stuffies

Invasion of the Plush Monsters!: Wickedly Weird Creatures You Just Gotta Sew
by Veronica Alice Gunter, published by Lark Books (May 6, 2008)

This book is strange, but in the best possible way. Packed full of weird and odd plushy monsters, Invasion of the plush monsters! is great to look at, not only for the monsters themselves, but for the headlines that introduce each individual project. When you see a page titled “Nauseators Overwhelm Air Traffic Controllers” or “Terrifying Totebaggers Stage Full-Moon Foray”, how can you help but want to bust out the fur fabric and fleece, and make a monster?

The patterns in this book include lots of plush monsters for cuddling or decorating your space, as well as some bags, slippers and hats. This book is marketed at children and in the marketing blurb states so simple to sew that kids can do it—as long as they have this book, the only one of its kind created just for children.

My 8 year old monster child and I attempted to sew the ‘Big Belly monster’, and while the instructions were for the most part fairly straightforward, there were a few assumptions made, and between us we couldn’t figure out a few of the steps. In the end we created a passable monster (and my 8 year old monster loves it!), but between the instructions and the difficulty of manipulating and sewing with fur fabric, I would really recommend a pair of big hands to work with any little hands that are keen to create any of the monsters in this book.

Even if you don’t feel like sewing any of these monsters, they are worth checking out!

About the author: Kate is a busy mother of four and has far too many craft projects on the go at any one time. These could include, but are not limited to, crochet, sewing, dyeing, paper making, spinning, felting and bookbinding. Kate has challenges in the areas of finishing things, saying no and craft supplies storage. She also has a very very patient and tolerant husband.

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I like to do a lot of my handwork as I patiently wait for life to run it’s course. It keeps my craft room full of great gift items and my hands out of mischief. Plus, it makes the time go faster than any gossip magazine I have ever read!

I keep a couple of traveling kits always ready to go. I have a small felt stuffed toy kit and an embroidery kit packed up in cute little wicker suitcases which I got at the thrift store. I never unpack the tools in these, to eliminate frustration on the road.

In My Felt Stuffie Kit I keep:
Small sharp scissors
A couple spools of thread
A few cards of embroidery floss on a key-ring
A needle book with pins and needles
A small book I made with envelopes with patterns inside
A baggie with poly-fill
A couple of tiny baggies with eyes ( beads and glass eyes)
And b.b.s to weigh down the bums the top heavy critters
A few pipe-cleaners and a wire cutter for armatures
And, of course, small scraps of felt.

In my Embroidery Kit I keep:
Small sharp scissors
Carded embroidery floss on a ring
A hoop
A project and a folded back up project
Extra needles

It is amazing how much you can accomplish in the waiting areas of the world.

There a plenty of great resources for free and inexpensive patterns (often offering the instant gratification of ‘download-ability’) which you can use to fill your new kits with addictive projects.

Check out:
The Puchi Collective’s Pet patterns
Futuregirl’s Sealife
Allsorts Scottie (I would make him 50% smaller.. because I like them smaller)
Turkey Feather’s Lambkin

I also just gobble up the cute Japanese felt toy books:
Like this one, or this one.

As for Embroidery patterns, I love:
Needlecrafter
Turkey Feathers PatternBee
Florisita’s Vintage Transfer Finds
Mrs. Stitchy Britches


Author: bitty Betty

So, pack it up, and get crafting!
So much to sew, so little time.

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