Stuffed Turtle Toy

I've had a project pinned on Pinterest for quite a while that I've been looking forward to trying.   It's a fabric stuffed turtle and it's cute as can be.  I believe it's based on this Pottery Barn Kids toy.

Our dogs are really hard on their stuffed toys so we've taken to either buying toys from the dollar store or from Goodwill because they aren't going to last anyway.  And if I could find a way to make something than it would be even cheaper. Plus, if they're cute enough maybe I could sell them.

Well, they aren't cute enough yet, but I'm getting there.

The original tutorial is on make it-love it.com.  She also provides a template for the fabric pieces.  I used her pattern exactly for the first one and I found the body to be far too large.  I cut it down for the second and it was better, but I think I'm still going to tweak it a bit.  Maybe an oval instead of a circle.

I followed her steps exactly but I'll walk you through it.

Cut out all of your pieces from whatever fabric you like.  I went to Goodwill and bought an old sheet, some pillowcases, and some cloth napkins, trying to find complementary patterns/colours. I used two different patterns for the top of the shell, and then a third one for the head, legs, tail, and bottom.

Take two of your leg pieces, and sew them together with the right sides facing in, remembering to leave the top edge open.  Do the same with the rest of the legs, the tail, and the head.

Here is my fancy needle work. Don't be jealous. 

Turn each sewn piece right side out using a pencil,

paint brush, or whatever you can find.

Fill each sewn piece with stuffing (I bought a huge bag of polyester fiberfill at Michael's for about $5), using the pencil to push it in firmly.

Sew each piece closed, leaving yourself about a 1/4 inch seam.

Take two of the shell pieces, face the right sides in, and sew from the top of the shell, down ONE side to the bottom.  Do this again with your other two pieces.

 
Open the shell pieces up.  Pin the head to one of the sides about 1/2 inch up from the bottom.  It should be pinned onto the right side (i.e. the good side) with raw edges facing together.  Do the same with the tail on the other end.  Sew the two pieces into place.  (Note: I sewed the head on upside down on this one.  I haven't decided yet which way I like better.)

Take the other shell half, lay it on top of the first one - right sides in - and sew the two pieces together leaving the bottom of the shell open.  It should look like this when you're finished. (Or it might look better. There's a pretty good chance.)

Pin each of the feet to the bottom edge of the shell, approximately in the center of each shell piece.  Attach each of the feet as you did with the head and tail.

Turn it inside out and place it on top of the circle bottom, right sides facing together.  Pin all around the circle attaching the two pieces together.  Sew around the circle leaving yourself an opening about 2-3 inches long between two of the side legs. 

Turn the turtle right side out and fill with your stuffing. Make sure it is really fluffy but not lumpy.  Fold your raw edges in and finish with your choice of stitch.  I won't be demonstrating that.  Here is a tutorial for a blind stitch.

And there it is!  Yeah, kind of awkward.  But I love him. 

 And someone else does too. 

Chloe adopted him right away and wasn't about to let go.

For my second turtle I only used two fabrics and made the shell pieces significantly smaller. I'm really digging the bottom fabric.  I think I'll use just that one next time.

 

  

He's a little more proportioned.  But still kind of funky. 

I'll keep working on it. 

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I'm linking up here this week!