How To - Simple Felt Plush Man Toy Tutorial

I had an unusual commission last week and I thought it would make a great tutorial, so I took some photos along the way.

I was actually asked to make 4 of these guys, two with devil's horns and two with angel's wings, for a company who are bringing in a new safety policy and these 4 chaps (Safety Dave!) were going to be used as props during the training.

I love the cool things that I get asked to make, especially when they're for an unusual reason!

So here is a tutorial for how to make a simple plush man:

You will need

2 pieces of felt (your choice of colour) 8" x 10" (20cm x 25cm)
Black embroidery thread (2 strands)
Toy Stuffing
Sewing machine
Disappearing marker/chalk pencil/ordinary pencil

Draw round the template with a disappearing pen (or chalk pencil) and pin two layers of felt together

Leaving a gap at the top of the head, sew all the way round the outline on your sewing machine. Tie off the threads inside the head.

Cut round the man, don't snip too close to the stitches or they'll come undone when you add the stuffing.

Add stuffing to the arms, legs & body, a tiny bit at a time as you're putting it through a narrow opening (the neck) I used a chopstick to push the stuffing into the limbs. Do no stuff the head at this stage.

Draw eyes and a smile on the face, using either your disappearing pencil or an ordinary pencil.

Embroider the face, using back stitch for the smile and french knots for the eyes (I've used two french knots on top of each other to get the right size.

Add stuffing to the head and following the machine stitching, sew up the opening, by hand, using a back stitch.

Well done - you've made a cool little man (or girl if you want) and if your kids/grandkids are anything like my 5 year old and 3 year old, there will be hours of fun to be hand - these guys are just the right size for little hands!

Here's the pic of the 4 I made for my lovely customer:

For other tutorials, please visit the Tutorials Page and if you'd like something made just for you, feel free to have a look around my Etsy Shop and give me a shout if you see anything you like.