Felt Fishes

Today what I have is a detailed instructable with a template on "how to make a Felt fish". This beautiful fish is cut and stitched entirely by hand and is the perfect sewing pattern for beginners. To make this, you only have to know 2 basic stitches - Blanket and Backstitch.

How will you use this felt fish? It can be an amazing addition to your baby mobile. You can also make a beautiful garland of fishes or hang them as an ornament. Furthermore, it can be a toy, a cake topper, decor or anything you like.

So, Lets get started...

1. Cutting template (Attached as PDF)
2. Wool or wool-blend Felt sheets ( 2 colors of your choice + Black, Aqua blue and white )
3. Scissors
4. Tape
5. Embroidery floss or sewing thread
6. Toy stuffing ( Preferably polyester)

Begin by downloading the template from the link below. The cutting pattern template has a Colour and assembly reference along with the cutting patterns.

Please note that the end product done with this template will be around 7cm long. If you want a bigger fish, you can scale it up accordingly.

Roughly cut all the elements in the template (From P1 to P5 and A, B, C) with a scissor. The dotted lines in some parts are a reference for assembly or stitching.

Using embroidery floss, sew the fins.

1. First, Place the F5 pieces or the upper fin one above the other

2. Sew around ( blanket stitch) and on the reference line (backstitch) leaving a small gap

3. Insert toy stuffing into the gap using a skewer.

4. Next, Sew and close the gap

Similarly, prepare P4 or the lower fin

There are many ways to cut felt. I prefer the "tape it down" method. Place the cut template over felt and secure it with transparent tape at 4 or more places. Next, cut exactly over the line with precision scissors.

Other methods to cut felt are

1. Trace and cut
2. The freezer paper technique
3. Pinning felt and cutting

Chose whichever method you are convenient with.

The number of pieces needed is marked in the template. For example- P5, Cut 2. This means we need to cut two P5 pieces.

I believe you would have noticed a reference line in the template P2, P4, and P5. We have to trace/copy the line on the respective felt pieces. Cut the template along the dotted line, align it on felt and mark the lines.

The tail (P2) should be sewn the same way as the fins.

Place them one above other, sew around leaving a gap, insert stuffing and close the gap.

Next, add eyes to the body (P1).

For eyes - Place C (Black) over B( Aqua blue) and then over A( White). Then place this setup over the body (P1) and sew. Use matching color thread for sewing.

With a black thread, add eyelashes and a smiling mouth. Make sure the eyes and mouth are perfectly done because it greatly influences the overall look of the toy.

Attach P3 on the body and sew. Now, the fish parts are done, we only have to combine the pieces together.

1. Place the body pieces (front and back) one above the other and start sewing around. Start from mouthpart and use a blanket stitch.
2. When you reach the position of lower fin, Insert the fin ( P4) between the front and back body pieces and secure position with a few pins and then sew ( use backstitch here)
3. After the fin (P4) continue with Blanket stitch till you reach the tail.
4. Insert tail between the front and back body pieces, secure with a pin and sew.
5. Repeat the same for Upper fin ( P2)
6. Once the upper fin is attached, We will have an opening into which we can insert the toy stuffing as much as possible and complete the sewing. (Unfortunately, no image was clicked for this step, if you have any doubts let me know in the comments section)

In short, Sew the front, back, fins and tail together, leave a small gap, insert stuffing and complete sewing. The fish is done!

Along with the small fish, I also made a palm-size fish in the same way but with different colors. So here is our "Mummy fish and baby fish" Swish! swish! swish!

I hope this instructable will be very helpful to make your own fish plushie.