Personalised Softie

Softies, as they seem to be called, are all the rage, seems like I see pictures of them everywhere. I've never been a big fan myself, being more of a realism person, but DD saw a stuffed striped giraffe at an organic store I visited with my sister yesterday, and really wanted it. Thankfully she was placated with promises of making one. So make one we did, only ours, of course, is a dinosaur. Not just any dinosaur either, but a Tyrannosaurus Rex.

DD was thrilled to join in with drawing up a 'pattern' for us to use. I told her she had to draw it big, or she wouldn't get a big dinosaur, and she obliged.

DD chose out her material, and I cut out some rough pieces for the body, arms, legs, tail and head. And an extra plain piece for the face. Since DD drew single lines for the arms, legs and tail, I had to make them a bit wider, and occasionally change the length a bit. Overall, their placement is the most important bit to keep the childlike composition of the finished softie I think. I also had to be careful to make them thick enough to sew, turn and stuff. The tail ended up being too narrow, and I had to cut out a second one.

Then I had DD draw the face on the pink material in pen (pencil would have been better, but I couldn't find one), and I embroidered it in 3 strands of embroidery cotton, then slip stitched it to the head piece, turning the edges under as I went.. I made the eyes slightly bigger, but otherwise followed the lines she had drawn. Which was quite a challenge, let me tell you. I'm a bit of a perfectionist, and spend way too much time trying to get faces to look just right. Of course, I think this one worked out just perfect, without any adjusting from me.

Then I put all the extremities right sides together, and overlocked around the edges. I had to round off the bit where the neck joins the head a little to get around it with the overlocker, but I wanted the pieces to be strong, and not start coming apart in a few weeks.

Then we turned them right side out (with the help of the end of the scissors), and stuffed them. DD enjoyed helping with the stuffing, although she did make them a little on the soft side, so I had to add a little bit to the ones she did. I left the ends a bit floppy because they're going to be sewn to the body.

I positioned the arms,legs, tail and head on the body again, using the picture to get the locations right.

Then turned them all to the inside and pinned.

Then decided to overlock them in place before trying to sew the body pieces together.

I also overlocked the other piece, then joined them on the sewing machine, leaving a nice big gap to turn it right side out.

Then we stuffed the body, slip-stitched the opening closed, and DD gave him his first cuddle. She's been carrying him around all day (by the neck!) and has now taken him to bed with her. I think it really means something to her that this is HER representation of a dinosaur, not someone else's, and that she helped design and make him.

Now, of course, she wants to make all the other types of dinosaurs...