How exciting! The day is here where I get to release my Mini Monster Mate softie tutorial as part of Sew A Softie Day. If you haven’t heard of it yet, Sew A Softie Day is all about getting together with a child, friend, anyone really and hand sewing a softie or two to experience that joy that you feel when you’re creating and sewing with your own hands. That joy is magnified when you share it with others. The whole idea was spawned my Trixi Symonds over at ColouredButtons.com. Trixi runs many workshops teaching children to hand sew and has created her own tutorial for Sew A Softie Day. You’ll find the Zenki softie tutorial over on her website.

The official Sew A Softie Day is Saturday the 16th of July, but there are many bloggers from all over the world publishing tutorials from the 1st of July right up to the 16th July. You can find the list of all participate bloggers along with the links to their tutorials over at the Sew A Softie Day Facebook Group.

There are also some great prizes to win for participating in Sew A Softie Day. Just head on over to Instagram and upload a softie creation and add the hashtag #sasday2016 and you’ll be in the running to win. You can check out what everyone has been making so far right here!

In case you missed it, I recently published a podcast where I interviewed Trixi all about Sew A Softie Day. You can listen to it here.

Ok, now to introduce my softie tutorial….I have a love of all things monsters. Mainly cute squishy ones. I have a great collection of monster stuff over on my Monster Inspiration Pinterest board (there’s over 1200 pins on it now ?). This led me to develop a monster softie pattern.

May I introduce the Mini Monster Mate! He’s super simple to sew, which makes it great for beginning sewers. I have also created a Monster Buddy to go with him and a whole heap of extra monster parts on the Extended Edition for purchase, so you can make many different variations of the monster softies. I’ll be running a sewing workshop next week in my local area and I hope to snap some great photos of all the different monsters the children come up with. Can’t wait!!

Mini Monster Mate (left) included in the FREE PDF Download. Monster Buddy (right) included in the Extended Edition for purchase. My little helper in the middle ?

You can find the Mini Monster Mate Template in the free PDF for you to download (as well as the instructions for you to view on the page here), along with a video tutorial. You can also download the free PDF from my Craftsy Store. I also had a special helper for this video! I hope you enjoy watching it. I’ve even included a few bloopers at the end of the video ?. I found them funny, anyway…..

You can also purchase the Extended Edition of this PDF Project. You will get a Monster Buddy peanut shaped body and extra monster parts to make a variety of monsters. You can find the Extended Edition here in my Craftsy Store. 

You can watch the full step by step video below or scroll on to see the steps in pictures and words

or watch it on YouTube

What You’ll Need to Make a Mini Monster Mate

*This post may contain affiliate links and I truly thank you if you choose to make a purchase through one of my links

Materials:

• Coloured felt for the body. Up to approx. 13” x 13” (33cm x  33cm) for the Mini Monster Mate.
• Black and white felt approx. 5” x 5”    (15cm x 15cm) each
• Thread
• Toy filling/stuffing
• Printed pattern pieces

Tools:

• Hand sewing needle
• Pins
• Sharp scissors
• Pen or pencil
• Craft glue
• Printer
• LoRan needle threader* (optional)

How to Make a Mini Monster Mate

Step 1

Print the pattern pieces found at the end of the PDF pattern.

TIP: Print onto cardstock to make more durable pattern templates.

Cut out the body and desired facial feature templates for your Mini Monster Mate or Buddy.

Step 2

Using a pen or pencil, trace two of the body pieces onto coloured felt.

Trace the desired facial features onto the black and white felt.

Tip: To save time you can pin the body piece onto a doubled over piece of felt and cut around the template cutting both layers at once. You will need sharp scissors to do this.

Step 3

Cut out the felt pieces using the traced pen lines as your cutting guide.

Step 4

Optional: Use the craft glue to hold the facial features in place to stop the pieces from moving or falling off while you are sewing them on.

Sew the facial pieces in place using a running stitch.

Tip: Use a contrasting thread colour to make the stitches stand out.

Step 5

Pin the two felt body pieces together. If adding in arms and legs, place them between the two layers of felt and use a pin to hold them in place until sewn on.

Sew the body pieces together using a running stitch approximate 1/8” (4mm) from the edge.

Don’t forget to leave a 2 1/2” (7cm) opening so you can do the next step!

Step 6

Add toy filling/stuffing into the body until you have the desired squishiness for your Monster Mate or  Monster Buddy!

Step 7

Continue with the running stitch until you have closed the opening and completely sewn around the whole of the body pieces.

Secure the thread so the stitching does not come undone.

And your Mini Monster Mate is complete.

Now go and find someone to hand sew with and teach them how to make a softie or two.

Don’t forget to check out all the other great softie tutorials here.

Until next time, happy monster softie sewing!

Domenica

P.S. if you upload a monster softie that you’ve made from this tutorial then tag me so I can see your great monster softie sewing skills. Find me on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter!