My First Attempt At A Plushie

A few months ago, a friend of mine showed me some plushies that were based around different kinds of mental and physical health disorders and disabilities. If you want to check them out you can find them by pressing the button below.

Plushie Dreadfuls

I was inspired by these, and I fell in love with all of them. I finally felt represented, as I found plushies that represented D.I.D, PTSD and other more common disorders such as depression and anxiety. I also felt many other - often overlooked - disorders such as Gender Dysphoria, Borderline Personality Disorder, Fibromyalgia, and more. I saw so many plushies that resonated with me or others I knew and loved, but at approximately $70 AUD per plushie, I couldn't afford to get everyone a plushie that I felt would help them feel represented and heard, when they often otherwise feel misunderstood and invisible. I know that for me, I have spent my whole life, feeling like my disorders and disabilities didn't matter to people because it couldn't be seen physically as they are mental disorders, but these plushies helped me feel understood and well represented and I praise the creators of plushie dreadfuls for this. Thanks to Plushie Dreadfuls, I got the idea to try to make one for myself. I had a friend of mine struggling with PCOS over the last few years, and with her birthday coming up, I decided to try to make my own PCOS bunny for her. I had wanted to try sewing plushies for years. I had tried a few times previously with making a small Manta Ray plushie, but this is my first time trying something this complex. I stareted with spending multiple nights hand embroiding the details for the plushie, including two eyes, a nose and mouth, and a design for on the belly to represent PCOS,

It was tricky at first, as I'd never done any hand embroidery before, and I couldn't afford a few hundred dollars on an embroidery machine to do it for me. So after about two weeks on hand embroiding while watching tv shows with my mum in the evening, I finally had them done. I had watched a few youtube videos to try to learn how to do it, and my embroidery was nowhere near perfect, but for someone who had never done anything like that before, I was pretty impressed with myself.

Now that the embroidery was done, I decided to glue the threads on the back to make sure the embroidery didn't come undone, and I then cut out the embroidery I had done, and then I needed to hand sew the details onto the main fabric for the plushie.

I spent another few nights hand sewing the pieces onto the face and body pieces of the plushie, and then I needed to use mums heavy duty sewing machine to sew the multiple layers of minky fleece fabric together for the plushie.

Unfortunately, my hand sewing was a little wonky, which was okay, but as I sewed using the machine, I struggled to alighn everything properly. I used Choly Knights Zombunny pattern from her Chibi Horror Animal Set. Her instructions were so easy to understand, the patterns are well designed, and I honestly have never seen a pattern that I felt had clear instructions. This was an intermediate pattern of hers, but I decided to give it a shot anyway, despite the fact that it was one of the first times I'd ever tried to sew anything. If you want to look into any of her sewing patterns for yourself, you can find her on Etsy, or her store, Sew Desu Ne? which I have linked down below.

She has a whole bunch of free patterns to choose from, and free guides, as well as some purchasable patterns. Her website connects to her etsy store, and gives you access to a whole range of patterns.

Sew Desu Ne?

I finally started sewing and it was a bit of a mess. the pattern was great, and the instructions were easy to follow, but minky fleece is not an easy material to use, and I easily became overwhelmed as I had never used my mums heavy duty machine before, although I kept trying and eventually got it done, although still a little wonky. The end product was NOT what I had hoped for at all. This is not the fault of the pattern, but my own as this is a new skill I wanted to try and I will keep trying. After a few errors, I finally got all the pieces together and, well, the plushie is a tad wonky. The head is much larger than the body, one leg is larger than the other, and its ehad definately was not sewing on straight, but hopefully I will better perfect the techniques over time.

My family and partner gave me plenty of encouragment, after a few jokes about it looking like my dad, and being the next villain on the popular game Poppy Playtime, and I am eagerly working on my next plushie which I will keep you all updated on. It definately was not the design I was looking for, but for a first try, I was relatively impressed with myself. To anyone reading this who is considering a new hobby, or even just trying something different, Go For It! Starting something new is never easy. Its nerve wracking and it can be a little overwhelming and scary, and most of the time, it isn't perfect the first trial, but you learn new skills each and every time. Although the design was wonky, my friend loved it when I gave it to her for her birthday, and she said that it was one of a kind and could never be replicated, and she was right. I couldn't make this again. Not the exact same way that I didnt he first time. It wasn't perfect, but thats what makes it special, so try that new craft, the new hobby, or just simply try something new you come across. It doesn't have to be perfect to be good.

Remember that you are loved, valued, and your struggles do not make you any less worthy of love. I See You, I Hear You. I Love You.