals, so I picked the cutest (and easiest) one to make from a book called One-Yard Wonders. This Stegosaurus design was by Caitlin Bell. Patterns come with the book.

It was rather easy to make. It would have been easier if the book provided pictorial instructions. I would recommend the book. It has a lot of cool projects I just can't wait to try. Also, maybe all text-based instructions aren't too bad. It actually forced me pay attention to the instructions and try to understand it rather than just mimicking an image. They are also pretty well written. The book, among other awesome sewing gifts, was a courtesy of the BF during Christmas. :)

My biggest challenge was sewing the feet to the legs. Some looked better than others, but they turned out okay and the flaws weren't too noticeable. Also, I came to the conclusion that minor flaws add character. :) I had so much fun doing this that I'm inspired to create some cute animal designs of my own! Stay tuned for more!

6/29/13: Here's the second one I made: http://cupofthreads.blogspot.com/2013/06/stegosaurus-remade.html