Would you like to give your baby a cuddly toy? It’s an excellent idea! Your little one can make it his best friend and playmate. His cuddly toy will help him learn and comfort him at night. He’ll never feel lonely.
What’s more, you don’t have to buy one to give your toddler a cuddly toy. You can make a cuddly toy yourself. All you need is time, patience and a few supplies.
Are you tempted by the idea?
In this article, you’ll discover all the steps you need to follow to make a cuddly toy. But first, let’s look at some good reasons for making your child’s cuddly toy yourself.
Why make a cuddly toy yourself?
A cuddly toy is a traditional baby toy. It’s usually the first toy they get. Most of the time, it’s used as a birth gift.
So it’s only natural that you should want to give one to your toddler. The cuddly toy will become his cuddly companion, helping him to develop psychologically. To find out more, read our article on why a cuddly toy is important for a child.
Otherwise, as we said in the introduction, you don’t necessarily need to buy a cuddly toy. It’s a toy that you can make yourself.
Making a cuddly toy is actually a fairly simple operation, within the reach of anyone. All you need is motivation, time and the right tools and materials. You’ll see in a paragraph below that it’s not difficult to find them.
In addition to the simplicity of the process, making plush also has many other advantages. For example, you can
- Add a personal touch to your toddler’s cuddly toy. It will be full of history and your child will have a special memory of it.
- Create a unique character that reflects your love for your little one.
- Make sure the cuddly toy contains no chemicals or other substances that could compromise your baby’s health and well-being.
In short, a do-it-yourself cuddly toy is better than any other model available on the market. It will be the perfect gift for your newborn baby.
What do I need to make a cuddly toy?
Do you already sew? Or perhaps you know a thing or two about it? If so, you probably already have all the essential tools you need to make a plush toy for your child.
If not, don’t panic! You can easily find them in craft shops. So what do you need?
Not much, really:
- Sewing thread and needles;
- A pair of scissors;
- Fabric or synthetic fur;
- Quality stuffing;
- Buttons to create the eyes;
- Any other accessories you can add to personalise your child’s cuddly toy.
When it comes to fabric, the choice depends above all on the type and shape of plush you want to make. Is it a teddy bear, a teddy dog or a simple teddy star?
If you want to make a stuffed animal, faux fur is often the best choice. This fabric makes the toy look more realistic. What’s more, synthetic fur is generally soft and pleasant to the touch.
However, it’s not necessarily easy to work with. If this is your first try, it’s best to opt for a fabric that’s easier to handle, such as cotton or felt.
More experienced users, on the other hand, can tackle terry velour fabric straight away. The finish is better and the fabric feels soft and comfortable against the skin. Your little one will love snuggling up with his cuddly toy!
Finally, if you want to buy a patterned fabric for a prettier look, you should avoid at all costs choosing a model with dyes or coloured with chemicals. These are not good for your baby’s health.
What are the steps involved in making a soft toy?
Have you finished gathering all the materials and tools you need to make a cuddly toy? Then it’s time to get started. There are several steps involved, which we’ll describe one by one below.
Step 1: Create a plush pattern
This is the first step. The pattern you create will guide you through the making of the plush toy.
But what is a pattern anyway?
Well, in very simple terms, a sewing pattern can be defined as a drawing of the garment or, in our case, the cuddly toy to be sewn, seen from the front or back.
It’s quite simple to make:
- To begin with, you need to take a piece of paper and draw on it the animal or plush shape you want to design. And don’t worry! There’s no need to create a perfect drawing. A simple representation of the back and front will suffice. However, the size of the drawing must correspond to the size of the plush you are going to make.
- Next, you need to cut the sheet of paper according to the design you’ve created.
- Now take the fabric and place the cut-out pattern sheet on top. Use this sheet to trace the design on the fabric.
- Once you’ve done this, all that’s left to do is cut out the fabric following the trace.
Good to know: it’s a good idea to trace and cut twice to obtain two sides that will serve respectively as the back and the front of the plush.
Alternatively, if you’re in too much of a hurry and don’t have the time to create a pattern yourself, you can download pre-made models directly from the internet. Whatever the shape of the cuddly toy you want to make, you’ll easily find it on the web.
Step 2: Sewing the plush
The fabrics are now cut. You now have a small glimpse of your baby’s future cuddly toy. Now all you have to do is put it all together to create the cuddly toy. And at this stage, it all starts with the sewing. Here are the steps to follow to sew the cuddly toy:
- Start by pinning each side of the cuddly toy. This will simplify the sewing and prevent you from making any mistakes. This is also where you’ll need to choose the type of seam to use: visible or invisible. For the first option, you should sew on the visible side. If you prefer invisible, sew on the inside.
- Now the sewing can begin. It’s important to start at the top, i.e. the head of the cuddly toy.
- Sew the edges a little at a time. Be careful to leave a small area unstitched. This will be used to insert the stuffing into the teddy bear. Make sure you leave enough space to insert your hand.
Step 3: Stuffing the teddy bear
To make a safe and reliable plush toy for baby, you need to use quality stuffing. This is important to reduce any risk of allergy or illness for your baby.
It must also be durable and resistant to wear. The comforter will be cuddled, chewed and wriggled on. If it’s not strong enough, it will get damaged very quickly!
For a baby soft toy, we generally use wool or wadding. However, if your little one is used to taking his cuddly toy outside, you’ll need to choose synthetic materials. Where can you find them?
It’s really easy! All you have to do is go to a craft or art shop.
However, you can also do without these types of stuffing for a DIY cuddly toy. If you have cotton or simple fabrics at home, these can do the job just fine.
In short, once you’ve got the stuffing, the next step is to insert it into the toy. Once again, start with the head. Continue with the limbs (hands and feet) before finishing with the rest of the body.
If you’ve opted for invisible seams, don’t forget to turn the plush toy over a little at a time to the right side before stuffing.
Step 4: Final stitching of the cuddly toy
Have you finished stuffing the plush? Well, now you’ve reached the final stage in making your baby’s cuddly toy: the final seam.
You need to sew up the little hole you left beforehand so that you can insert the stuffing. It’s also during this final stage that you’ll add the various accessories you’ve bought to personalise your cuddly toy.
These include buttons to act as the animal’s eyes or nose, bows and beads to embellish it, and any other accessories that will further personalise the toy.
Once everything is done, you can congratulate yourself, because you’ve finished making a cuddly toy for your toddler.
Conclusion on how to make a cuddly toy yourself
You now know how to make a cuddly toy yourself. As you can see, it’s a pretty straightforward task. With a healthy dose of creativity, anyone can create one, even from a simple sock.
All you need to do is gather the necessary tools and materials. Then you can design the most beautiful cuddly toy to please your little one. And as well as enjoying a fun activity to pass the time, you’ll also be saving money.
It’s much cheaper to make a cuddly toy than to buy one. However, it all depends on the type of cuddly toy you want to make. Some models cannot be made by hand.
In this case, you’ll have to go to a shop. And you don’t have to go far to find one. On My-plush.ie, you’ll find a wide choice of soft, cute cuddly toys to give to your baby.