10.01.2010

Caterpillar Toy Tutorial

Ok. Sorry for the lack of posting here, but I got in a fight with my sewing machine. I tried to make a 90 minute shirt for Hero and it went VERY BADLY. It was completely due to my poor pattern making... I'll try again later.

But oh well, I'm back with what I do well. Toys.

Look how cute!! It'a another bug!



With the fun prints and the big button tail, how could you not want one?



Here's what you'll need:

  • 5 rectangles cut 6" x 8"  (body/top)
  • 5 rectangles cut 6" x 3"  (belly/underside)
  • 24 pieces of ribbon cut 2 1/2" long
  • small pieces of felt in white and blue
  • small black button and large color button

There's a small blue ribbon I planned to use for antenna, that I ended up not using. Sorry to confuse!

First arrange the pieces to your liking. I chose to mix and match.



Sew the top pieces all together in a strip with 1/2" seam, and repeat on the belly pieces. Press seams open.



Pin legs on the right side of the underside (6 per section/3 per side) on all sections but one end (this will be the head). Place the middle leg in the center of each piece. Pin the other two about 3/4" away from center leg. Baste on.



Sew the top to the underside into a long tube with a 1/2" seam.



Take one end and gather it together and sew it down. (I did the face end, but later wondered if I should have done the tail end instead...).



Turn the tube right side out. To stuff the body, you will stuff it one section at a time. Gather along the seam with a running stitch using 2 strands of embroidery floss (for strength).



Tie a knot on one side seam, gather over the top and end on the other side seam.



Continue one section at a time until the end.



Gather the tail end together. Here's where I thought I might have changed my mind. The machine sewn end looked nice enough to be finished... So if you don't want a large button on the tail end, just do the machine gather sew on the tail end instead of the head.



To finish up the caterpillar, sew a large button on the tail end and the face on the head end.



 And you're done!



Give it to the cutest kid you see and watch him love it!








3 comments:

Audrey said...

So cute!! Where did you get the fun fabric?!

Vivian said...

The fabric was from a fat quarter bundle I picked up at JoAnn's a while ago.

seemesew84 said...

I love how simple and cute this is!
I am featuring it on my blog today!
seemesew.blogspot.com