Is your 18-inch doll in need of a new furry friend? We have put together the ultimate resource guide to making your own one-of-a-kind plush toy animal. First you will need to choose your pattern, then this post will guide you through mastering the process of creating your perfect plush pet.
Be sure to read to the end and enter our giveaway for a chance to win the a Pixie Faire Gift Card!
This tutorial was created by Genine Allan of Genniewren Designs. The tips included in this post will be helpful for any of the soft toy pet patterns by Genniewren Designs.
The perfect pattern to start your plush pet adventures:
The new Rosemary and Redcurrant Plush Lamb Pattern by Genniewren Designs is perfect for spring!
Check Out Our Pattern Collection For Plush Toys and 18-inch Doll Pets
From horses to puppies to farm friends like bunnies and lambs, our pattern collection for 18-inch doll pets will surely inspire you to make your own plush toy.
Here are a few pet patterns perfect for your first plush project:
Socks & Smokey Kitten Pattern by Genniewren Designs
Benjy & Blossom Bunny Pattern by Genniwren Designs
Lucky Labrador Puppy Pattern by Genniewren Designs
Tips for Working With Plush Fabrics
New to working with plush pile fabrics? There are a few basic tips you need to know in order to use them like a pro.
Plush fabrics have a nap or pile. The pile will stroke smoothly in one direction, but roughly in the other directions. The smoothest stroke of the fabric is known as the pile direction.
When making soft toys you need to take care with the pile direction, otherwise your toy will not feel smooth when you stroke the furry fabric.
The photo shows the difference on the 3mm short pile plush fabric used for some parts of the lambs in the Rosemary & Redcurrant pattern.
On the left side of the photograph, the pile of the fabric has been stroked along the nap and looks smooth, light in color and shiny.
On the right side of the photograph, the pile has been stroked against the nap and looks rough and dark.
Sherpa-style fleece fabric has the pile clumped into small bunches to look like real sheepskin.
Although the pile direction is less obvious than with a smoother fabric, it is still there.
If you look at the little clumps of fur you will see that there is a slight direction to them.
You can also stroke the fabric to feel which way the pile goes. It will feel slightly rougher in the wrong direction.
It helps to mark the back of your fabric with an arrow to indicate the pile direction. Use tailor’s chalk on darker fabrics and an ordinary graphite pencil or a colored chalk marker on light fabrics.
The pile direction may not always be exactly the same as the straight grain of the fabric. If that is the case with your chosen fabric, then work with the pile direction.
Tips For Pinning and Cutting
You should place all your pattern pieces so that the arrows on them face in the direction of the pile.
This means your toy animal's fur will run in the right direction, and he or she will be soft to stroke.
I recommend that you paste the pattern sheets to thin cardstock (e.g. breakfast cereal boxes) before cutting them out.
This will allow you to trace the pattern onto the back of the fabric with tailor's chalk or a pencil.
When working with fleecy or fur fabrics, this is more accurate than cutting out from pinned paper pattern pieces.
Make sure that you copy the pile direction arrows and any symbol markers on the back of the card pattern pieces too.
Cut out the pattern pieces by cutting on the inner edge of your traced line to prevent size distortion.
Snip only at the backing of the fabric, do not cut the fur pile.
This will give a more natural look to your toy animal and prevent bald seams.
Use glass-headed pins when working with fleecy or fur fabrics. The large, brightly-colored pinheads help you to spot the pins more easily.
Safety Tip: I was taught to count the pins as you use them and count them again as you put them back in your pin box or pincushion. A pin left inside a toy could harm a child. Safety first!
Tips For Sewing Stuffed Animals
When sewing fleece or pile fabrics, tuck the pile inside the seam allowance as you pin or baste the raw edges together.
It is a good idea to baste the seams before sewing as the pile can cause the layers of fabric to shift as you machine sew. I often baste by hand with an overcast stitch. The stitches don’t have to be tiny or neat, just enough to hold the layers together.
If you prefer, you can machine baste with a wide zigzag stitch, removing the pins as you sew. Remember to take care to ensure that the fabric raw edges stay in position.
When you turn the toy animal right sides out, check every seam.
You will see that there is some of the fur pile trapped in the stitching.
Lift the trapped pile from the seams by brushing very gently with a teazel brush, or using a blunt ended tapestry needle to pick out the trapped fur pile, so that the seams are less visible.
A blunt-ended tapestry needle works best for the sheepskin/Sherpa-style fleecy fabric as it doesn't unclump the sheepskin pile pattern too much.
You can do this before or after you stuff the toy.
Sometimes it is easier to get to things before you add the toy filling, other times it's easier afterwards.
Use your own judgment, but please don't forget to check the seams for trapped fur pile before you finish your toy.
Lifting the trapped pile from the seams is particularly important for the ears and any head or face seams, as it will affect the character and personality of your lamb.
Tips For Stuffing Plush Toys and Animals
No matter how neatly and precisely you sew the seams of a toy, it is still possible to spoil the final result by poor filling technique.
Enter to Win a $50 Pixie Faire Gift Card!
To enter this week's contest, simply click the link below and then enter through the giveaway widget at the bottom of the blog post, there are many things you can do to earn multiple entry points!
Contest Details: You enter through the entry form that is embedded on this page and appears just below this paragraph, if you don't see it, be sure to visit the page from your desktop or an alternate browser such as Google Chrome. It may not appear on all mobile devices. The complete rules and entry details appear on the entry form. This is not a comment contest - in other words, leaving a comment on the bottom of this page is not an official entry method. The only required entry method is to leave a comment under this post and then confirm that you did it in the contest widget. One person will receive the gift card. You can enter once, or gain multiple entries by completing the other entry methods and increase your chances of winning. Please review all Terms and Conditions on the giveaway page before entering. While we wish we could run this contest everywhere, for legal reasons it is only open to eligible residents of the U.S. and Canada, not including Rhode Island. This contest is exclusively endorsed by Liberty Jane Clothing and Pixie Faire.
a Rafflecopter giveawayWe'd love to hear from you. Leave a comment and tell us - what kind of plush pet would you like to make? Commenting below and confirming your entry in the widget above gives you one entry method, the other methods are listed in the widget above, be sure to enter in as many ways as you can to receive the maximum amount of entries to win one Pixie Faire Gift Card!
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I would like to make a puppy for Logan.
I would love to make a cute puppy because that is my favorite animal in the world! I have a 14 and 9 year old dogs and they are like family. It is always hard to lose one but you have great memories.
I have 7 pet chickens and would like to make a stuffed chicken to look like one of my pets.
I’m a cat person so it would have to be the kitties. Although the bunnies are also adorable!
I need to make myself and my daughters some bunnies! I think I’ll try to figure out how to make some little hutches for them, too.
I will be making two pets, one for each grand-daughter. One bunny and one kitten for now. Eventually, I’ll make a second one of each, a couple puppies and some chickens.
I would like to make a turtle, perhaps with hexagons for the shells.
I would love to make the rabbit as we used to have a pet bunny.
And I would also like to make the lamb and puppy just because thye are SOO cute.
A pomeranian but I don’t know what kind of fabric would work to make it so full and fluffy like real poms.
Bear, cat or dog
i would love to make the lamb.it is so cute
I would like to make a kitten in memory of my favorite cat when I was eight years old. I would also like to make a bunny in memory of a baby bunny my late fiancé and I raised from birth. We released “Scotty” when he let us know he was ready to go out on his own.
I like the kitty!!
I love the lads!! They are so cute. Thank you for the giveaway!
I’ve never tried a stuffed animal- always thought it would be so hard to do, but your helpful tips have changed my mind. Trying a sheep for Easter!
I would make a rabbit , longhorn steer, lamb My grandchildren r in 4-h and they love their animals
I would love to make the cute bunnies for my grandchildren.
I would make cats and tiny kittens! Thanks.
Ooo I love lambs! I’m so getting this pattern. Also I would like to make cats for my dolls. 😀
I would like to make a bunny for Easter.
I would like to make a bunny for Easter.
I would like to make a bunny for Easter.
I think the little chick is adorable.
Beautiful animals!
I would like to make a Great Dane for my boy doll. I recently saw an adorable movie that had one in it (The Ugly Dachshund). Not a puppy, but a full grown, doll size one.
I love little lambs and think they would be fun to make
Baby lambs are my favorite. My mother was a WWII war bride from North Wales and all my family are still there. The best time to visit is in the spring when the baby lambs dot the valley and the Snowdon.
I love the little bunnies for Easter.
I love the little lambs!
I love the little Chihuahua!
I love the bunnies first then the lambs.
My daughter would love a panda or tiger pet for her doll!
We would make the lamb. Thanks for the opportunity! Stay safe!
My granddaughter’s favorite would be a dinosaur or a unicorn. But she would love the lamb, especially if I made it in purple.
A chihuahua, lamb
Our Great Grand Daughter calls every animal at the Zoo in our County a GOAT could we have a GOAT to give the 2 year old girl. Thank you
I want to make a kitten.
I want to make a pony for my girls. Then they can have kittens.
Oh, I’d definitely make the lamb. Sheep are one of my favorite items to decorate with.
I love the sheep. My granddaughters would love them.
! would make a kitten .
I would make the black sheep! Like twins we are.
I would love to make an accurately doll sized donkey to keep the horses company.
I would make the adorable sheep!
A bunny is my pick but I love the cat, lamb & puppy too!
I would make a kitty as mine is always in my lap!
while the lamb is absolutely adorable, i’m a kitten people, so a long haired kitten would be in order…..
I would love to make a kitty – my granddaughters are crazy about them!
I need to finish the goat that I started.
It would be fun to have a variety of animals! Lambs, cats, dogs and others.
I like the little lamb. I think it would be fun to make for a farm scene with my dolls. I already have a couple of dogs & a couple of cats & a little pig, so a little lamb or two or three would be fun. I have made stuffed animals in the past but not tiny ones.
I like the giraffe.
I would like to make a cat, puppy and lamb.
My doll wants a bunny.
I would love to make a lamb.
The cat will be my first one, followed closely by the sheep, dog, and bunny. I also have a horse pattern.
I would love to make a little lamb for my doll to play with she loves little lambs
I’ve made several laborer puppies!
I would like to make a cat.
All are adorable! I would like to make a gray kitten to remind my granddaughter of her Russian Blue cat.
Seeing I am a zoo docent, I would need to make a snow leopard.
I would like to make several lambs for her to have to love on
I have been wanting to try out the little stuffed animals! My girl gets lonely. She would love a pet lamb!
An Easter lamb would be divine.
I’d like to make the lambs for Easter.
I love the lamb. As a little girl I always thought Mary (of Mary Had a Little Lamb) was so lucky.
I would love to make the lamb. It is adorable.
I have already made several of the bunny rabbits and they are adorable. I would love to make some lambs, and maybe eventually some exotic animal patterns will get release so I can make those too!
I love the lamb! Perfect for spring :)
I would love to make the lamb. So cute!!
The Lamb, it is sew cute, after that the doggie would be perfect!!
I would like to make the bunny
I’ve never made animals so I may try the cute sheep. I would love, once I figure out how to make them, to find a kangaroo pattern. In the meantime I’ll try making some basic animals to put in shoeboxes for Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes!
I would make the sheep. They are all so cute!
My granddaughter would love any of them. They are al cute!!
I would make a sheep, or a dog, or a cat. I don’t know I think all kinds of animals would be fun to make.
Love them all but especially the bunny! Maybe I could make a gerbil🤔😊
I think it would be fun to make a rabbit.
I would love to make them give away to children hospital and Grandsons and the little girls I take care of .
I would love to make the bunny & the lamb for my granddaughters.
I am looking forward to making the tiny giraffe. Its really adorable.
I’d like to make bunnies and lambs for spring.
The lambs the are so cute.
I love the little lambs, they are perfect for Bo Peep.
I think the puppies are adorable!
To be honest i think that i would make one of each of tje plush animals, one for each of the dolls that my mum has been collecting over the years and for my neice too. Along with the clothes that I have been making too. 🙂
I would like to make a pair of bunnies because my doll already has a cat I made.
I would make the lambs and puppies.
A little black and white cow. Love the sheep!!
I love the little lamb. He is so cute.
Bunnies!!!!
Rodrigo Childers
April 13, 2021
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