Here he is! :) The newest stuffed animal I attempted to make! I can add him to my "nailed it" list of projects. Right next to the lion and elephants I have already made. He was a little more difficult. As you can probably see a little bit, his arms are in two totally different places. And his tail was pretty tricky also. Nonetheless, he was a huge hit at the baby shower!
I pulled an all nighter to get him done in time for the baby shower. (Sewing time totaled at 8 hours!) I am always super last minute. I also added on an adorable monkey blanket with minky backing and a super fuzzy and soft changing matt. I wasn't going to add them on, but I had to make a pit stop at the craft store for his eyes and stumbled across the adorable monkey fabric! Who could pass those cute monkey faces up? Psh, not me.
All of the pieces for him were really intimidating at first. The way his body was assembled was in a totally different manner than the other two animals. So, it was new territory for me. In addition, his face was super confusing with all the turns and extra pieces. His face alone is made up of over 8 pieces! EIGHT! I was starring at them all before I started, and remember thinking to myself... "How is this even possible?" But, somehow I managed to make it work out. First shot too!
All of the pieces for him were really intimidating at first. The way his body was assembled was in a totally different manner than the other two animals. So, it was new territory for me. In addition, his face was super confusing with all the turns and extra pieces. His face alone is made up of over 8 pieces! EIGHT! I was starring at them all before I started, and remember thinking to myself... "How is this even possible?" But, somehow I managed to make it work out. First shot too!
I always start off doing my stuffed animals the same way. I cut all the pieces out first. This normally takes me a good 3 to 4 hours to do alone. I think I managed to get them all cut the night before I started sewing, to save me some time.
Next I lay them all out with their labeled paper outlines so I can keep trace of which one is which. Some pieces of the monkey I had to a normal piece and a reverse piece. Typically I mark the reverse sides with an X on the back with fabric marker so I can keep them apart. I tend to get sidetracked easily and it is very very easy to get them mixed. Oddly enough when I start off it all is organized and slightly OCD, but by the middle of the project my craft table is in complete and utter chaos.
I am still not very good at hand stitching the animals closed yet, but slowly I am getting the hang of it. I don't mind too much that you can tell where I hand stitched it closed, because those are little imperfections that make them hand-made. They aren't suppose to be perfect. :)
Next I lay them all out with their labeled paper outlines so I can keep trace of which one is which. Some pieces of the monkey I had to a normal piece and a reverse piece. Typically I mark the reverse sides with an X on the back with fabric marker so I can keep them apart. I tend to get sidetracked easily and it is very very easy to get them mixed. Oddly enough when I start off it all is organized and slightly OCD, but by the middle of the project my craft table is in complete and utter chaos.
I am still not very good at hand stitching the animals closed yet, but slowly I am getting the hang of it. I don't mind too much that you can tell where I hand stitched it closed, because those are little imperfections that make them hand-made. They aren't suppose to be perfect. :)
Excuse the picture being blurry. I hadn't realized I didn't get a good picture of them together. :) Anyone remember my crochet dragon? Well, I finally felt like someone could give him a good home! There was no use in me hoarding him in my crafts just because I didn't want to part with him. I knew who I was giving him to would really appreciate the time I spent in making him in particular.
Never seen my crochet animals before? Check them out here!
Never seen my crochet animals before? Check them out here!
This coming holiday season I plan on making two new stuffed animals! :) Keep checking back to find out which ones they will be!