The Crafty Crow: Simple Monster Softie

To make this dashing young...thing, you will need.

Two rectangles of sturdy fabric (I use velour or light wool)

Three scraps of felt for eye(s) (I use wool, but only because touching the other kind gives me the collywobbles)

One small oink piece of felt for the tongue

A scrap of ribbon (if you want a tag)

Stuffing

Thread and a sewing machine, or a needle and a lot more patience than I've got.

First things first. Lay out your pieces of fabric and cut them out so you get shapes that look like this:

I know, not specific AT ALL. The thing is, as long as the front and back monster bits line up, you will be ok. Seriously. (Oh alright, these pieces measured about 6" by 8" with notches cut for ears and legs).

Start with the tongue. Awesome. Make a small slit in the front half of your monster. This should be about 2/3 of the way down the pice of fabric, and just wide enough to wiggle the back of the tongue piece of felt into. Fold your fabric horizontally at the slit, and push the very end of the felt into this slit. 

Once you've done this, stitch the slit closed with the end of the tongue still sandwiched inside. It will look like this:

Moving along to the eye. Stitch the successive layers of felt on (in this case the dark blue, cream and then light blue) one at a time. This is a great way to learn how to turn sharp corners on the sewing machine (raise the foot and turn the cloth when you get to the end of a seam).

Fold your piece of ribbon in half and pin it into place between the two layers of monster body, laying with right sides facing each other. Go ahead and stitch the is fellow up!

Just remember to leave a hole to turn him right side out and push the stuffing in (I didn't sew between the two blue dots shown above).

Give him a good stuffing and handstitch his hole closed. He is so ready to go the party.

It is easy to vary these monsters with very little effort by changing the felt you sew on, the number of eyes, giving them felt fangs instead of a tongue, felt horns instead of ears, etc. And because he is a monster, it just fine if he comes out a little bit odd. Adds to his monstrous charm.

Comments

[Misty]

Thanks so much for posting this. Great idea!

[amy]

very cute!!!

[*pixie*]

So adorable! I bet my son would get a kick out of these.

[Annika]

Adorable!

[Shannon]

Hmmm, I may even be able to handle this! Thanks for the tutorial!

[Terri]

That is just too stinking cute! I have 2 little neighbor girls and 2 granddaughters (both 2 years old) that will have a new monster very soon. Thank you so much for sharing.

[Amber Lee]

This is so awesome! I love it. I'm going to have to make a bunch for the baby on the way!

[Elizabeth]

That's adorable! And it looks easy enough even for a sewing-challenged person like myself!

[Shellyfish]

I love making little monsters! I'm really new to sewing, but I find that this sort of project isn't too difficult & they make great gifts, too! I really like your colors!

[melissa]

I just love this little monster

[Alicia]

So cute! Great directions! I think I may be able to do this! Yay!