Island Batiks Ambassador challenge this month is making the most adorable Funky Friend stuffed animals.
I picked Sammy the Shark! My youngest is a stuffed animal lover and probably has almost every animal out there. I am sure he doesn't have a shark yet. So, naturally I thought I would make him a shark and see if he likes it, but I also ended up making myself one too.
This adorable pattern was easy to follow and I found the picture tutorial really easy to follow. The hardest part was probably the back tail. I slowed down and read the information and looked at the diagram and got it right on the first go. Win win!
NOTE: Covering up pattern piece as to not allow copying.
For the first shark I made I just went with the simple blue foundation batik fabrics, some scrap black and some scrap white batik I had on hand. I did a rough cut out of all the pieces, then ironed and precise cut the pieces after.
The tutorial was very helpful as I am a very visual person. Sewing, stuffing and pinning the first few steps went extremely quick.
I eventually got the entire thing put together and stuffed!
This one came out great and I found a few tricks that I decided to try in the next shark. I did cut the chin piece on a fold, as well as the belly, which I then cut up to the open point (if you buy this pattern you will understand what I mean).
With my next one I wanted to try some patchwork and see if I could use up some of my scrap batiks. This is where cutting on the fold worked better for me because I wanted to keep the threads intact as much as I could.
Thank you Oliso so much for this amazing Iron! It helps press those seams so so flat.
I also made the mouth and eyes and then added them before I sewed the body together. I found using my machine and not hand sewing them on was a lot easier for me.
You can see here I didnt cut the chin piece but instead cut it on a fold, I then sewed the mouth piece on before I attached all the rest of the body. This made it so much easier for me, as hand sewing is not my strong suit.
For the body I again used scrap pieces, which I cut into 2inch squares and then sewed them together. I laid the pattern on top to help make sure I sewed enough pieces together to make the correct size,
NOTE: covering the pattern piece as to not allowing copying.
I did sew the eyes on before I sewed the body together and again this was easier for me.
I also clipped the corners as the blue shark was having some puckering and a pulled seam, so I added some cut notches to allow for more movement.
In the end this shark was easier to put together because the mouth and eyes went on first, but the tummy closure was harder because more seams. So, I would say don't use patch work on the tummy and that might make this easier.
Finally I finished the stuffed animals and they really are adorable. If you have a specific animal then be sure to check out Funky Friends Factory!
Heres the finished sharks:
And my very happy kiddo!
Thank you again to Funky Friends and Oliso as well as Aurifil.
Stay Safe and Happy Sewing!