A DIY Baby Toy

This little baby toy, cloud, or nursery toy (whatever you want to call it) can be used for little boys and girls. It's fairly easy to make and all you need is fabric scraps. Specifically:

You'll need:

• a little felt,
• fleece or mink type fabric for the cloud design - 10in. x 14in.
• scraps of fabric(for the rainbow strips)
• fabric marker
• embroidery thread
• needle and thread
• either by hand or a sewing machine.
• iron box
• some stuffing - I used Poly-fil since its recyclable.

Print the cloud design (actual size) seen above and cut our the pieces of the pattern.

Trace out and cut the pattern out from fabrics

Using one of the cloud pieces, use a marker to denote the circles that you'll be using for the stuffing opening, and then draw out where you wan the face and the features.

Embroidering: Embroider the cloud face on the right side of one the cloud pieces. ~ six strands of embroidery thread.

Backstitch the eye and mouth outlines, then fill the eyes with a satin stich.

~ Fold one strip of the rainbow's fabric in half lengthwise, then stitch along that long edge, using ~ 1/4" seam allowance.. . . and at the end, turning and sewing along the short edge.

You should now have a tube with one end open, and one end closed.

~ Optional: Clip the corners close to the stitching for nice, crisp corners.

~ Turn the tube right-side out,

~ Press. ~ Repeat for the 5 remaining fabric strips.

Take your embroidered cloud piece, and place the rainbow strips on the face. Match the raw edges of the strips with the bottom edge of the cloud.

Be sure that you space them evenly, leaving ~1in. of cloud fabric on either side of the strips.

~ Pin the strips in place.

~ Sew the strips to the cloud, sewing very close to the edge. (~1/8")

~ Remove the pins.
~ Now, fold the attached strips down, and pin them away from all other edges of the cloud.

~ Place the remaining cloud, right side down, on the cloud-and-strip assemblage.

~ Pin in place. Be sure to remember to pay attention to the opening between the circles!

Finally, sew the two cloud pieces together, starting at one circle and stitching 1/4" from the edge.

~ Go slowly around the curves and pivot carefully at the indentations and corners.

~ Stop at the other circle, with a few reinforcing stitches here, too.

Clip the notches inside the seam allowance along the curves. Be careful not to clip the seam threads.

Cut notches into the deeper cloud indentations, and clip the corners along the cloud's bottom edge. This will be the difference in your cloud being bunchy and wrinkled, or smooth and properly puffy!

Stuff your cloud with stuffing. I used a lot of poly-fil to make it firm, but you can have it as squishy or plump as you like.

Close:
~ Pin the opening closed, making sure to tuck all the stuffing nicely inside.

SUCCESS!

I hope you enjoyed the tutorial, and please - if you have any questions at all, leave them in the comments below.