Stuffleupagus

Man it's hard now-a-days to come up with a creative name for your stuff. I wanted stuffles or stuffies or something...but that name is definitely taken.

I've been interested in making some stuffed animal/monsters for awhile. I have seen them around and always felt like it was something I could possibly make myself. Recently I was reading Bust magazine and it really got me into it again.

I've been doing alot of embroidery lately and getting in the crafty mood, so this was just an extension of that. I don't have a sewing machine, so it's all hand stitching for me at this point.

So once I decided to start this, I bought this book called "Fun Dolls" that is adorable. Full of little how to cartoons and little characters that guide you in the process. It gives you patterns that you have to blow up with a copier and etc.

I started off by trying to find some great fabric. I went to AC Moore and little did I realize - they don't sell fabric. (I recently found out Walmart doesn't sell embroidery floss either). So I went to Walmart and they had a very limited supply of any decent fabric. So I went easy and bought a yard of black felt and a yard of white felt to get started. I decided to make a cat doll and I would fashion it after our cat Gobi.

I got home all excited and of course my husband was confused. I was going to make what?

So I started off by making my own pattern freehand. I took some chalk and traced the pattern onto the black felt and then cut the whole thing out. I decided to do one big pattern instead of separate ears, arms and legs like the book had. I figured it was my first try, so maybe that would make it easier.

Needless to say, it took approx. 4 hours for me to crank out the little guy. I had to hand stitch the entire doll and then stuff it, and try to sew up the giant hole that I left in order to turn the pattern inside out. That was the only really big mistake I made. Oh! And not doing the nose and mouth before sewing up the doll. But, the hole was the big problem. I should have left a much smaller gap in which to turn it inside out and then stuff it. I was nearly impossible to get a good clean seam on the doll since there was so much left to be sewn up.

So here are pictures of the final product. (I really should have tried to make a tail as well).