Thursday, November 5, 2015
DIY Nessie | Pattern and Tutorial
I have been keeping this project a secret for far too long, and now that it is up on Buzz Feed I can finally share the reveal with you all! You may remember when I asked you all to vote on whether I should make a Narwhal Whale or a Loch Ness monster. Guess which one won by popular vote? ;)
The sewing process for Nessie was interesting... I guess it's natural for a two year old's gut reaction to be to jump on the super cool stuffed animal mommy is sewing, and then proceed to use it as a rocking horse... I had to work in a room all by myself to make any progress on this stuffed animal!
To make your own Nessie, you will need:
A bag of stuffing, 1.5 yards of Felt for the Body (you can make it with just 1 yard, but it never hurts to get a little more than you need), a small sheet of Pink Felt for the patches (you know the small sheets they sell for like 30 cents), a small sheet of Black felt for the eyes & the mouth, and threads to match.
Please, don't redistribute or sell this pattern and/or items made from this pattern and tutorial. I reserve all rights to my patterns.
Print and cut all the pages out and then attach all of the pieces together, as shown above.
Using 1.5 yards of felt, cut out 8 flippers (they are stacked in pairs of two in the photo above), 1 belly piece, and 2 body pieces.
Stitch all of the 8 flippers together in pairs of two. Make sure to leave a small opening on the curved edge of the flipper so you can turn it inside out and stuff it.
Felt is super easy to hand stitch with, so if you don't have a sewing machine, that's totally ok.
Turn them inside out. Pull it through the opening you left open.
This is what it should look like after you've turned it inside out. All the hem work is on the inside now.
Place both of your body pieces on top of each other, and lift up the bottom part, as shown above.
Now lay the belly piece evenly on top of both half's of the body piece.
Sew the belly piece onto the body pieces.
Once your're done, it should look like the above photo.
Continue sewing the rest of the body up, and leave an opening at the neck for turning inside out and stuffing.
Now turn the body inside out by pulling it through the hole.
A great cheap alternative to buying an expensive bag of poly fill is buying a cheap pillow (the ones they sell for $3) and using the fluff in the pillow. Fill the neck and tail first. You want to make sure to REALLY stuff the neck super good so that it will stand up straight and be supported.
If you want extra support in the back just in case you have a feeling that Nessie is going to be used as a rocking horse (and yes, that was my daughter's first reaction was) you can use the 200+ plastic grocery bags you have been hording as extra support for the back. Now you finally have a use for them!
Once you are done stuffing it, sew up the opening.
Fill your flippers with stuffing, and then position them on Nessie's body. Position the two flippers on each side of the body facing away from each other, pointing out. Pin them in place and hand stitch them on.
Now for the smile and the eyes. Cut out two rectangles for the eyes, and one long strip of fabric for the smile.
Roll the rectangles into ball shapes and sew the ball in place until it is a complete sphere. Next, position them symmetrically on the face and pin in place.
Sew the eyes onto the face.
Pin the strip of felt you cut for the smile on. Then determine how wide a grin you want Nessie top have on her face. Cut the corners so that the edges are tilted.
Now Nessie has a cute grin!
This part is optional. Cut out patches and sew them on Nessie.
All done! Now for the reveal!
She LOVES her stuffed "duck" as she calls it. She drags it everywhere she goes, pets it's neck tenderly, and rides it ferociously. I am honestly not sure how long this monster will withstand the hard playing from my little monster!
After dancing for joy at the sight of her new toy, she ran out of the room and came back dragging her horsey so they could meet.
This Loch Ness Monster Stuffed Animal Toy is a serious contender for my favorite sewing pattern!
I have lots of Scottish blood in my veins... But my husband's family is originally from England. He doesn't really care about heritage other than being American... but he does like to rub it in that his people (the English) conquered my people (the Scotts)
With all that said, I have always had a thing for the Loch Ness Monster and I just HAD to make one for my little girl! I couldn't be happier with how it turned out. And it was so easy to sew. I mean, I did it all by hand... not that I'm bragging... because in reality my sewing machine is broken, lol!
So, what are you waiting for? This is one monster you won't mind seeing everyday! ;)
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