How to Make: Norbert the Cuddly Squid

You have never known love, until you have had the love of an invertebrate! Meet Norbert, a friendly, cuddly Giant Squid who wants nothing more than to wrap his tentacles around you and hold you all night long! He's cute he's squishy... and if he doesn't behave you can lock him in the toy box

The great thing about Norbert is that his two main tentacles are JUST long enough to wrap around your neck, or the neck of a significant other... giving them the hug they need when you may not be around to give it to them It is for that reason I am entering my Norbert into the Valentines day competition

So, why a Squid? well... As those who follow my I'bles know I make the props for Chesters Scout Gangshow. This year they asked for a cuddly squid.... and I panicked.. I REALLY panicked.. I mean seriously... who cuddles squids? So with not being able to find one in the shops, I decided to make one instead, and this is he... Its pretty basic but I'm sure you'll agree he's pretty cool

Chat soon!

<< Shame I live in the UK else I would enter him inthe SEW WARM comp...>>

WELL... What you need is the following:

* Imagination
* Patience
* Fuzzy felt, or whatever material you fancy (three colours)
* Sewing thread
* Ooglie eyes
* Pen
* Scissors
* Pins and Needles ( one needle suitable for wool, and one for regular cotton)
* Toy stuffing or wading,
* Sewing machine is recommended, depends how great your hand sewing is
* Wool for detailing

Time:

1-2 hours ( It took me a while because I had to make this from scratch.

What we need do first is to mark out and cut out our Squids head.. For this I marked out a 12 " by 6 " rectangle, and marked the midpoint... you can JUST about see if in the picture

Using the mid-point line, we now have to draw the shape of the squid. If we draw HALF the shape, then fold the felt over, when we cut out... It will give us a symmetrical squid!

So to get the typical squid shape, I drew around something round , then basically free handed the rest, I have gone over my markings in marker so you can see them in my pictures!

Then all that is left to do is cut out. Because I will be blanket stitching the edges, the seams will be visible, so make sure that the side you mark on is the 'inside' of the fabric, so that when you have finished your Norbert, you won't see your marker pen marks

REMEMBER TO CUT TWO OF THEASE PEICES, JUST USE ONE AS A TEMPLATE FOR THE OTHER

Same as the last step, we need to cut out our tentacle shapes....  For this is drew a 4" wide rectangle, you can make it as long as you want, I also drew a mid line as before.

Then I free handed on my tentacle shape, Pinned down and cut out.

REMEMBER TO CUT FOUR OF THEASE, I CUT TWO IN RED AND TWO IN YELLOW

So if you haven't done so already Its time to sew Norbert up... or at least sew his component parts to themselves.... REMEMBER TO LEAVE ONE SIDE OPEN FOR STUFFING!

In picture two you can see I have cut out a circle, and a rectangle (which has been sewn to form a tube made of felt) these will eventually become what the head is attached to... and where the tentacles are attached to.
 

 

Now it is very important, don't make the same mistake I did..... Do not sew him up completely only to discover you hadn't attached the eyes.... doh!  I have attached the pictures from when I made my Sockmen Instructable, as they better show what you have to do

There are many different things you could use for eyes, but since I am making these for part of a stage production I will be using the Stud type of eyes...Now when it comes to eyes you could use anything, from buttons to stickers, to paint, but Its your decision. The OTHER way to add on the eyes, is you can buy stick on ooglie eyes... But they don't stick particularly well to material, it's your call though!


SO... EYES!

~*~ NB: Stud eyes may not be suitable for very young children as they pose a choking risk, use at your disgression, for children under 6 I would suggest using either stick on eyes or ones made from felt~*~

Toy makers eyes come as either a Button, or a stud, I am using the stud type, first decide where you want the eyes to sit, play around with the positioning until your happy with the placement.

When using the stud type, poke the stud through the felt material, depending on what material your Norbert is made from, you MAY have to make a small hole, I was lucky as mine just poked through.

With Stud eyes you will get a bracket that fits over the stud (Kinda like a rivet, or an earring), just pop this over the stud, until it is locked into position, Do this with both eyes, and give them a little tug to make sure the eyes/sockets are secure


Felt eyes:
SO Felt eyes, I didn't make these, so I have included a diagram so as to better explain what I mean

Your going to need three circles, or oval shapes...

A white one, which will be the biggest shape, a coloured one ( I have blue here, but any colour will do) which is the middle bit, and finally a small black shape

Basically cut out your shapes, and glue them to one an other... Or Sew them

Then as with the Stud eyes, choose where you want them to be placed, and either glue them in situe, or stitch them... Easy as chips :)
 

So now you have sewn your Norbert, Its time to fill him using your wading or toy stuffing... Push him too full of stuffing and he'll be too hard... Push him with not enough stuffing and he'll be too floppy  But hey Ladies, Isn't that ALLWAYS  the case? ;)

Once Norbert is stuffed( you need to stuff the head and the tentacles. you need to sew the base and the felt tube in place like I have done in the pictures.

To make the smaller tentacles, all I did was to cut a few wibbly shaped strips in different colours, I then pinned them to the underside of Norberts head and sewed them in place.

Now I sewed the main tentacles to the tube at the bottom of Norberts body... I hand stitched these as I knew it would be stronger.

To make the suckers on his tentacles All I did was to cut two circles, one bigger than the other, in red/ white felt, and just sewed them down using red thread... effective no?

Interesting tidbit of info that I found out on the discovery channel... Squid have suckers on their main tentacles...GIANT Squid have claws...

Now all that is left to do, is to take your wool and blanket stitch around the edges of Norbert... I also gave him a happy face :)

around the overlap on the bottom of Norberts head, I did a simple running stitch... just to tie in with the rest of the design

So there he is... Your Love Squid Norbert. If you have a go making one... let me know, and let me see your end result!