Stuffed Monsters

My cousin's angel of a daughter turns one in September. Seriously, this child is perfect. We went on vacation with them and her fussy is a normal child's good day. This is the who my mom and I made this quilt for last year (part one, part two.) So when my cousin asked if I would be willing to sew a couple of stuffed monsters for a Pink Monster themed birthday party, I was happy to. It helped that I was waiting for fabric for a quilt to arrive and I had nothing better to do with my time.

She asked for bright versions of yellow, purple, blue, and pink. She had a couple of requests in terms of what some looked like but otherwise I had artistic freedom. The dog-earred monsters were closely based off a commercial brand but the others are looser. My favorite is the cyclops and the sort of adipose-like ones. My cousin seems really pleased.



I made my own patterns but I can walk you through the process.

For 8 stuffies here's what you'll need:
1 1/2-2 yards of fleece, I used polar and non-pilling. You will have left overs
Sheets of craft felt in accent colors (black, white, and whatever compliments your fleece colors)
8-10 oz poly-fil
black embroidery floss
variety of thread to match fleece/felt
stuffing stick (comes with the poly-fil)

To make a pattern:

The basic shape for half of the monsters were pear shaped. The top shape varies depending on how many eyes you want the monster to have. Plan on loosing 1-1/2" in height and width to the stuffing. I made my pattern 8 1/2" high
Plan out what features you want the monster to have - horns, eyes, mouth, spots, hands, feet, etc. Decide if you want them attached (harder to turn and stuff) or flat sewn (easier but maybe harder for little hands to hold onto.) Sketch those onto the pattern.
Add a 1/4" seam allowance.

How to Sew:

Trace the pattern on to the fleece and cut.
Cut out the felt for teeth, iris, eye whites, mouth, arms, hands, etc. You need double layers of felt for horns, and flat limbs
sew teeth and iris to the mouth and eyes respectively. I hand stitched these but you might be able to machine sttich them.
Machine stitch the spots, mouth, and eyes to the body.
Sew the horns inside out, turn and stuff. Sew the end shut for ease of attaching.
Sandwich the horns and limbs so that they point toward the center of the fleece sandwich (remember you're turning it inside out).
Stitch all the way around, leaving ~1 1/2-2" unsewn to turn.
Stuff the ears and arms as you're sewing, it's easier, trust me.
Turn the whole plushie and stuff.
Secure the opening with a ladder stitch.
Enjoy!

Each monster takes about an hour start to finish but I did it assembly line style broken up over a week.