How-Tuesday: Charles the Plushie by MummySam

julieincharge

Story by julieincharge

Published on Sept 21, 2010 in Make

Photo by mummysam

I‘ve loved Samantha Cotterill’s work  — with its meandering lines, endearing characters, and quirky scenarios brought to life from her needle, thread, and pen — since the moment I first stumbled into her world through the garden gate of her Etsy shop, mummysam. In this week’s edition of How-Tuesday, Sam walks us through how to stitch up a customizable felt character by the name of Charles, as found in her wonderful new book, Fanciful Felties From MummySam.

For the Brooklynites among us, stop by the Etsy Labs on Friday, September 24 from 4-8 p.m. for a Craft Night with Mummy Sam herself, during the hub-bub of the Dumbo Arts Festival. More details here.

Buy Fanciful Felties From MummySam on Etsy or Amazon or an independent bookseller.

  

Dressed for a night out, Charles is ready to hop on the double-decker bus and head into the city. Mix and match his vest and jacket, or try substituting a patterned fabric for his vest. He is fun to customize and makes a perfect gift for those city dwellers in your life.

 

Materials:

White wool felt: 4˝ × 6˝

Cool blue wool felt: 3˝ × 3½Ë

Charcoal gray wool felt: 5˝ × 6˝

Scrap of wool felt for the base: 3˝ × 3˝

Scrap of brown wool felt for the mustache

Patterned cotton for the back: 5˝ × 9˝

Charcoal gray and light gray embroidery floss

Stuffing

Download and print both pattern sheets:

    

 

Directions:

1. Use your preferred method to transfer Charles’s face and torso to the white felt. Embroider the design. Do not cut out the face. (Figure 1)

2. Cut out the vest from the cool blue felt. Transfer the design onto the vest; embroider. Pin the vest in place on Charles’s head and face. Use dark gray thread to stitch the vest to the body along the vest’s top neckline. (Figure 2)

3. Transfer the jacket design on to the charcoal gray felt, and embroider with the light gray floss. Cut out the jacket along the dashed line, and pin it in place on top of the vest, using the pattern as a guide. Attach the jacket to the vest by stitching along the top edge of the jacket. (Figure 3)

4. Place Charles on the cotton fabric, right sides together, making sure to extend the cotton ½Ë beyond the bottom of the felt piece. Sew Charles to the cotton, 1⁄8˝ outside the design’s edge. Leave the bottom section open. Trim any extra fabric from the sides and top, and clip the curved seams. (Figure 4)

5. Turn Charles right side out, and fold the bottom cotton edge into the body. Stuff. (Figure 5)

6. Stand Charles on top of the felt for the base, and trace around the base (Figure 6). Cut out the felt, and attach it using a blanket stitch in dark gray embroidery floss.

Thank you to Samantha Cotterill and the good folks at C & T Publishing for sharing this project with us. For more sewing projects, check out Fanciful Felties From MummySam.


Sewing How-To Projects | Supplies Category | How-Tuesday Projects

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