How to: Make a Plush Toy from your child's drawing

For a unique and treasured keepsake, try making a plush toy or pillow from your child's drawing.  This technique would work well for just about any creature, including monsters :)  I think vehicles and buildings would work well, too.  Just remember--it doesn't have to be perfect, it just has to be made with love.

Last summer, Bubby spotted some adorable plush fish in a gift shop and immediately wanted to buy one.  I told him maybe we could make one, and when we returned home, I did a little bit of looking online for a pattern, but Bubby seemed to lose interest, especially after I made his platypus.

But over Christmas break we were in another gift shop.  Bubby saw some stuffed fish, and took up the cry for a fishie to call his own.  I really thought he wanted to just buy one, so I told him I'd put it on his list.  But no...he wanted me to make one.

I asked him to describe how he wanted his fish to look, thinking I would try to find a pattern that fit as many of his criteria as possible, and when he started telling me about the details, I realized I should just have him draw it.  This way, it would be exactly what he wanted.

Here's what he came up with.

Step 1: Make the main shape. 
You can cut apart your child's drawing, and use it as a pattern.  If you want to save the drawing, make a photocopy of it first.

The body is irregularly shaped.  Kind of an oval, but with a bump near the back on the top, and the bottom comes to a point in back.  I just cut out the body that he drew and used it as my pattern piece, cutting two body pieces from green fleece.

Step 2: Add the details before stitching the main shape together. 
This includes eyes, nose, mouth, paws... Don't be afraid to include some whimsical details as well.  This is a child's drawing, not a real-life representation.

I added a fleece mouth, eyes, and gills to the body pieces before stitching them together.

Then I added the colorful flannel dots.  I cut them, using jar lids for a pattern, and Bubby placed them where he wanted them on the body pieces.  I used a slightly contrasting thread to attach them, using a fun swirl on the larger dots.

 

Next up were the tail and fins.  Bubby's paper wasn't big enough to draw the fins, so I traced the outline of the top, bottom, and rear of the body on a separate piece of paper, with enough room for Bubby to add the fins and tail.

I made the fins and tail using Bubby's drawings as my patterns, and using this method to add seam allowance.  After I turned the fins and tail right side out, I topstitched some fin lines on them.

3. Stitch the plushie together, turn, and stuff.

  

 

Let me know if you try it!  I would love to see your creations :)