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dot-DOLL β .DOLL's Hand Embroidery Tutorial
Published: 2014-05-20 10:04:18 +0000 UTC; Views: 29562; Favourites: 940; Downloads: 0
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Description
While working on this recent commission I had the common sense to remember to photograph all the different stages. GO ME I REMEMBERED SOMETHING.This is how I do hand embroidery, which is somewhat more elaborately than most people would assume.
It is not the "correct" way, nor the only way, but it is what I prefer and what I find gives the best results for my own style.
I hope it is at least vaguely useful.
TO THE NEWBIES
Doing these eyes by hand took less time than if I'd done then by machine. By the time you create the file, stitch it out, correct mistakes, do it again and then do it for the opposite eye, it can be a good two or three hours gone and quite a bit of material wasted. Unless you can afford the badass software to go with a badass machine, I'd recommend any newbies to plushie making to at least give hand embroidery a shot before plunging huge amounts of money into these machines. It's also very relaxing to do it by hand. Just sit, watch your favourite shows, and stitch.
Making Paw Pads Tutorial:
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Comments: 94
*pikachu face* dude that's surprisingly easy, I always thought it'd be hard... Thanks for the tips!
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Thank you for this!Β I was thinking you had to have an expensive machine to do this.Β I would rather hand embroider, yay!
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So how do you keep the material taught since it doesn't look to be big enough to put on a hoop?
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Thank you! this is perfect! though i do have a question..I am currently about to make a plushie, and though i would use this tutorial for eyes, i am somewhat stuck. The whites of the eyes are white- but so is the fur of the plush itself....Would I still have to cut the eyehole out or is there another way for me to try this? :0
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This is an awesome tutorial! Just answered all my questions for my current plushie! I do want to ask though, do they eyes hold up for something that will be cuddled with? I am debating on several different ways to do my plushie's eyes and not sure which would be better.
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Yaaay, I'm glad it helps!
I've personally never had any issues with durability. I've been pretty rough with some of my own plushies! Though hand embroidery threads would probably stain more and be harder to clean, so if the intended recipient is a young child, that's something to consider. But I've not had anything fall apart... Yet...
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Thank you! It's actually for myself! I made an OC out of clay and he looked so adorable and fuzzy that I decided he had to be a plushie. I've been teetering between appliqueing the eyes and markings on or trying to embroider them by hand.Β
I was a little worried they'd get ruined too quickly but now I think I may try it!
Thank you so very very much!
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Your handmade eyes are amazing, they're very clean and even and the shading is awesome. I think they look better than machine embroidered.
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Ohh thank you very much!
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I totally agree with you. Very relaxing.
Thank you.
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Its amazing tutorial O.O thankyou β.β when u do the lash's is that satin stitch as well
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You're welcome! Yes, I more or less just satin stitch everything XD
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Awesome thankyou very much β.β I've tried embroidery on cotton and it and it took me forever to do I never thought to try it on other fabric O.O do u recommend fleece or felt ?
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I would recommend fleece! Acrylic felt can turn to dust and looks dirty if you work it too much, and while 100% wool felt tends to be more robust but can distort a bit if handled excessively.
Also, fleece is soft and cuddly <3
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I cant thankyou enough most of my stuff I sell is for charity and I dreaded embroidered eyes on my plushie but this new way will speeds things up (^Ο^)...u are awesome π
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Ow you're very welcome!
All your stuff goes to charity? That's so cool! Good for you!
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Lol I just have loads of fun making the stuff my dragon and hats I've been making all profit has gone to the autistic society rainbow π its a place that diagnose adults with autism and Asperger syndrome and supports them but come Jan I will be finishing off my Β£500 target for make a wish foundation
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That's a lot of work! You should be very proud, honestly. They're really nice quality plushies you're making!
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Lol thankyou I just like playing at making stuff. I'm just finishing my last order for xmas..surprisingly another dragon (β§β½β¦) I'm getting there each one improves nothing on a patch on yours O.O how u come up with the head patterns is beyond me I love ur dark gray person and goat critter that stands up and ur griffins I'm hoping one day a can get a commission from u =^.^=
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i found this dragon pattern:Β leoskogkatt.deviantart.com/artβ¦
it uses embroider for the eyes i am hopeless with a sewing machine so this tutorial helps me with the eyes. :3
thank you!Β Β Β Β Β Β Β Β Β Β Β Β Β Β Β Β Β Β Β Β Β Β Β Β Β Β Β Β Β Β Β Β Β Β Β Β Β Β Β Β Β Β
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Ahh cool! Will you post it when you're done?
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hopefully. :3 I don't use cameras much.
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YOU HAVE CHANGED MY ENTIRE LIFE IN ONE LITTLE SET OF A TUTORIAL AND I LOVE YOU FOR IT!!!
you have NO idea how long i have been looking for a tutorial or a *ahem* "Cheaper" way to do this other than
going out and buying a freaking $2000 dollar machine. I appreciate you to the point where i will look towards you every time
i make a new plush now. You are my god/goddess of plush and i shall revere you as i so see fit... which is by watching you, adding you to
my favorites, giving you a llama badge and whatever other way i can revere you without seeming like a stalker lol
So thanks again and i really appreciate the way you've opened my eyes to this new form of making my plushies
that much better. not that they're very good in the first place lol . Β Β Β
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Go. MAKE THE PLOOSH.
I'm very happy you like it, and I wish you luck with your next project! Whatchya got planned?
Yeah, $2000 is a bit much for a hobby, isn't it? I know you can get lower models in the USA for about $200, but why they become upwards of $1600 once they leave the US is beyond me. All they do is change power supply and a little digital card thing, it'sΒ not like they're compensating for hundreds of man-hours :/
Lol thank you! And thank you for the points, btw, though I'll admit, I don't have a clue what you do with them XD
Annnnd sneaky question: I'm currently making a ploosh book, all handsewing, anything in particular you'd want to see, if you were out to buy a book? It covers pretty much every aspect, but still, I have a feeling I'm missing something obvious XD
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hahaa of course i shall venture to make the next ploosh!
i'm planning on making a type of dragon but i'm gonna stick to small scale ones until i can
find a good pattern for it.
yeah, in some stores here (I live in Las Vegas, NV) the prices for embroidery machines range from $600 to almost $4,000 depending on the brand, size, and imaging software it has in it. I have no idea why it gets more expensive out of country. Maybe export costs?
you use points to buy art off of DA, there used to be a store but they took it down sadly. It had lots of plushes, bags, and art stuff.
Being someone that is constantly looking for handsewing books what i look for, that i can't for the life of me understand, is how darts work to make the plush round. I'm a very simple person and other books have too many big words to describe most of the same thing. Which is nothing. There is also the "Invisible stitch" or a way to hide the stitching or whatever that i can't find a good tutorial or explanation for... i mean i hope that helps. XD
Woah, long winded response is long winded. sorry!
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Dragerns, yes. Make all the dragerns. <3
Wow, that still seems quite a lot! I'm surprised none of the companies have made a smaller, lower-end one. I think they're really missing out on something here.
Export costs alone don't make it that much (otherwise TVs, Blu-Rays etc would all be obscenely high too). I think it's just 'cause they can. Because they're the only supplies, and people who need them have no choice :/
Ahh okay. I've been offered points before, but... yeah. I haven't adapted as DA has XD
Okay, darts and invisble stitches are both in there! I'll make sure they're clear and simple.
The book is written for kids around the 10+ years mark to be able to follow it, so no stupid jargon or complications here. I don't know half of it myself. To this day I have no idea what a Serger is.
I should look it up, but I keep forgetting.
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HueheheΒ
Well the companies would lose out on money if they made lower end ones. Especially since the industrial ones don't cost that much more than the ones you could buy for home. Theres just not that many of us who will go to the trouble of making our own and they take advantage of that, and those of us who are desperate enough to buy them. Shoot before i found your tutorial i was going to go out and buy one myself to be honest, but no more!
yea i have loads of points right now but since the store is gone i don't know what to do with them now. lolΒ
that is the perfect type of book for me and i'm 22 lol its just people who write books think that all of us know that jargon and we don't, its just we try to compensate for it by looking at pictures, and low and behold none of them really have pictures because we are technically too old for them now in instruction books. what else.... i Β guess the only other thing you could add in there (In my opinion of course) is how to make a better shape of the doll heads. like there are some dolls that have the heads very well formed and i have no idea how people do that. i think its Β called needle molding? string molding? something like that. lolΒ
oh well here.
sergΒ·er
ΛsΙrjΙr/
noun
a sewing machine used for overcasting to prevent material from fraying at the edge.
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May I kiss you? XD Thank you sooooooo very much for this! I always wanted to learn how to do embroidery, never thought you could to it so well without a machine. You're my hero! ^^
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Kiss away *puckers up*
You're very welcome! I'm currently writing a book on making plushes entirely by hand, so peeps don't need to buy big machines ( just my book haha >__>' ). Anything amiss from this tut that you think I should expand on? Even something quite minor?
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Hmmm, everything seems pretty clear to me.
Oh, but I have one question, just to make sure that I didn't misunderstood: the pattern is on the backside of the fleece eye?
A book on making plushies? Sounds great! Never found a good one, maybe I'll give yours a shot.
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Do you mean the fluffy side of the fleece is on the back side of the eye? Then yes. OUr fleece here isn't very fluffy or patterned, but I've heard some of the good stuff is lovely T___T
I hope it's helpful, I'm being very thorough. I did about five pages just on sewing the two face colours together XD
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When I said "pattern" I actually meant "design". Sorry, I mix the terms up sometimes. XD (Why isn't there a special English-German dictionary just for handcrafting?)
My question was, if you actually draw your design on the fleece before embroidering and if you do, is it on the backside of the fleece?
The thorough ones are always the best.
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Ahh okay! I used to call them "templates" before I realise pattern was the correct term. But it's not a pattern in that sense, so it's confusing!
You could do, or you could use something like stablizer or cotton instead of fleece, which would allow you to draw on it better. You'd just lay the thinner material onto the minky without sewing it in and then stitch over the top.
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Alright, thanks for the tip! 
Good luck with your book!
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THANK YOU! I've always been sad about not being able to embroider because I figured I'd have to get a machine to do it. But aside from the time commitment (which I don't mind), this seems much more doable! Thanks so much!
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You're very welcome!
To be honest, from having owned a machine in the past, for one-off pieces they don't save much time. They'd be essential for MLP's and other things with HUGE eyes, but for one-off commissions and stuff, they only save about an hour, and that's provided they go right first time!
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Agreed. I think it makes a more secure plush for kids, and it can help on pre-patterned stuff, but... otherwise it doesn't cut down much on time. (plus I've done a couple faux fur projects and using a machine with that is just a disaster to deal with)
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I've got one plush that I made entirely with machine embroidery and stitch, and she's the only one that's falling apart! All my hand-stitched ones are fine, even the first monstrocity I made, who is so precious he is manhandled daily XD
I cannot imagine faux-fur in an embroidery machine. That must have been a nightmare!
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Hm. If I may ask, how do you usually do the standard seam stitching by hand? I was just looping it around the edge and I do notice that one of my early ones has gaps and stretched-out spots as well as one straight-up hole as a result of it.
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I use backstitch, about 3mm long, i'd guess. You can do your method (I think that's whip stitch) but it has to be pretty close together and tight, and can make the seam bulgy, especially on flat bits like ears.
There are some good videos on Youtube for stitches suitable for plushies. Runner (more for tacking than finished seams) backstitch and blanket stitch are the most common.
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Thank you for this tutorial. Felt eyes can only look so good XD
Your paw pads tutorial and needle sculpting tutorial are also amazing, thanks!!
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That doesn't look nearly as hard as I thought it would be ! I'm gonna have to try that.Β
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It's not that hard, just daunting if you've never tried before! Good luck!
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Thank you ! It does look a bit daunting but fun at the same time
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Omg! Really helpful! Thanks, I'm headed to the fabric/craft store today, I'll pick up the supplies and give this a try! I've always wanted to embroider eyes, but thought I'd need a machine!Β
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Nay, child, reject the machines! At least have a go with hand work first XD
I'm glad this helped! Good luck!
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