5 years ago
You know those times when you look at a piece of fabric and just don't know what to make from it, then check your emails and get a notification about a pattern that would be perfect for that particular fabric? That's exactly what happened with this mint green velboa fabric.
First things first, while I have sewn lots of toys from fleece and faux fur before, I've never even touched velboa fabric let alone sewn with it. Like faux fur and fleece, velboa has a nap; if you brush the fabric the wrong way with your hand, it looks darker. I'm hoping to use that to my advantage with my make – I'm sewing an army of plush frogs designed by Choly Knight, which are meant to have a contrast colour for their tummy sections. I only have one colour, so I'm hoping that cutting those pieces with the main nap facing in the opposite direction, will give the frogs' tummies the appearance of being made from a different shade of green. If it all fails, I can just say this particular frog is meant to be the same shade of green all over! To see if reversing the nap on the belly does actually make a difference, the frogs with pink eye surrounds have the reversed nap, whereas those with a white eye surround have the nap facing the same direction on all the pieces.
The velboa has an abstract pattern across it, which gives is more of a natural appearance, as natural fur doesn't look entirely uniform. This abstract pattern actually has the nap flowing in different directions so for the purposes of lining up the pattern pieces, I've used the background nap direction to make sure the vertical stretch still works correctly.
I've made small toys from an abstract fabric before, and they've ended up looking a bit blotchy. So I've printed the pattern out at 100% and also 150% to see how the fabric worked for different sized frogs. At 100% the pattern fits on two A4 pages, but printing at 150% it's now on 8 sheets of A4 paper and the pieces need taping together. Increasing the size of the pattern pieces will automatically increase the seam allowance – enlarging the pattern to 150%, gives a seam allowance of 3/8" which actually works better for me than the pattern's standard 1/4". Of course you could always redraw the seam allowance back to 1/4" if that's what you prefer.
I don't ever pre wash fabric that I'm using for plush toys – I would never recommend any toys I've made to be washed in the washing machine, so I'm happy restricting them to either a surface wash or a careful hand wash if necessary. If you did want to wash the fabric before sewing, the recommendation is 40 degrees.
Minerva recommend Gutermann 821 as a colour matching thread, but I was determined to use up some of the thread I already had, as the number of part reels of thread I seem to have collected from previous projects, is unbelievable! I used a white Moon thread for the seams, and tried a darker green for the topstitching on one frog's feet and hands but it was a bit too dark. For the other three I used the same white thread on the topstitching and that has come out surprisingly well. Ideally you'd want to use a matching thread for the topstitching, but because the toes and fingers are stuffed, the topstitching isn't as noticeable as if it was just a flat surface.
Normally cutting a faux fur style fabric, you'd find the table and floor get covered with bits of fur. However, the shorter pile of this velboa means that while you do get some inevitable shedding as you're cutting, it just needs a damp cloth to wipe over the table rather than the floor needing vacuuming! I traced around the pieces with a water erasable pen rather than trying to pin them, as that stops the risk of the pattern pieces deforming as I'm pinning. This also worked really well to draw the topstitching lines on the hands and feet, as wiping it with a damp cloth after stitching over the lines, erased all of the marks and left me with relatively neat topstitching!
Unlike most plush patterns, this frog has appliquéd eyes made from white and black felt with a contrast colour between the eyes and the head. I have tried stitching those features without fusing them previously, but they never stay still while I'm sewing! So this was a test of my bravery as I obviously didn't want to risk melting the velboa with the hot iron. I had an oddment of calico left over from another project, which I used as a pressing cloth, so the iron didn't actually touch the velboa directly. This allowed enough heat to get to the hemming tape without damaging the velboa. A neat short zigzag then finishes off the appliqué so the eyes aren't at risk of falling off in the future.
I didn't have any felt in contrasting colours, so I used some pink glow in the dark fabric paint I bought from Minerva a year or so ago. Obviously that means I couldn't fuse those eye pieces to the frog's face, as I didn't want to risk the paint melting over anything! This has made the felt stiffer to work with, but it's definitely given a striking contrast colour.
The velboa is really easy to sew! Because it has a vertical stretch, I used a stretch needle (70/9). With hindsight I probably should have used a slightly heavier duty needle – a 90/14 would have made easier work of the areas where multiple seams have crossed. I used a few clips to hold the pieces together while sewing, but compared to a longer pile faux fur, this velboa didn't slip around much at all.
----
I had some fabric left over after making those four frogs, and asked a couple of friends what they thought I should make next. They suggested a Manta Ray, which also happens to be a free pattern by Choly Knight. This pattern is a little easier to make, and really shows off the abstract pattern of the fabric.
Like the frog, the manta ray has appliquéd eyes – this time I didn't fuse them first, and just dived straight in to sewing them. It's ok on a pattern with larger eyes like this, but for smaller ones I would really recommend following the instructions properly and fusing them first!
The topstitching to separate the body and the fins was again done in white thread. This is a bit more visible than on the frogs, as the overall shape of the ray is flatter, but I don't think the white thread grabs your attention too much. It would've been different if I'd used a vibrant pink thread or something similar!
I never know how much stuffing to expect a plush toy to take. The two large frogs took a bit over 200g of stuffing between them, and overall for the four frogs and manta ray, I used approximately 350g of stuffing. I do prefer to stuff these plushies reasonably firmly though; firm enough to hold their shape, but still soft enough to be cuddly. Obviously if you prefer to stuff them firmer or lighter, then that will impact on the amount of stuffing you'd need.
From my metre of fabric, I've made four frogs and one manta ray, with about a quarter of a metre left over. I always over estimate the fabric I need when making plush toys, as it's ridiculously easy to cut a piece incorrectly, or to have the nap facing in the wrong direction which means I have to cut a replacement piece!
Thank you Minerva for giving me the opportunity to sew this project and try out this fantastic velboa fabric! I hope I've given you some inspiration to try making your own plush toys, whether you're a seasoned toy maker or just wanting to dip your toes into the world of plushie sewing.
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You can find the frog pattern on the Sew Desu Ne? website at: https://cholyknight.com/2021/04/09/frog-plush/ and the Manta Ray pattern at: https://cholyknight.com/2021/05/14/manta-ray-plush/
#MinervaBrandAmbassador, #MinervaMakes #MinervaMakers #DragonSews #plush #toy #velboa #FauxFur #SewDesuNe #CholyKnight #frog #MantaRay #ray #SeaPancake #FreePattern #IndiePatterns #ISew #MeMade #MeMades #sewing #sewist #sewists #SewingInspo #SewingInspiration #sew #sewcialist #SewingProject #SewingProjects #SewingIdeas #SewingProjectIdeas #SewingPatternInspo #LoveSewing #ILoveSewing #SewSewSew #SewersGonnaSew #MakersGonnaMake #sewaholic #sewaholics #ShareYourSewing #SewingLove #FabricInspo #seamstress #MeMadeEveryday
First things first, while I have sewn lots of toys from fleece and faux fur before, I've never even touched velboa fabric let alone sewn with it. Like faux fur and fleece, velboa has a nap; if you brush the fabric the wrong way with your hand, it looks darker. I'm hoping to use that to my advantage with my make – I'm sewing an army of plush frogs designed by Choly Knight, which are meant to have a contrast colour for their tummy sections. I only have one colour, so I'm hoping that cutting those pieces with the main nap facing in the opposite direction, will give the frogs' tummies the appearance of being made from a different shade of green. If it all fails, I can just say this particular frog is meant to be the same shade of green all over! To see if reversing the nap on the belly does actually make a difference, the frogs with pink eye surrounds have the reversed nap, whereas those with a white eye surround have the nap facing the same direction on all the pieces.
The velboa has an abstract pattern across it, which gives is more of a natural appearance, as natural fur doesn't look entirely uniform. This abstract pattern actually has the nap flowing in different directions so for the purposes of lining up the pattern pieces, I've used the background nap direction to make sure the vertical stretch still works correctly.
I've made small toys from an abstract fabric before, and they've ended up looking a bit blotchy. So I've printed the pattern out at 100% and also 150% to see how the fabric worked for different sized frogs. At 100% the pattern fits on two A4 pages, but printing at 150% it's now on 8 sheets of A4 paper and the pieces need taping together. Increasing the size of the pattern pieces will automatically increase the seam allowance – enlarging the pattern to 150%, gives a seam allowance of 3/8" which actually works better for me than the pattern's standard 1/4". Of course you could always redraw the seam allowance back to 1/4" if that's what you prefer.
I don't ever pre wash fabric that I'm using for plush toys – I would never recommend any toys I've made to be washed in the washing machine, so I'm happy restricting them to either a surface wash or a careful hand wash if necessary. If you did want to wash the fabric before sewing, the recommendation is 40 degrees.
Minerva recommend Gutermann 821 as a colour matching thread, but I was determined to use up some of the thread I already had, as the number of part reels of thread I seem to have collected from previous projects, is unbelievable! I used a white Moon thread for the seams, and tried a darker green for the topstitching on one frog's feet and hands but it was a bit too dark. For the other three I used the same white thread on the topstitching and that has come out surprisingly well. Ideally you'd want to use a matching thread for the topstitching, but because the toes and fingers are stuffed, the topstitching isn't as noticeable as if it was just a flat surface.
Normally cutting a faux fur style fabric, you'd find the table and floor get covered with bits of fur. However, the shorter pile of this velboa means that while you do get some inevitable shedding as you're cutting, it just needs a damp cloth to wipe over the table rather than the floor needing vacuuming! I traced around the pieces with a water erasable pen rather than trying to pin them, as that stops the risk of the pattern pieces deforming as I'm pinning. This also worked really well to draw the topstitching lines on the hands and feet, as wiping it with a damp cloth after stitching over the lines, erased all of the marks and left me with relatively neat topstitching!
Unlike most plush patterns, this frog has appliquéd eyes made from white and black felt with a contrast colour between the eyes and the head. I have tried stitching those features without fusing them previously, but they never stay still while I'm sewing! So this was a test of my bravery as I obviously didn't want to risk melting the velboa with the hot iron. I had an oddment of calico left over from another project, which I used as a pressing cloth, so the iron didn't actually touch the velboa directly. This allowed enough heat to get to the hemming tape without damaging the velboa. A neat short zigzag then finishes off the appliqué so the eyes aren't at risk of falling off in the future.
I didn't have any felt in contrasting colours, so I used some pink glow in the dark fabric paint I bought from Minerva a year or so ago. Obviously that means I couldn't fuse those eye pieces to the frog's face, as I didn't want to risk the paint melting over anything! This has made the felt stiffer to work with, but it's definitely given a striking contrast colour.
The velboa is really easy to sew! Because it has a vertical stretch, I used a stretch needle (70/9). With hindsight I probably should have used a slightly heavier duty needle – a 90/14 would have made easier work of the areas where multiple seams have crossed. I used a few clips to hold the pieces together while sewing, but compared to a longer pile faux fur, this velboa didn't slip around much at all.
----
I had some fabric left over after making those four frogs, and asked a couple of friends what they thought I should make next. They suggested a Manta Ray, which also happens to be a free pattern by Choly Knight. This pattern is a little easier to make, and really shows off the abstract pattern of the fabric.
Like the frog, the manta ray has appliquéd eyes – this time I didn't fuse them first, and just dived straight in to sewing them. It's ok on a pattern with larger eyes like this, but for smaller ones I would really recommend following the instructions properly and fusing them first!
The topstitching to separate the body and the fins was again done in white thread. This is a bit more visible than on the frogs, as the overall shape of the ray is flatter, but I don't think the white thread grabs your attention too much. It would've been different if I'd used a vibrant pink thread or something similar!
I never know how much stuffing to expect a plush toy to take. The two large frogs took a bit over 200g of stuffing between them, and overall for the four frogs and manta ray, I used approximately 350g of stuffing. I do prefer to stuff these plushies reasonably firmly though; firm enough to hold their shape, but still soft enough to be cuddly. Obviously if you prefer to stuff them firmer or lighter, then that will impact on the amount of stuffing you'd need.
From my metre of fabric, I've made four frogs and one manta ray, with about a quarter of a metre left over. I always over estimate the fabric I need when making plush toys, as it's ridiculously easy to cut a piece incorrectly, or to have the nap facing in the wrong direction which means I have to cut a replacement piece!
Thank you Minerva for giving me the opportunity to sew this project and try out this fantastic velboa fabric! I hope I've given you some inspiration to try making your own plush toys, whether you're a seasoned toy maker or just wanting to dip your toes into the world of plushie sewing.
----
You can find the frog pattern on the Sew Desu Ne? website at: https://cholyknight.com/2021/04/09/frog-plush/ and the Manta Ray pattern at: https://cholyknight.com/2021/05/14/manta-ray-plush/
#MinervaBrandAmbassador, #MinervaMakes #MinervaMakers #DragonSews #plush #toy #velboa #FauxFur #SewDesuNe #CholyKnight #frog #MantaRay #ray #SeaPancake #FreePattern #IndiePatterns #ISew #MeMade #MeMades #sewing #sewist #sewists #SewingInspo #SewingInspiration #sew #sewcialist #SewingProject #SewingProjects #SewingIdeas #SewingProjectIdeas #SewingPatternInspo #LoveSewing #ILoveSewing #SewSewSew #SewersGonnaSew #MakersGonnaMake #sewaholic #sewaholics #ShareYourSewing #SewingLove #FabricInspo #seamstress #MeMadeEveryday
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