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Diffeomorphism — So you want to make plushies? A beginner's guide
Published: 2014-01-01 01:23:26 +0000 UTC; Views: 191332; Favourites: 2648; Downloads: 11511
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Phew, finally decided that this was good enough to publish! Only took like 10-20 readings after my initial rough draft.
Anyway, here's a guide I threw together for people who want to sew but have absolutely no idea where to start. I wrote this guide in a way which would've been most helpful to me back in May, when I decided to start sewing but didn't really know much besides mashing pieces of fabric together. Naturally the guide is written from my own perspective and experiences in sewing; ask other plushie makers and they'll have a whole different set of experiences and advice to share.
I tried to make the guide as comprehensive as possible, but one thing I didn't do was include links to resources. The reason for this is that links and videos can become outdated all the time, and part of the process of learning is being able to go out and find these resources. Nonetheless, one of the best resources I can recommend is Metroidhat's site , which gives not only visual instructions on how to do stitches but also some good step-by-step tutorials. I found myself going back there all the time when I was starting out.
If you have any questions, comments, or objections, feel free to leave a comment or send me a message! I wrote this guide to help people out, and I'd love to help out however I can! (Although I can't give my patterns away.) Speaking of which, if I get bored, I might release some sort of guide documenting my pattern-making process. It won't be any time soon but I figure it's something which people are interested in and that I'd like to write about. Be warned though, it's going to involve some pretentious math terminology
That's all. Happy New Year! 2014's gonna be a good year, I can tell.
Edit: Holy crap, 100 favorites already! I had no idea there'd be this big of a response. Thanks guys!
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Comments: 191
This are some awesome tips! I loved the excuses and commissions part and just enjoyed reading your story! Thank you for sharing it.
I started sewing around the same tame as you did but I must say your work is very well done! I admire it!
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Thanks! Haha, sometimes I look at the guide and worry if a little bit too much of it was devoted to the story rather than practical advice. Glad to see someone enjoyed the story aspect
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I think it's just the right balance. And the story adds more personality to it. ^^ I will add it in my next feature if I may. I think lots of people would love to read all the great advices you gave.
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what program do you use to embroider eyes? i seem to have difficulties doing it right... t.t
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I actually use some really old program which I can't really recommend because, well, it's old and not very robust. Once I have some more time I will probably be switching over to Embird, since it seems to be a very robust and modern embroidery tool for a reasonable price. Sugarstitch has a nice Embird digitizing tutorial if that interests you!
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:'D I might not ever get to make a plushie but the kindness you have shown sir is outstanding.
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Thanks 
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This guide is wonderful! I'm so happy to see all the blossoming Plush artist these days, they use to be soo rare now they're popping up everywhere with their own unique twist on things. I think the lack of good pony plushies in stores had a little something to do with it. lol 
Stuffed animals are such a wonderful art form that normally doesn't get nearly as much respect as it deserves, since people are so use to going out and buying the commercial ones for cheap. Some people even think they are all made by machines, but Nope each little cuddly critter was built by hand.
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Thanks! I must say my entry into the plush scene was pretty spontaneous, it was the combination of going to ACen and wanting a Helioptile plush that together drove my entry into plushies. I was actually a pretty big collector beforehand so I always thought how difficult it would be to make plushies like what I collected, but now that I can make my own plushies, I pretty much have no desire to collect, lol. Funny how things work out.
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I still love to look at plushies online and might collect something that impresses me, but my desire to collect is pretty much gone I would much rather make what I want, since i'm pretty picky with my plushies anyway.
I have collected plushies for years and always wanted to make my own, getting started was the hardiest part trying to understand how plushies work, I was lucky to dig up a few helpful guides, but most I had to learn on my own since sadly there isn't enough resources for this and allot of plush makers don't want to share out of fear of competition.
You don't have to give out your patterns to show a technique, Its why I try to make helpful tutorials and give advice since sadly there isn't much of that out there and its very hard to pick up some of the stuff on your own.
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Yeah, I'm definitely an advocate of the "teach a man to fish" method, which is why I don't just give out all my patterns, because I don't feel like people actually learn anything if they just get patterns handed to them. In the end, I'm all about didacticism; it just feels good to help people out and empower them to make their own plush! Since I'm not in the commissions business as of now, I don't have to worry about any conflicts of interest.
I'm looking forward to having some time to write up my own perspective on pattern making, since that's also something where I feel sound advice is generally lacking; a lot of advice out there is either somewhat vague ("trace out the silhouettes!" isn't enough when making more complex things) or assumes that you can do the whole foam-carving thing.
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Each person has a different way of making their patterns, I prefer the approach of sketching the characters profile digitally and building your design around that to print out. I tried making my pattern from a foam base but unless you know where to put the lines you are still going into it kinda blind and it doesn't come out looking that clean, You still have to know where to put darts and how to sew in curves to make sure legs stay in place.
I don't think there are hardly any tips on making your own patterns besides the foam one, and editing free ones, hmm.. could defiantly be a useful tutorial.
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This is a very nicely written introduction. The segment on making plushies to sell is particularly informative - good to have a pragmatic view on that.
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Yeah, I figured I'd throw the part on selling plushies in because there's a lot of people who see how some people can sell plushies for $100+ regularly, and want to get into it for that reason alone. But there's so much more that goes into it, and you really have to enjoy it and be good at the craft to even begin to regularly sell plushies with relatively high margins, so until then it should just be about having fun.
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This is great! I also make plushies but I cant sell them as you do. This was helpful for me to read, so thank you for writing it so.
GOOD LUCK WITH YOUR PROJECTS!!
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First off, thank you for writing this beginner's guide. As a couple people have already stated, good guides for beginners are few and far between on here. Encouragement is half of the job.
I'm also glad that you pointed out hand stitching before machine stitching. It really helps to get a feel and help understand how the material will work and hold before doing it at a much faster pace.
One or two things I'd like to add in addion to your guide are Jo-Anne Fabrics and some other larger stores usually have Remnant and/or discount racks that have various fabrics or materials that are end-of-the-roll, off cuts, etc. for a reduced price. So if you only need about half a yard of a certain type of fabric, try taking a look at the discount rack to see if you can get the same thing at a lower rate.
Another point would be Thrift shops, on occasion, i've seen fabrics, (once or twice a full bolt, but rarely) and machines (ranging from old, to pretty much new) in rather good shape. The draw back being every shop is different for what you could find.
I've put together parts for a few cosplays, but i haven't done any plushies.... ...yet.
Thank you again for putting together and sharing this guide!
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Yeah, I was actually considering throwing that in about the discount racks; I think I chose not to simply because there wasn't any room left on the page, lol. A good point though, especially if you're looking for test fabrics; just make sure that the fabrics you choose for testing share some properties of the actual fabric you're using.
And thanks for the compliments! The guide was fun to put together and I definitely hope it can help some people start out on the right foot.
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I doubt I've been in a Jo-Anne's that didn't have atleast one remnant of fleece on it, or anything else considered a test fabric. Its rather popular stuff!
Thank you again for posting, and have a happy new year!
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wow, this is helpful! I was thinking of start making new things apart of drawing stuff and I got interested on making plushies... hopefully i'll start this year (oh, and I think you're right about the common things people says about making plushies)
thank you for making this guide!
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Haha, I actually thought the misconceptions section would be a lot longer, but I couldn't think of any other excuses people would use to convince themselves they don't want to sew. The ones I listed are pretty much all what I thought, so it's kind of like me talking to my past self, lol.
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Thank you, that was really helpful. I've had always wondered what that soft fabric was called.
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Great guide! I'll definitely point people this way if I get questions about how to start plushing!
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Thanks a bunch! My dream is that this could become the definitive guide for beginners; while that may not be entirely possible, knowing that someone as experienced as you considers it good enough for others is awesome!
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Interesting and informative. You don't find the whip stitch a little too loose? I've been using a backstitch, but it takes kind-of-forever to do long seams with it.
I also recently replaced my ladder stitch with the similar Henson stitch, very pleased I've done that
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I must admit I don't have a comprehensive knowledge of whip stitching, once I got my embroidery machine I never needed to sew on felt details again so there really wasn't ever a time I needed to whip stitch, lol. For the felt details though it seemed to hold up fine since you'd never really apply pressure to them. As for the Henson stitch, I actually was not aware of it! I'm gonna have to try it out, it does seem like a neater alternative to ladder stitching. Thanks!
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no prob. i'm really really happy with the results of the henson. and very happy you took my comment as friendly advice, i was worried i came off like a know-it-all when in fact i'm still a beginner
although what i meant to say there was "running stitch", not whip stitch. whip stitch is just fine as long as it's nice light stuff... for anything heavy i use a blanket stitch, it's what i used for scout badges back in the day.
but the running stitch, if the thread breaks the whole seam is gone... i don't trust it. backstitch takes me forever (an hour for like a leg or something) but it holds really nicely.
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Ah, OK, that makes sense. Yeah, long running stitches do irk me sometimes, but I really can't be arsed to backstitch at the moment since I keep all my plushies for myself anyway. If you're really paranoid about running stitches breaking you can always tie off the thread occasionally. Personally for me, the main advantage of backstitching is how it makes the seams nice and smooth, but minky hides it fairly well, and I'm not really bothered by it anyway.
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Wonderful guide! Having become obsessed with plushies the end of 2013, I hope to start making some of my own this year and this is definitely a help! Love the encouragement and the realism - and your Goodra is AMAZING. Coming from a wonderful plushie artist, this is all the encouragement in the world. Thank you for compiling this guide and have an awesome 2014!
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You're welcome, thanks for the feedback! Glad I could serve as encouragement to you; good luck with your plush endeavors!
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Wow this is aweosme! Thank you so much
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Ive been sewing for a couple of years now and i wish i had a guide like this when i started, i even learnt a few things that i didn't know.
Thanks for sharing a really informative guide i wish there was more guides like this
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Absolutely, the lack of guides like this was why I decided to write it myself. There's a lot of "plushie tutorials" out there which cover basic stuff like stitching, but I felt like a lot of them were too technical and didn't really encourage newcomers, so that's what I'm hoping this guide will do. Thanks for the feedback!
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Yeah you're guide is short but sticks to the point iv'e seen guides talk about one thing and halfway through talk about something else.
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oh my god you're my hero for the new year.
thanks for sharing!
(you caught my attention with goodra~)
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Haha, glad I have some ability to market my own works despite my awful graphic design sense. Glad I could I help out!
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Happy New Year! Thank you for the guide!
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