Pokemon Plushies

During my senior year of high school I took a class called, "Clothing and Textiles." The class had a few assigned projects and then the rest was up to the student. I have to say, it was one of my favorite classes in all of high school once I got past my fear of sewing machines. 

Without any prior knowledge of how to make plush animals, I dived in and created my own Frankenstein creations.  I did not even have any pre-made sewing patterns because I wanted to create something unique, not just a teddy bear. I had to make my patterns from scratch, just going off my observation of how plush animals are put together.

What I have here is not directions for how to make a plush--they are simply examples of my work. No patterns are provided (or exist anymore, for that matter). However, I hope they may serve as inspiration for your own work, and that you may learn from my own innovations and mistakes. 

Pokemon Ditto Plush, Cotton fabric. Sewn in 2010. 

I wanted to start with something easy, so, I made ditto. Its design is simple and it would only need three parts to make the body: front, back, and bottom. I wanted him to have some thickness, because he is a blob after all. I cut out two of the same shape for the front and back, then an oval shape for the bottom. Unfortunately I made the bottom too small, so I have a thin ditto. However, after I stuffed his body and ironed on his face, he looked pretty cute. 

Pokemon Luvdisc, Cotton Fabric. Sewn in 2010.

Secondly I made the Pokemon Luvdisc. This one was actually easier than ditto, but I liked ditto more. Luvdisc only has two main parts: front and back. However, both front and back are two pieces sewn together. The light pink mouth and body were sewn together because I thought it would be easier and prettier than trying to iron on the mouth.  The eyes and cheeks were ironed on. I don't think it came out to bad even though I was working from memory.

Pokemon Oddish, Cotton fabric. Sewn in 2010. 

Pokemon Oddish, Cotton fabric. Sewn in 2010.

Of the four pokemon plushies I made, Oddish is my favorite. He is just so adorable! He was a bit more difficult to make, but not very. It's more time consuming than difficult. However, he has a few mistakes such as visible seams from poor planning.

His feet are very simple--just two half-ovals, left open at the bottom and sewn along the other sides. His body is made up of three large ovals (making him appear slightly triangular) left with an opening at the top (should have been the bottom). The feet were sewn into the bottom seam of the body. The five leaves are made up of ten pieces, the openings left at the bottom. After adding pipe cleaners (for posing) and stuffing I sewed a line through the middle to make the "veins" in the leaves. I then sewed the leaves into the opening on the top (with some difficulty, the leaves are thick). Because the leaves were still flopping, I hand sewed a few lines at the bottom of the leaves, tying them together. I ironed on the face last. While it isn't pretty or professional, he has survived moths of falling off shelves and posing for my pictures and videos.

Pokemon Hoppip, Cotton Fabric. Sewn in 2010.

 Unfortunately, my last project in Clothing and Textiles was rushed and I had no extra materials (I was actually just working with tiny scraps). Its design was also more complicated. The main body of this was four pieces--front, back, and two sides. The tail and feet were sewn in, and the top was left open again. The hands, feet and tail are only two pieces each, with the bases left open. The leaves are simply two pieces of fabric sewn together with pipe cleaners inside (with seems on on the outside). The ears are two sides, both triangles. They were hand sewn on along with the two leaves and hands. The eyes were ironed on.

Pokemon Hoppip, Cotton Fabric. Sewn in 2010.

Pokemon Hoppip, Cotton Fabric. Sewn in 2010. 

(c) Maranda L. Scott