Specialization in Textile Toy Creation: From Handcrafted Design to Digital Content

In this lesson, I will present the materials and tools that we will use to create our character. The general rule is that the most humble of materials are your best friends. We’ll be exploring paper and textile, how to choose them, and how to build a small collection. We will also look at different types of scissors for paper and fabric and at the basic tools, we need to start sewing.

Module 2

Design and sew your own playful textile characters using paper, thread, and your imagination

10 lessons (1h 40m)

Materials

How to Create Your Sketch and Choose the Colours

Now that we have our materials we also need our ideas. I find that ideas are usually a form of dialogue. It can be a dialogue between two artists, a dialogue with yourself, a dialogue with a dead artist, or even a dialogue with yourself from the past/future. I will be showing some of my sketchbooks, we will create some sketches together, and then we'll get to make them and think them through using paper and scissors.

15m

Creating Our Pattern

Now that we have decided on our pattern, we need to make it out of fabric. We will choose what colour fabrics based on our previous decisions with the paper. We will place each piece on the material and outline it for better control. I will show you that the fabric piece should be a bit bigger because it will be shown and we will cut the shapes accordingly.

Hand Sewing

In this lesson, you will learn to sew by hand one part of the character’s body. We will use a basic stitch for this and do it on the whole outline of our piece. Then we will turn it inside out, fill it, and close it. If you know how to hand sew you can skip this lesson and go directly to the next one where I will explain how to do it by using a sewing machine.

15m

Going Faster with Our Sewing Machine

In this lesson, we will sew on the other hand using a sewing machine. If you don’t have one, just skip this part and sew the rest by hand. Any household sewing machine will do as we don’t need any fancy stitches. We will follow the outline we drew before and make a hole so that we can turn it inside out. Then we will finish it by closing the hole by hand.

The Head

Learn to make a part with a small illustration, in this case, the head. For this part, we will need some fabric markers. They usually have a felt tip and I find it’s better to have a brush shaped marker as you have more control over the finer details. We will first draw our face, then iron it and once it is ready we will sew it as we did with the hands.

Now we need to make the body of the character. For this, we will assemble the top and the bottom together and fill it in. Because we don’t want it to show where it was closed we will add a label. This can be with your name or nickname, brand whatever. Like we did with the face, we will use fabric markers to make it.

Assembling

Plugging All the Pieces Together

Now that we have all the pieces done we can start plugging them. We will sew by hand the head, the hands, and the pocket of our character. I will show you how to add buttons and make the hands move and also how to sew on a different material for the pocket, “felt”.

Creating a Simple Setup to Photograph

We’ve been using a lot of coloured paper so far and we will continue to do so. We can use bigger sheets of paper or we can create a backdrop by mixing smaller sheets. By using colours that mix well with your character we will make it stand out. Then we will place our character in the picture.

Sharing the Character with the World

During this whole course we’ve learned to make our own character but more importantly, we’ve learned to create and explore through play. I consider it is very important to share your creation and I encourage you to do so on the forum and on social media, see what others have done, and join the fun!

Module 3

Learn how to design and make your own soft toy from scratch by creating a pattern, cutting then stitching it, and adding the final touches

14 lessons (2h 51m)

Inspiration and Trends

In this lesson, you will decide what animal you plan to make. We will explore the world of modern toy trends and how to use references to finalize your idea.

Materials and Fabrics

Now that you've decided what you're making, the next step is to consider the materials and fabrics you'll use to bring this vision to life. In this lesson, I will explain why I've chosen linen and wool for my project, and why they are my preferred materials for these toys. However, I will also consider the possible usage of other materials and discuss how that would change the appearance of the final toy. Then, I will introduce the basic tools used in toy making. All of this is essential if you're to achieve the best and most professional result.

Creating Basic Shapes with Fabric

Finally, we will cover the basic geometrical shapes: the circle, triangle, trapeze, oval, and rectangle. I will show you how to cut these into abstract forms and turn them into animals. Also, you will see how this process works with fabric and how to transfer them from 2D shapes into 3D.

This is probably the most important lesson of the course! You will sketch out your animal character by rearranging basic geometric shapes into an anthropomorphic animal, according to the size of your desirable toy. I will give you an example of how to sketch a head, body, legs, and hands using pre-cut basic shapes and adding curved lines. Then, we will add the main features of our animal, like some ears or a tail.

Sketching the Design

Once you have prepared the sketch and fabrics for your toy, the next step is to turn them into patterns representing each separate part. This task will require tracing paper. In this lesson, I will guide you through the process of creating the paper pattern for your toy step by step. These patterns will be used to cut out all details so that the fabric is ready to be sewn. I will prepare my mouse patterns as a reference. If you like, you can try to sew this too as a practice exercise. Or even modify it slightly to make another animal.

Creating the Pattern

20m

Colors and Textures: Refining the Design

To conclude this unit, I will show you how to visualize your final toy in different colors and textures with my so-called stencil method. Once you have your basic design, if the final details are still undecided, follow my guidance in this lesson to make the last touches.

Building the Head with Darts

In this lesson, you will learn how to bring roundness to the toy's head. This will be achieved by adding darts to the two-sided head patterns you sketched on paper. To get started, I will first teach you what darts are before demonstrating how to add them to the toy. By the end, you will have one completed fabric head.

Building the Head Using Gussets 1

Maybe you're already happy with the head you constructed, but it's never a bad thing to expand your skillset further! In the previous units, we looked at teddy bears and completed the sewing exercise with the ball. So, you should know what a gusset is. In this lesson, you will learn how to construct the right-sized gusset for your animal and add it to your two-sided head pattern. I will give you advice on how to find the perfect measurements for your animal.

Building the Head Using Gussets 2

In the second part of this lesson, I will finish sewing the separate pieces of fabric together—the side patterns and the gusset—remembering the all-important seam allowance. You will learn how to ensure that each of the fabric pieces accurately meets at the nose point. Once that's done, the last step is to stuff!

The Body and Legs

Now that you understand how to construct the head, the next stage is to build the body, legs, and hands based on the patterns you sketched before. Make sure to adjust them if needed.

20m

Adding Details: The Facial Features 1

Congratulations! You've arrived at the most exciting phase of the building process: adding the details. Ears and facial features will make your toy recognizable and unique. To achieve this, I will now teach you how to embroider the eyes and nose.

Adding Details: The Facial Features 2

Now that I've completed the eyes and positioned the nose, I will follow the outline of the pen with my needle and thread to embroider the mouse's nose, finishing with the mouth. Once the facial features are ready, you will need to finalize the position of the ears and (if necessary) attach a tail. I will walk you through this process.

In this lesson, you will learn simple steps to create collars or bows to decorate your toy. I will discuss what is currently trending and why less is better than more.

Accessorizing the Toy

Adding a Personal Touch

It's time to pay attention to the finer details! I will show you how to decorate your toy with personalized elements that will give them a unique look. For example, I will cover decorative stitches for ears, cord tails, contrasting fur, suede, or fabric paws.

Module 4

Learn to create three-dimensional patterns and apply volumetric solutions to your character designs

16 lessons (2h 40m)

Presentation of tools

We started! The first thing we have to see are all the tools and materials that we will use throughout the course.

Craft sewing techniques

In this lesson I will teach you the 5 basic stitches (basting, seamstress, zig zag, eyelet and closing or invisible) that will help you to make all your pieces throughout the course.

No fear of the sewing machine

In this lesson we will see some basic concepts and I will give you several tips for machine sewing.

Choice of characters

In this lesson I tell you a little about my sketching process; from the first ideas to the choice of a character.

Defining the scale

Once we choose our character it is time to choose the correct scale since our design will change when we move it from paper to pattern. In this lesson I show you what is the ideal process to perform this conversion.

Basic pattern

In this lesson we will trace the pattern of our rabbit and I will give you some recommendations that you should keep in mind during this stage.

Selection of material

It was time to select the material on which we will work taking into account our color palette, fabric elasticity and some other factors. To finish we will make the cut of the body, eyes and mouth.

Basic piece assembly

In this lesson we will see the assembly process of our piece, from sewing, spinning, filling and final finishes.

14m

Pattern of the body

In this lesson we will make the stroke of a pattern with the aim of giving volume to our pieces which will help you to understand this concept perfectly. This figure will work as the body of our next piece.

In this lesson I will teach you to unite all the pieces of our pattern. Once finished we will see if our previous patterns were correct and we will use this test as a dummy to design our next character.

Body assembly (Dummy)

Pattern of secondary pieces

In this lesson I will teach you in detail how to make the patterns of all the secondary pieces like wings, ears, nose and eyes of our vampire.

Intermediate piece assembly

To finish our piece, we just need to arm all the patterns of our bat.

19m

Pattern of the head and body

As we did with the previous piece, we will develop each element of our piece in stages, starting with the head and the body. We will trace the pattern and make a prototype to be sure that all our patterns are correct.

24m

Complex piece assembly - Part I

In this lesson we will begin to unite all the pieces and limbs of our character.

Complex part assembly - Part II

Then we will finish with the sewing of our prototype, we will turn, fill and if we are happy with the result we will develop our character.

Before finishing, I would like to share a few tips of materials, techniques and final finishes that you can integrate to all your creations.

Tricks and tricks

Module 5

Learn how to design and sew your own fabric doll and use it to create photo and video content for social media

14 lessons (2h 1m)

Presentation of the Project: Knowing the Tools

In this lesson I will introduce you to what the course project will consist of. Then I'll show you the tools you'll need to make your doll and explain how to use them.

Searching for Inspiration

Inspiration—one of my favorite parts—is where it all begins. I'm going to dive into a sea of inspiration and spend a lot of time on Pinterest and Instagram collecting ideas for both my doll and the photo shoots I'll do with it.

Playing to Generate Ideas

I already have my inspiration board ready. Now I propose a game that will help you specify the facial expression of your doll. I want you to investigate among several options and choose your favorite for its preparation, but also that you can have all the others to carry them out in the future.

Making the Sketch

In this lesson, you will sketch your doll. This is a key moment because this sketch will be the one that will serve as the basis for carrying out the entire project. It's not exciting? Go for it!

Pattern Making

The next step in the process is to make the patterns for your doll. I have made a starting pattern based on my sketch, but you can modify it if you want your doll to have a different morphology.

Cutting and Sewing Body Parts

In this lesson I will teach you how to mark and cut the patterns. I will also show you how to sew all the limbs that will later be attached to the body.

Joining, Flipping, Filling and Closing

You now have all the limbs sewn and stuffed! Now you are going to assemble them to the body. Then, you will turn them over, fill them and close them.

20m

Clothes

Now it's time for you to make your doll's clothes. I have designed a simple bib; I will explain how to do it.

16m

Hair

You already have the body of your doll and her clothes, so now it's time to add her hair. You have plenty of material and color options, so you can choose what you prefer based on your sketch. Let's do it!

Now that you have the doll with her hair, you are missing the most important part: her face. Let's go for it!

Face

Organization and Planning Tips

In this lesson, I will tell you some tips that work for me in my day to day. It is not easy to take care of all the parts of the process: producing, taking photos, running the networks and everything else. I'll give you some simple tricks to save time.

Writing Texts

We have finished the doll. Now I am going to teach you to tell their story and, through it, your own story.

Storyboard for the Photo Session

When I finish a doll and have to send it to its new home, I always feel a little sad. My peculiar way of saying goodbye to her is by taking pictures of her, so I have an image left to remember her. In addition, these photographs are the ones I use for my social networks. For the photo shoot, the first thing I do is storyboard. In it I try to transfer to paper the image that I have in my head for each photo, since, in this way, it will be much easier for me to take them and not forget any element.

Shooting: Photo and Reels

In this lesson, you'll walk me through taking the photos I have on my storyboard and also recording some little clips that I'll use to make a reel. For the reel, I'll take the text I wrote in the "Write texts" lesson and add it to the video with my own voice.

Module 6

Bring a cute character to life by combining a variety of stitches using a punch needle

17 lessons (3h 40m)

The technique

Here I am going to teach you what the punch needle is and what the four golden rules are. There are four tips that you have to keep in mind whenever you use the magic needle so as not to make the classic mistakes.

The market offers a wide variety of needles of different thicknesses. From needles for yarn to needles for thick wool or even ribbons.

Material combination 1

I will show you the needles that exist and I will explain to you which fabric and yarn each one goes with. I'll also give you a brief review of each one based on my experience.

Material combination 2

16m

Materials

After reviewing the correct combination between the materials, I will finally introduce you to the materials that you are going to use for this course. Keep in mind that what you will see in this lesson are recommendations, but you can always experiment and try new materials.

Every time you get closer and closer to your project. Now you are going to take the big step of designing that character that will accompany you throughout the journey and which you will later give life to with your stitches.

Character design

Transfer from design to fabric

Once you have defined your character, you will start by transferring that design to the fabric. In this lesson I will show you different options on how to do it.

Cap and muzzle 1

You will learn how to embroider the hat and muzzle. Since you are going to make them with volume, you are going to embroider from the back of the fabric. You will make them with very high curlers that you will then cut to achieve the pompom effect.

You will learn how to follow the edge of the hat with rollers, this time without cutting to generate a contrast of textures. Finally, you will see how to repeat the pompom effect on the muzzle, but this time with fine thread.

Cap and muzzle 2

Now you will continue with the gloves, where you will apply curlers a little shorter to achieve variety. For that, I will show you how to help you with stops to place on the needle. Then you will see how to embroider the legs: you will embroider with rollers and with fine wool that then, optionally, you can brush to give it a fur effect.

Gloves and legs

From this lesson on, you will work on the design front. For your character's face, you will embroider the background with a spiral brick effect flat stitch. You can also embroider some cheeks with another color.

Face

In this lesson you will embroider the scarf that consists of three parts: fringes with fine wool, white lines with cross stitch and the black background with brick stitch.

Scarf

The sweater is made of a combination of fine and thick wool, in addition, it has different flat stitches to make it more interesting. I'll start by showing you how to start with fine chains and then thick chains, both embroidered with thick wool. Then, you will learn to embroider the herringbone stitch between the chains with fine wool the herringbone stitch.

Sweater 1

The rest of the sweater will be embroidered with vertical brick stitch with fine wool. Then I'll show you how to embroider the diamonds in the center, cuffs, and waist. Finally, I will tell you how to do the last stitches to cover imperfections.

Sweater 2

15m

Last details

As a final touch, you will embroider the line of the muzzle with a traditional needle, you will see how to position the nose and eyes. Finally, I will show you how to assemble the pompom to decorate the hat.

In this lesson I will show you a very easy sewing proposal so that you can do it yourself without using a sewing machine. To make the seam more concealed, you will have to embroider the back of the doll, which is almost the same as the front, but without the face and other small details. You will also see how to fill it.

Sewing and filling