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I made this little guy today. He's a character from the indie game OFF, and I thought he'd be some fun practice! He's the sixth plushie I've ever done, and the second I've made with a 3D head. The pattern was freehand, and I ended up spending the better part of six hours sewing him and his cute little outfit (all the clothes come off, except for his ridiculous tiny hat). He's fleece, with acrylic for mouth and jersey stripes. I think if I made another one, I might try and sew the stripes--the paint looks sketchy, kinda like in the game, but I'd like to try more precise detailing.   I love how he turned out, honestly, and I wish I had more time to make plushies. 
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Mar 31, 2013 04:23
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Sorry to double post, but since the thread's been dead for a week, and...well, I don't want to be the one who killed it. The plush from the last post was so popular that I ended up doing a batch for commissioners. Sold four, holding one for trade, and had several pre-orders go down, so I'm tickled pink! Got permission from the game creator to make more, so I'm gonna make a few more characters from the same game, I think.   Not a bad way for a jobless highschooler to raise college funds! Sure beats working at the mall. Since I'm thinking about pursuing this more seriously, do any of you experienced crafters have advice for a stupid novice? I've been making up all the patterns from scratch so far, so any tips on that (especially on human for and head shapes) could be really useful. I've already figured out some basic sewing stuff, like 'fleece is really lovely to paint on oh my god' and 'don't let your cat 'help' you when you're cutting fabric'. TheAbominableSnow fucked around with this message at 02:11 on Apr 9, 2013 |
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Apr 9, 2013 02:09
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Those squid plushies are just so . I'm gonna try and make a pair of them for me and my roommate next month! The pattern looks fairly straightforward, but is there anything I should watch out for? I was also thinking about trading out the felt for fleece, possibly, and I've never worked with felt before so I don't know if that would be easier or harder.
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Jul 19, 2014 22:59
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Awesome advice, thank you! As soon as the next big fleece sale rolls around I'm gonna stock up. I think I've got some stuffing sheets leftover from another project, too, so I think I'll try that method for the arms. I made this little guy to tide myself over until then. He's based off of one of my favorite mythological critters, the Nuckelavee, a skinless cyclopian scottish nightmare centaur. So obviously I had to make the little goober as cute as possible.    I decided to try felt with this one, because I figured the firmer fabric would help him stand up better. He's hand sewn due to size. I'm super pleased with how he turned out, especially since I just eyeballed pieces without drafting a pattern! His horse head is all hosed up and he's kind of a fattie, but it sort of works, I guess. Gonna try and start another little monster plush today, except this time I think I'll try and give it a wire skeleton for posing. TheAbominableSnow fucked around with this message at 18:54 on Jul 23, 2014 |
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Jul 23, 2014 18:49
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Aw geez, those snails turned out so cute! A little bigger and they'd make the most adorable pillows ever. I made another little dude. Wire skeleton, this time, and the horns are painted sculpey. He's pretty delicate--much moreso than the last--but holds up fine to posing and isn't in danger of popping any stitches.  He's a fierce and bloodthirsty wendigo, so I sculpted a few tiny bones for props.  
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Jul 25, 2014 22:13
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flutterbyblue posted:And thanks TheAbominableSnow. They would be pretty cute pillows and now I'm thinking of scaling one up for my office futon. Your new little critter definitely suits your handle. I like your mixed media approach to crafting. Is the "blood" some type of paint, or is it something else? Yep, it's paint! I've been experimenting with different brands to figure out which ones dry looking wet or matte (and which on different materials). I made a little toy of one of my characters from a comic. He's an evil little fucker in the comic and turned out appropriately (misleadingly) cute, so I'm pleased! I originally glued on the eyes and mouth but felt bad about that and am now much happier with the hand-sewn result.   I also finished my roommate's squid, but haven't taken the photos yet. I might try your snail next, Brainbread--thanks for the pattern!
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Aug 26, 2014 23:11
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I could do a small secret santa plush. I've got a fair bit of plushing do to for the holidays but already sent out my SASS stuff, so it's totally doable for me! (Also thanks!) This is what I've been work on in my spare time:   It's not done yet--I'm trying to figure out to get clothes on the little fucker with his weird proportions. Probably gonna have to sew them directly around his body at this point. He's fully wired and posable from ears to toes, and stands on his own if his limbs are correctly balanced. My most ambitious toy to date, I think! Doing sculpted claws was a loving nightmare but worth it in the end. TheAbominableSnow fucked around with this message at 21:25 on Dec 5, 2014 |
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Dec 5, 2014 21:23
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You might want to test the specific types of fleece and velcro you're going to be using; some types of fleece are very slick and resistant to snagging. Have you considered looking into velcro wall hangers to cannibalize pieces from? There are some sold where I'm at that are basically sets of little square stickers, one half backed with hooks and the other with fuzz. I've used them in various non-wall-hanging applications because they're uniformly sized, pre-paired to each other, and easy to sew onto other things.
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Dec 5, 2014 21:59
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Thank you! Here's a closeup on the hands, both before and after sewing: The claws are sculpey fired directly onto the skeleton. In order to get them through the fingers, I had to leave the ends of the hands unsewn when I turned it inside out and then sew the fingers/bind them with embroidery thread for added security. Went through two test arm sleeves before I managed to figure that out.
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Dec 5, 2014 22:58
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Ehh, I wouldn't write off embroidery just yet. It sounds like you just don't want to get an embroidery-capable sewing machine, so why not try it by hand? It sounds intimidating, but using chunky embroidery thread speeds things up. Obviously it would be slow for a big piece, but for eyes and teeth it's really not so bad. The WIP plush I just posted has an embroidered face that only took like 30 minutes to finish.
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Dec 12, 2014 22:02
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If you're super worried about the material, I'd say gentle hand washing in lukewarm water with woolite and a lot of fingerscrubbing is your best bet! Hard to go wrong there, though you may need to do it more than once depending on just how messy he is. Depending on your weather, drying him outside on a few very sunny days is probably the gentlest way to get the water out, but if you're worried about it sitting in the stuffing, a firm pressing between dry towels can help wring out a lot of that. TBH, unless he's made of wool and barely hanging together stitch-wise you're probably not going to mess him up, and if he IS, I've successfully restored delicate wool items with the above approach. I'm sorry for your loss--I hope this helps a bit.
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May 6, 2015 16:05
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I think I'm going to try and sew a cute squishy mothman for my next project, now that I'm free for the summer. I kinda want to try and be better at sewing large, clean shapes with 3d patterns, so I drafted up one along those lines. I normally go tiny for plushies but I wanna make this guy big and huggable.
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Jun 5, 2015 15:22
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Brainbread posted:Oh my lord that is completely adorable. Is it ok if I I give it a shot myself when I have time? Thank you, and absolutely! I'm definitely gonna find some things from with the pattern once I attempt it, so I'll update any fixes when I make it. Feel free to copy it or do your own take! MinionOfCthulhu posted:That is adorable and fantastic, and on a weird note, thank you for making it look proper. People give it a head sometimes and it looks totally unlike the weird and wonderful first sketch/sighting of it. Thanks! Classic mothman is so goofy and perfect that I couldn't bear to change it much. It's so cute and stupid.
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Jun 9, 2015 00:58
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Finished the Mothman! Sort of! Kind of didn't do it right! I apparently had much less fabric than I thought I did, because not only did I have to do this on brown instead of black/charcoal, but I also had to shrink the proportions of the torso (and quarter the size of the overall pattern). Tinier and cuter, but not quiiiiiite what I was going for--gonna have to order a few yards and retry this in the appropriate proportion and size. I'm also a little torn over the tilt of the wings; I had to do that to compensate for the shorter torso, and I think it adds a lot of body and character to the toy (plus, he can stand up on his own now!), but it hides a lot of the feather details unless you tilt him way back.   Still pleased overall, though. I think this is my neatest and most successful attempt at 3d forms yet. EDIT: also I think I'm gonna try and knock this one out today. Gonna wire the arms if I have any aluminum left over 
TheAbominableSnow fucked around with this message at 20:23 on Jun 28, 2015 |
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Jun 28, 2015 17:37
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Thanks, both of you! I've definitely thought of it--there's an anime con in Atlanta that I might use as motivation to produce a buncha lil dudes, and then I'd be interested to look into online sales if that doesn't work out. I mostly do drawn commissions so it'd be a bit of new ground. I finished the lil flatwoods monster today; didn't actually work from the pattern and just freehanded it to see how it'd turn out, since it's fairly simple. I think I'd like to made it just a liiiiiittle larger so the arms aren't such a loving bitch to turn out. The dress almost lets it stand up without support, so I think I'll add a few ruffly inner layers to my next version for extra standing power. Not sold on the colors, or the fact the arms and torso are felt, so I may be browsing the remnants bin at Joanns to find some nicer fleece this weekend.  
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Jun 29, 2015 21:51
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Whoa, nice to see some action in the thread! Hope I'll be able to contribute soon, now that I'm finished with school for a bit and ready to start stitchin' for the holidays. Here's a question; last year the possibility of a plushie Secret Santa was brought up, albeit a little too late for it to take place. I still think that's a great idea, though! I have half a mind to suggest a DIY & Hobbies forum Secret Santa but man, I sure as heck couldn't organize that kind of thing. A little thread one still seems super fun and doable to me though. I would definitely have time to create a thing or two in addition to SASS gifts. Would anyone be up to that?
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Nov 24, 2015 02:10
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| # ¿ Apr 25, 2024 14:16 |
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Hey, just a heads up to everyone--JoAnn's is having an INSANE online Black Friday sale with 75% off their fleece (some colors are randomly lower priced than others for even bigger discount) and free shipping over 60$. I just got almost 300$ of fleece for 65$. Pretty much the only time to shop fleece if you plan ahead!
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Nov 28, 2015 01:08
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