Showing posts with label felt monsters. Show all posts
Showing posts with label felt monsters. Show all posts

Thursday, February 7, 2013

Felt monster toy DIY, make the whole family of colourful monsters!



The patterns for the happy monsters are finally here! It did take me a while but I got here eventually. I got too carried away with making them in different colours, they are very addictive! 

This three eye monster takes a few hours and many felt spots to make. He is super cute and can be an educational toy too - learning colours, textures and shapes. You can use ribbon tags instead of felt ones if you wish. 

To make one 3 eye monster, you'll need:


Plushka's pattern 
(it can be downloaded from HERE)
felt in many colourful colours: 2 larger pieces for the body - finished monster is 14 cm in diameter 
red felt for the heart and spots, grey, white, black....other colours for the spots.
(All felt is 100% pure new wool felt from Plushka's Makery)
white, black, grey, red and matching embroidery threads to the body colour.
toy stuffing 
pins

Instructions:
1. cut out the body and the eyes as per pattern
2. cut 5 strips of felt about 10 cm long and 1 cm wide, put aside.
3. place white parts of the eyes on the head and lightly draw a little smile with a chalk to make sure it will fit after the eyes are stitched on. Stitch eyes in place - white, grey, black. 

4. Add a smile, making small stitches in black embroidery thread, following by eyelashes. Note that the middle eye looks the other way, thus eyelashes are underneath it. 

5. Cut out one heart shape and about 10 multi-coloured dots. Note that I haven't used red dots on the face of the monster on purpose in order to make heart stand out more. Also, heart is to be stitched on with red thread. 

6. Place all the dots around heart (it's already stitched on) and attach the dots with one cross in the middle with the embroidery thread that matches the body colour. 

Optional: if you would prefer to attach the dots more securely so they are harder to pick on for a baby, stitch them on like you did the eyes, all the way around. As the dots might be ripped off, this toy is recommended for kids after 3 years old. Unless you attach them all the way around and supervise while the toy is played with. 

7. Cut out as many dots  as you wish for the back of the monster. I used red ones at the back as well as other colours. Attach in the same style as at the dots at the front.

8. Fold the felt strips (or ribbon) in half and pin them on in  between front and back. Stitch around using matching thread catching the "tags" in place as you go. Leave a gap for stuffing! 

9. Stuff your little monster and stitch the gap.

Ta-Da! You have one happy monster! 

Enjoyed making this colouful fellow? Other patterns for 2 more monsters are available in the patterns shop. Why not make the whole family?!
Happy stitching!

I would love to see your creations so don't hesitate to leave a link to your blog post or post pictures on my Facebook page.

Saturday, January 26, 2013

the third one....

I received so many helpful comments on Facebook about my happy little monsters! I was going to make another one combining two designs, taking into account that some people preferred green monster for one eye and aqua for the tags.   
I thought I'll just add tags to the green one but it didn't feel right. Tags just didn't go with that shape so, I thought that it will be better to make a different design all together. It needed to be round for the tags but not the same shape as the aqua one as that would be too easy, right?! 
It also had to have one eye so, after some tinkering, I came up with this:


They are now a group of colourful monster friends!


With so much bright colour around me, I am off to paint my toe nails red and hope they will survive the swim this afternoon. 

Hope you are having a fun Australia day long weekend!
xxx

Thursday, January 24, 2013

My creative space and my happy felt monsters

In my creative space this week I am having fun with monsters! I must say, I had to come out of my "comfort zone" in order to make these two cheeky guys.  


After I made the round aqua monster, I checked with my Facebook readers whether I am on the right track at all. Will kids like it? Is it cute enough? After many positive comments (Thank you everyone for the feedback!), I continued with monster making and that's when the lime green one was born. Gotta love Facebook! My monsters affair would probably be over after making just one....


Now I am working on the pattern, instructions and kits so stay tuned!  

Hope you are having a creative Thursday!