Hello Mr Fox

My office colleagues are crazy with soft toys these days. You would think that only kids do that but no.  Who can resist those cute, soft and cuddly plush toy. I would have followed them if not for the price tag. A medium size would cost about $50!

Okay, I told myself I can just make one. Went to Spotlight one evening and got these cheery orange chevron minky selling at $14.99 a yard. I bought 3/4m since I only want to try making one. Because the pile is directional, you must get a least 3/4 yard. Else it will not be so comfy and smooth if you run your finger against the pile, if you get what I mean.

Anyway, drafted something on paper and cut out the body, hands, legs and ears. Sew them, stuff them and attached the buttons...in one night, you have the FOX!

Frankly, I was thinking of a Tiger but when I sew on the eyes and nose, it just speak FOX to me.

Sorry for the blurry picture. We were in the car and it was difficult to take photo. The fox is about the same height as my 3 year old, around 110cm when you add in the long legs. Long limbs are good. The arms can be folded and it looks like an angry fox. My girl recently had this habit to fold her arms when she is unhappy so I was laughing at how similar they look.

I bought the fox to my office to show my colleagues.  I was too ambitious and stuff it too full so the fox kept bouncing off my office chair every time I stand up from my chair. The ears look so small compare to the big fat body. So, with 2 triangles, 1 fat rectangles and 4 long rectangles, you got your plush toy for under $20! No bad!

Anyway, version 2 is coming up with both my girls demanding for one themselves. It was such a rewarding and easy project. The minky is so soft. If you are in Singapore, you can find them at Spotlight. There are other colors too. I bought polka dots and dots previously so if you are not greedy like me, 1/2 m will give you a decent size plush.

Naruto soft toy

Seen this guy around?

My girl loves to watch the animation. So, the next time she asked me was to make her a Naruto soft toy and costume. Compared to the orange jumpsuit, I guess the soft toy is a easier option.

She first drew out the Naruto (front and back) for me on a piece of paper.

I traced them out carefully using a fabric pen to a piece of muslin coth, front and back.

Then, I asked her to coloured them using fabric pens. After which, I pin them right side facing together and cut them out. Sew around them and leave a 2"gap for turning.

This is how it looks now, after stuffing and stitching back the gap. To make it stand better, I've snipped off the 2 corners at the bottom (just like how you are making a bag base).

front view

back view

She was so happy with this. It's so simple and totally handmade : )
Try this with your kids at home and you can just draw any cartoon characters and it's a fun activity to spend the afternoon.

Angry Bird toy Carry-all

Did you see these Angry Bird toys from the background of my Angry Bird lantern project?

Found this from one of the shop at Hougang Central. It's a pack of plastic angry bird toys.  They so adorable that I had to get one for my girls. At least, the toddler can play with this one, while the older one plays it on her dad's iphone.

The set has 4 angry birds, 3 pigs, some building blocks to build the pigs' castle and a catapult.

As the toys are made of hard plastic and some of the paint came off from all the throwing and smashing on hard floor. So I thought that it will be good to find them a nice and cosy home to carry around when not in use. The fabric cover can also double up as the field for throwing the angry birds. It definitely prevent some serious injury to those poor birds!

This is what I've made. 

 

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inside of the carry all with fleece pockets


Nothing fancy or too precise. I just used some fleece that I had and made pockets with flap to keep all the angry birds and the pigs in their separate 'home'. I was thinking that if I make a big bag to put them together, the constant knocking and brushing of the toys in the same bag will knock off some paint.

See, they are happily hiding in their home : )

To provide some padding, the inner layer is made from a sandwich of fleece and canvas that was left over from my other projects. The front cover is Tree pink, from the Doohicky Designs Hoo's In the Forest series. I just made the outer layer slightly bigger than the inner layer, and fold over the edge of the outer layer twice and sew the edges to the inner layer like a little quilt.

I also made a small pouch to keep the building blocks for the Pigs' castle and the catapult. The fabric is from Ikea. The house print is just the nice size for all the blocks. I sewed a velcro strip at the opening.



doesn't the catapult looks exactly like the iphone game's version?

 Now she can carry them around the house and keep them properly when not playing.

all rolled up and ready to go!

I haven't decided how I want to tie the bag together. Maybe a ribbon or velcro?

Doll Stroller Make Over

From this...

To this

Bought my toddler a baby stroller as she had so much fun playing with one at her cousin's home. But, in a matter of hours, the plastic fabric tore off due to the violent pulling and tagging by my energetic toddler. The Daddy quickly added to the dismayed toddler that 'mummy can fix it'.  So, I had to do something about it while she sleeps so that it'll be fix by morning for her to play.

I can't reuse the fabric as it is poor quality and I felt that sewing from scratch may help to lengthen the life span of the toy. So I took some of the japanese fabric that I've and did some quick sewing. The sewing was pretty fast after I got the measurement.

As you know, I was in a hurry. So apology for the lact of photo here in this simple tutorial.

Material
2 pieces of rectangles measure 9"X 11" [A] for the top half and another 11.5"X 9" [B] for the bottom seat. 
4 elastic band about 2.5" long each
The T-shape harness across the stroller is actually a scrap from a japanese fabric calendar that my friend gave me years ago. I just cut 2 straps and keep the bible verse portion infront.

Brief Instruction
1. Cut the fabric and serge the raw edge or zig zag to keep from fraying.

2. Fold in the 2 side seams by 0."5"and sew in place for both A and B pieces. For A, you will need to fold in the top seam in by 0.5". Sew.

3. Fold 2 pieces of elastic into half so that it forms a loop. Pin the elastic loop to the top left and right of the A. Stitch securely. This will allow you to slip in the cover from the stroller handle. [sorry, no picture]

4. Fold in 2" at the bottom of B (wrong side facing) and sew a straight line starting from 2.5" from side seam and stop at 2.5" from the other side seam. The unsew portion will form the hollow portion for you to insert into the bottom poles of the stroller.



5. Sew the strap. The scrap that I've is 5" long and one of the edge is already serged nicely. So I serged the other side and fold in before sewing a long stitch down the strap so that the raw edge are tuck away from sight. I've sewn another decorative stitch parallel to the first one so that it looks neater.

6. Fold about 1.25"on one end of the strap to make a loop.  Sew it down.  Fold in about 1"on the other end of the strap and pin to the back of B. Try to centralised. Sew a straight stitch to attach the strap to bottom of B.



7. Place A and B together with right side facing, align the short edge. Pin and sew with 0.5"seam allowance. At the same time, attach 2 elastic bands made into loops to the ends of the joints. The loop will be attached to the bottom of the bar under the stroller to keep your seat cover pull taut.{sorry, no pic}

8. Lastly, find a longer strap, fold in and sew the raw edge. Insert through the middle strap loop, make sure that it is equal distance on both side. Sew velcro pieces on both ends of strap so that it can be attach to the side bar of the stroller and yet removeable for washing.

Ta - da! You are done with the sewing. Hope I didn't confuse you. Anyway, there are lots of similar tutorial in more details and photographs than this one. Just thought of sharing with you guys what I've done. Didn't have time to search on the blog as this seems to be a simple project.