Let's Make A Bear Plushie From A Man's Shirt

Posted by Cecillia on - -

Hi, my lovely readers, i am back!!! i hope you all in good health.

Long story short why i have been MIA (Again), i am pregnant!! Yay!!! It has been 18 weeks and counting ^_^

I was hibernating during my 1st trimester due to morning sickness (DUH!!). The term "morning sickness" really out of context, cause it can happen at any time; morning, noon, evening and even in the middle of the night. Anyway, i was glad that i can take some time off just to relax and enjoy my first ever pregnancy.

I am going to share my ultrasound photos in my other post, cause today, i want to share a tutorial on making a bear plushie from a shirt. A man's shirt exactly and my hubby's old work shirt. However, you can use any kind of material, polar fleece, quilting cotton, minky dots, any kinds of fabrics, even felt. The possibility is endless.

After searching many tutorials, ideas on the internet, i came up with my own pattern. Started with some drawings, then transfer it into my favourite software, illustrator cs6 and maybe couple of hours creating digital pattern, then finally the pattern is ready to be tested.

I hope you'll like it and enjoy making it. Since this is my first time on sharing a digital pattern, please leave any comments for my improvement.

Important Note: The pattern is free. You can to pin it to pinterest. Share it to your blog. However, please do not re-sell the pattern and claim it as yours.

Let's Make Them!

Above is the finished bear plushie. The size is about 25cm in height. The bunny i made for practice purposes. No pattern use.

Let's take a photo with OneCraftyPup's mascot, Harley.

Materials needed for this projects:

Old shirt or any kind of fabrics. Mine using hubby's old shirt he used to wore for work. Made from cotton & polyester in grey and blue stripes.
scrap felt in colors: red for the heart embellishment, black for 1 set of eyes (you can use safety eyes or black beads) and charcoal grey for the bear's snout, if you like or you can omit the snout.
Matching embroidery thread: red, black and charcoal grey. Alternatively, you can sew with sewing machine using zigzag stitch.
The bear pattern. You can download the pattern from here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B0A0zCjZAv1cbDRDMk1LdXNGcFE/view?usp=sharing
Scissor.
Coordinating sewing thread.
Erasable marker.
Fabric glue (optional).
Stuffing/filling.
1-2 hour of your time.

Sewing Technique: Straight stitch, sewing curve lines and hand sewing using ladder stitch.

Print out the pattern. You will need 2 papers. Better to use recycle paper. Yay, save paper!

Then what i do is fold the line from upper body pattern in order to match the bottom body.

Don't forget to add your seam allowance. Mine is 1cm.

Cut out the pattern and the heart. If you feel the pattern will make a small plushie, you can photocopy the cut out and enlarge it another 50% larger.

Cut black felt for 1 set of eyes and 1 for bear's nose. I don't include bear's snout in the pattern. It's totally optional. Then using black embroidery floss i hand stitched the mouth and add some dots. Cut 1 heart from red felt.

Trace the pattern to fabric. You may want to iron the fabric first to eliminate any creases.

Cut 2 for front and back.

Position all the embellishments and if your are happy you can stitch all the felts by hand with running stitch or sewing machine using zigzag stitch. Since my right hand is suffering from carpal tunnel syndrome due to my pregnancy, i just glued them using fabric glue.