Transforming Quilt Blocks into Stuffed Animals.
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Note that if quilting is a new skill for you, I would recommend that you use scrap fabric and make one prior to cutting out and using your real baby clothes. These make wonderful baby shower gifts.
Choose a quilt pattern you’d like to create. You can find patterns online, in quilting books, or create your own design. This is what I did: take a piece of paper or light cardboard and make a quilt block template. Mine was a simple square. So cut two square templates: keep one a full square and cut the second square in half diagonally- refer to photo on right. Lay template on fabric and cut out fabric square and then cut the square in half (on a diagonal-using template if needed.) With sewing machine sew in a straight line, (start & end with backstitch to lock seam in place) until I had a large square big enough for the stuffed animal shape I wanted to use. Press seams open with an iron. Cut out animal shape and place right sides of fabric together, and sew the two pieces together, leaving a 2 inch space not sewn. (Remember to start & end with backstitch to lock.) Turn cat inside out by pushing the material through the hole. If you need to get the ears more in a pointed shape you can use a long chopstick or something similar to gently poke the point of the ears. Once you have the shape the way you like it, stuff batting or fill into the hole. Again, using chopstick to get it into the ears, tail etc. Then you will need to hand stitch the open hole closed. Embellish as you would like: Add a ribbon, button eyes, hand stitch a patch on the front, etc. Then sit back and admire your creation!
Below is the Cat Pattern. I am no pattern maker or professional seamstress but this should get you going in the right direction. My cat dimensions are: 9” tall x 6” wide. If you print this on a standard 8.5”x11” printer paper, this will make the size of cat I made, which is 9”x6”. If you would prefer yours larger or smaller, it is easy to resize the pattern on a copier.
To save the cat pattern to your computer so you can print: “ right mouse click” on the cat pattern image below and select “Save as” from the context menu that appears.
The dotted lines around the edge are to allow for a ½ inch seam allowance.
If you would prefer a different animal shape, you can do an online search for:
black and white outline of animals (or something similar) which should provide plenty of inspiration.
This is a fun project. Enjoy!
