I made a Koalabird plush doll!

For C's birthday, I made her a koalabird plush doll! I had made her one before -- her koalabird toy Cheerful, 2 years ago -- and now Cheerful has a friend! Newsletter subscribers may remember the photos of Cheerful I shared awhile back, but I will have to take more of both stuffed animal friends together. :)

Isn't he sweet??

C. named him Blizzard. :) Appropriate because we were in the midst of a fair amount of snow last week!

More process after the jump!>>

So to make Blizzard, I started with that indispensable free koala plush pattern from Choly Knight (I already had it printed and cut from Cheerful!). I used cotton sherpa and inside-out cotton fleece scraps that were left over from my cloth diaper sewing days.

Hello there!

For the face, I wanted to make eyes that were "mine", that is, the style I drew in the book (and basically draw all the time)! So I designed new eye appliques, made them with knit fabrics, and sewed them on (and the little smile!).

"Body building", ha ha ha!

Doll front, back, and nose!

Hi! I need my nose, please!

The nose gets hand-sewn on.

Next is wings! I had the pattern template I had designed from Cheerful, so I used that again. The wings are two pieces of quilting cotton sewn right sides together with the flat top open for turning.

Sadly when I went to turn it, the feather-tips turned out kind of weird and pointy, so I ended up having to sew the wings again, just a new line to the inside of the old seam. I cut off my mess and it was a lot better!

Turned, pressed, top-stitched across the top. These wings are a teeny bit shorter because of the above "mistake" (if you want to call it that), but just like people, every koalabird is different and unique, so it doesn't matter! ^_^

I pinned the wings in place across the back and arms, and hand-sewed them down. With Cheerful, I had initially made the wings removable with elastics (just like dress-up wings for a kid) in case she wanted a "regular" koala play option. But C. was adamant that the wings be sewn securely on, so I ended up cutting off the elastics and doing that. With Blizzard, obviously I just went right to the hand-sewing step!

I don't particularly like hand-sewing, but the more I do it, it's growing on me. Practice really is everything!!

Here's our little buddy with his wings! Again, they're a little small -- I had to attach them a bit low, too, so they're visible from the front.

Blizzard, the new koalabird buddy!

C. LOVES him and he's met Cheerful and they are the best of friends already! I will get you pictures of both koalabirds together next time!

I really did enjoy making him and I kind of want to make more koalabird plushies, but that would be a kind-of-big time-taking sidetrack from the rest of my goals. What do you think? Would anyone be interested in pre-ordering a koalabird doll, to be made maybe this summer? Perhaps someday I'll make them one by one and feature them in the shop from time to time. :)