# Plush Making Pattern Advice?



## Hiff (Feb 23, 2016)

So I am a rather new plush maker, only been doing it for a few months. To start off, I purchased a few patterns with nice instructions from BeeZeeArt, I found the patterns pleasing and the instructions (mostly) thorough. 

My reasoning behind starting out using someone else's patterns was to learn faster, to have less waste (this is more an emotional wellness thing than a 'omg wasted fabric this thing ugly!!'). 

And now I feel like I'm sitting on the precipice of wanting to make my own patterns but still not quite having the experience to do so with even middling satisfaction. 

Plush makers, what's your advice? I've seen lots of things on drawing the pieces on paper, which so far has been very intimidating and I've been very displeased with the results. Another thing has been to glue a bunch of seating foam together, carve a shape, drape fabric around it, sew, and make a pattern from it - I've been holding off on trying that because I'm not honestly sure how great of an idea that is..

Something else - I noticed most plush makers do not sell their patterns, or at least plush makers who make things that I enjoy? So far, outside of BeeZeeArt and a few less skilled artists, all I can find are teddy-bear style or very flat/cartoony in a way I don't enjoy patterns. Does anyone have any recommendations for artists who sell patterns that are in a similar style? Not super realistic but not pound puppy levels of cartoony? And who don't restrict selling your work to 'you can only sell *low single digit number* in a calendar year'? I don't sell often, but...I find myself rather miffed to be told I can only sell 2 of them per year?? 

(obligatory photo of a plush I finished yesterday - oh boy am I still working on my embroidery skills, they're not great!)


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## Sforzie (Feb 24, 2016)

I know it sounds silly, but maybe poke around those magazines/websites aimed at housewives? My mother was an arts and crafts fiend back when I was little, and got lots of patterns for things from magazines. (She made us a giant stuffed pony for our cabbage patch dolls, for example.)

This person on dA posted a list of links you might look at: http://fav.me/d4ys026
And you can check out the pattern groups on dA, maybe someone has what you're looking for.

(Also, your wee little batty bat looks cute!)


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## furryclaws (Feb 24, 2016)

That is a very cute bat! I've never added those safety eyes before, always used buttons or beads.
I understand how you feel about wanting to make your own pattern but worried about not having enough skill. How good are you at sewing I might ask? You can work your way up to more complex pre-made patterns. Perhaps you could get a cheap stuffed animal and rip the seams open to see how it's made?
The foam carving method is something I found to be too much work (ie: I never did it because it just seemed too much of a hassle). An easier method that I use to make patterns is crumpling up newspaper into the basic shape I want, cover that with plastic wrap, tape over the shape and cut it out to have a shell of the pattern you want. This explains it much better.
One website that sells basic animal based patterns is whileshenaps, the blog has some good tutorials on the basic of pattern making. Most of the time the patterns will be for kids toys and those tend to be more simple. I don't know if that's what your looking for, but its a place to start.
Let me know if you need any more help! I haven't sewn in a while now that I'm at college but that doesn't stop me from giving out advice!


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## Tatsuchan18 (Feb 24, 2016)

I recommend buying felt to use as practice (you can find it near the kids section of your local craft store, like at Joanne's or michals) it's really cheap, less then a dollar per sheet and it comes in a lot of colors. This way you can make some patters and try it out with the cheap felt, than when you have something you like, just blow up the pattern a bit to use on the good fabric. 

I've hand sewn a lot of pokemon out of felt. XD 
A hot glue gun works really well with felt too to add on stuffs.


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## Hiff (Mar 9, 2016)

WOW I became very busy and sick for, well, a while. Thank you guys for your replies! The pattern making tutorial Furryclaws linked actually makes a LOT of sense to my head, more so than the foam cutting or other things! Thank you so much!


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## furryclaws (Mar 11, 2016)

You're welcome, glad I could help!


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