#plush sewing

[lycanparty]

Lycan party homunculus… coming soon

(Pattern was purchased from @itsthebeastpeddler , and then referenced to make a similar one!)

Here’s some completed ones from the past couple of days :)

[before-the-kekkai]

My attempt at a 10 cm Kurama Oshi Nui - Part 2

Starting the Embroidery

For the bangs, I decided to try color 891 from my embroidery floss set. I don’t see a recognizable brand name on the labels; they only say something like “FOR TYCHE SPECIAL.”

I've never embroidered before, so I was really nervous to start this step! I had even bought an embroidery kit from JOANN fabrics before, well, the reckoning, but I never mustered up the courage to try it out. (;w;)

After trying it, I realized... embroidering is actually a very satisfying activity! Maybe I'll try more embroidery, too...

Anyway, more project updates under the cut!

Since this was my first time embroidering, I used this video to help me get started:

I struggled at first with figuring out how to secure the thread. What has worked best for me so far is tying the thread ends together on the back whenever possible. That seems to hold them securely enough.

I also learned that I need to trace my pattern much more carefully next time. Some of the lines were faint or imprecise, which made the embroidery harder than it needed to be.

Embroidering the Face

I started by outlining the bangs. After that, I outlined and satin stitched the eyebrows, followed by the eyelashes.

Then I went back to satin stitch the bangs... and wow, I struggled to keep all those little zigzags aligned. Kurama’s hair is really not beginner-friendly. (;w;)

Embroidery floss colors (mostly for my own reference)

Bangs: 891 Eyebrows: 326 Eyelashes: 3371 Pupils: 895 Iris-main: 701 White Highlights: 3865 Pinks of face: 352

One thing I would change next time is the order in which I work. I think it would be better to outline as much of the design as possible before filling anything in. Kurama’s right eye (on my left while I was working) started getting smudged from all the handling.

I also need a better method for tracing the design onto the embroidery sheet. 😭 Next time, I may try lightly tracing it with a felt-tip pen so I can get cleaner, more visible lines. 🥲👍

Helpful Tools

Thimbles and needle pullers have been a godsend throughout this process. 💗

I keep a relatively comfortable thimble on my ring finger because that is the finger I naturally use to push the needle. I totally forgot the brand, but it might've been Clover?? If they even make thimbles?? I also have small silicone needle pullers that help when the needle gets stuck in a particularly dense area.

I’m trying not to rely on the pullers too much, though. Pulling the needle through tight spots can put a lot of pressure on the fabric, and I don’t want to stretch or distort Kurama’s face. (;w;)

Finishing the Face

Now that most of the face embroidery is complete, I only have the bangs left to finish.

The whites of the eyes were surprisingly difficult. The tiny white shines were even harder! I think PiyoPicco recommends embroidering the shines first, so I may try that order next time. 🤔

I also wish I had used two strands of embroidery floss for all the satin stitching. 😭 Using a single strand took forever, and I’m worried that making so many individual stitches caused me to poke too many holes in the fabric. At this point, I’m just hoping everything stays together. 🥹

Overall, though, I’m really happy with how the face came out! I think it clearly reads as Kurama, and the eyes look very cute.

What I’ve Learned So Far

I'm starting to think a 10cm doll might be even more difficult than a 20cm, since there’s much less room for error… Maybe a 15cm doll would have been the ideal beginner project? 😅 Or hell, even a 20cm lol. At least I think the 10cm doll will be done quicker! (Right..?)

Now I'm nervous about the construction... I think the body won't be too difficult thanks to Tomoneko's tutorial, but I'm really worried about Kurama's hair! I don't have a solid plan for the back, nor the poofy part on top. (;w;) I will do my best... (╥ ω ╥)

For now, though, his face is (mostly) finished... and he looks like Kurama! I count this as a win!!

[craftmausoleum]

ฅ^•ﻌ•^ฅ woof

tiny fox baby, pattern is mini darlings set by 10x2darlings (enlarged 200%) :~) dress pattern is my own, as well as the two bloomers (green one pictured, pink one in the other post). the collars took inspiration from a very blurry russian pinterest post. she’s so soft and tiny…i think she’ll be loved in her new home !!

[craftmausoleum]

dedicated post for the little fox and her custom bloomers!!! creature pattern is the mini little darlings pattern (expanded by 200%) by 10x2darlings on etsy, lined dress pattern + accessory patterns belong to me :) she’s so soft…

[kurtoleander]

little mazafaka :D

Omg I love her.... at first this was supposed to be postal dude but face turned out super cute, so I added details. Her name is Pimpocka :3

[post-apocalyptic-shitstorm]

https://www.etsy.com/listing/4490923691/smeargle-sewing-pattern

Do you like smeargle?

Dismayed about the lack of merch it gets?

Can you or someone you know sew and have experience working with a pattern without instructions?

Boy, do I have a pattern for you!

Made with 100% human blood, sweat, and tears

[tengyukyu]

My hand/wrist has been bothering me for a couple of weeks now. It's been slow going on the projects because of that. There's only so much cutting and sewing I can do before the pain starts and lingers the rest of the day. I want to push through, especially when I'm nearly done with the boring part. But, if I do I'll make myself worse.

So I don't.

I've paused the puppet to work on a gift for a little cousin. She loves bees and squishmallows, so I'm making her a bee squishmallow. I found a good pattern online that seems promising so far. Face pieces and wings are cut, along with the body pieces. The fabric I'm using is thin, so I've traced out stabilizer for both body pieces.

I should be able to do more tomorrow.

[kamibakura]

Salutations!! I've seen your art and plush creations and they're really cool and nice,, I was wondering can you give a tutorial on how you did layered hairs on plushies? It's okay if you don't want to! :^D

Hello, no problem, I would be happy to share resources or anything else on the subject 😄

I don't know if it’s a proper technique because I did what I could, but here's how I proceeded so far.

( lots of pics under the "display more" )

I apologize in advance if the photos aren't great or if I've crudely painted over some parts in black. Originally, I took them to keep as a memory and not necessarily to share, so I preferred to hide any overly personal items that might appear in the pics😅

At first, I try to design the character's hair strands and number them, to then create a pattern to print

Then, once I've finished sewing the body and have the "bald"body ready, I print the hair pattern, cut out each piece of paper, and place them on the character to see if they look good or if I need to adjust the pieces (change their size, add more, etc.)

Next, I prepare each hair piece (in my case, I use minky fabric).Since I want each piece to be double-layered (I don't like the backside of the fabric being visible), I had to cut out each piece twice, to have one for the front and one for the back.

For Angela: I cut out each piece and placed them on her head without doubling (lining?) them, then removed each piece one by one to double them (I use glue to attach the front and back) and put the piece back in place before moving on to the next one and repeating the process.

I wrap the face in paper when gluing the strands to avoid getting glue on the eyes or elsewhere.

Until it's finished.

It's a rather long and tedious process since I first position the single pieces, then remove them one by one to double them by gluing, and then glue the piece back onto the head, before doing the same for another piece...

I try to find a logical order by gluing the pieces that are directly in contact with the scalp first, then the ones layered on top last, but when removing some pieces, I end up moving others. I don't really have a good technique for this.

I think I followed the same process for Yesod. I took fewer photos, so I'm not entirely sure, but the principle is the same

For Arven (whose clothes I haven't finished yet, so I don't consider him complete at this stage), I did things a bit differently.

I used adhesive iron-on sheet to create his hair strands because the issue is that I'm clumsy with glue, and I ended up with some glue clumps on the hair of the other plushies.

This allowed me to double the pieces more easily and to prepare the details of his hair strands. Since the colors blend together, for example, in the front area, I created a large section onto which I glued the strands

And then I gradually replaced the paper pieces with these strands, gluing them onto the scalp.

Arven has many more strands than the other characters.

Angela and Yesod don't have any strands at the back of their heads, whereas he has a lot of them. I made large strands to cover the base of the hair, and then smaller ones on top

I think there are easily more than 50 pieces that I lined.

It was incredibly time-consuming, but I like the result.

It's a long and tedious process, because the pieces have to be positioned several times and created gradually, and an unexpected build-up of glue can mess up the result in places.

Thank you for the question. I hope this helps. Wish you the best for your sewing projects 👍