Taggie Monster

Look at this little guy! Too Cute right?  I found the idea over here at Craft Schmaft.  You can download a free pattern there. I just wanted to highlight a few changes that I made to make it suit me and my needs better.

I started out by tracing the pattern and making the legs part of the pattern, so the whole monster would be two pieces. ***NOTE: Make sure you add a seam allowance when you trace the pattern. I didn't the first time I tried and the result was disastrous! I added half an inch.

I was also worried that when I washed this little guy, which is an eventuality in my house, all the ribbon would fray and I would be left with really long strings wrapped around in my washing machine. Can you imagine that nightmare?  I decided to enclose all the edges of the ribbon. I just cut a rectangle that was wider than my monster's middle. I hemmed the top and bottom, then sewed on the ribbon.

Fold the top of your fabric over and sew another seam...

Open it up and sew another seam to hold it open and repeat until you have several rows with all the ribbon edges enclosed.

I sewed it onto the top piece of my Monster, then pinned all the ribbon towards the middle. Right sides together, sew the top and bottom piece together leaving an opening between the legs. Turn right side out, it helped to use a pencil and turn the legs into the middle before trying to turn the rest.

Stuff and close up between the legs by hand.  I used felt to make the face and hand stitched the eyes and mouth on.  I liked the look better than the original tutorial shows.

Of course, having three little boys who each needed their own Monster, I have now made several. One for each of them. I had to distinguish whose was whose, and so I stitched an initial into the backside.

Credit to Claire at Craft Schmaft.  I hope you like what I did with your pattern! I know my boys loved it!

*Note: Please forgive the blurring on some of the pictures. My camera is on it's last legs.