Spiral Cot Toy

We saw these in the shops made me want one for Devon but looking I felt that they either a hideous colour scheme with nice hanging things or nice colours but odd looking hanging things and ends. The worst one I saw looked like two teddys had been decapitated and there heads then rammed on each end, It looked wrong to say the least. I found my self  mentally swapping bits from one toy to the next, Until the words "I can make one" cropped into my head.
Unfortunately my daughter is a lot older now and although she still likes it she doesn't really need it as it is for babies but with moving house and one thing and another I only just finished it, This instructable has been in the makeing for nearly a year, I hope that some ones little one can get the enjoyment out of it that my baby missed :(

Working out a way of doing it with what materials I have already got was easy enough, Tho constructing it was a bit fiddly at times.

The only stitches you will need are Back Stitch and Over Stitch.

Materials and Tools you Will Need

• A Piece of Card (For the Template I used the Back of a cereal packet)
• A compass (or Objects to draw round one approximately 14 cm in Diameter and one approximately 5.5 cm in diameter)
• Some Fabric (at least 10 pieces a bit bigger than your template I few of Mine were bought as quilting squares)
• Some Ribbon
• Scissors
• Needle and Cotton
• Fabric Pencil
• Pins + Safety pins
• Embroidery cotton or Top Stitch various colours (thicker cotton for over stitching the seams)
• Stuffing
• Hooks (Toy Plastic S Hooks / Toy Linking rings) optional

For the hanging bits, you can use toys you have with hooks already attached or toys that can be put onto hooks, this is what I did, but to start with I was going to make toys to hang off it
I was going to do this with fabric with animals on cutting out the animals loosely, stitching around the outline face down onto a coloured piece of fabric and stitching a loop between the layers as I have with the ribbon on the spiral links and then turn inside out and stuff.


 

I did this by cutting the back off a cereal packet and then drawing round my little boys Star Wars bowl and the lid of a baby bottle but this is a lot easier if you own a compass cause you be sure the center circle is actually in the center rather than guessing it by eye.

The Template when drawn onto fabric gives you the lines to stitch over so the thickness of the ring drawn is the thickness of each link if the spiral before its stuffed.

The Inner Circle needs to be big enough to fit round what you are wanting to rap it round mine was 5.5 cm
The Outer on mine was 14 cm and that seemed to work well but there is room for adjustment on that,

Once you have drawn the template you just need to cut it out.

My Spiral was made of 5 Sliced Donuts / C Shaped Pieces / Segments not sure what to call them. Three with ribbons to hang toys off and two blank ones, one for each end. Its best to leave these blank so there is no weight on them. 
 You can make it as long as you want by adding more segments to the middle.

Each Donut is made of two rings stitched together. So I needed enough fabric for 10 rings, 

At this point you need to decide what sort of pattern you want them to run in,

I backed all mine in the same purple velvety fabric as I had a lot of it. and just altered the top pieces to use the spare pieces of material I had.

I made up all the Donuts first and then set to fastening them together, 

Take your Template and draw onto the back of one of your pieces of fabric, Lay it face down onto which ever piece is going to make the other half of the Donut making sure that the front sides of the fabric are facing each other.  Then pin them together.

I had to put quite a few pins in as the backing fabric I was using was stretchy and kept moving when I was sewing it. 

Follow the line with a back stitch to stitch the top and bottom together.

Then cut it out, 

Start off the same by drawing round the template.

Take a short length of ribbon and fold it in two pin it to the fabric to create a loop, The cut edges of the ribbon go toward the edge of your fabric.

When you stitch over your line this time be sure to go over the ribbon a couple of times to be sure its held in tight.

Cut round it the same as in the previous step this time you are trimming the ribbon ends off at the same time

When this is turned the right way round it will have the loop hanging outside the link.

You then need to cut through the Ring to the middle to split the segment and to cut out the middle

I suggest Stacking the circles one on top of the other in the order that they will be in, making sure that the ribbons are lined up then cutting through them together, or at least marking so that you can be sure to cut through them all in the same place.

I did them one at a time and didn't line them up as well as I could I found that the ribbons did not hang in the same place. Tho it still works fine the small amount of perfectionist in me wishes I had thought to stack them and lined up the ribbons in the first place

Once you have cut them and cut out the centre you then need to stitch one of the ends closed on the first ring in your spiral then again on the opposite end on the last ring on the spiral. these will be the two without ribbons.
I didn't do this but again as I was making it I was thinking it through and it would have been better and easier if I had. I just over stitched the ends when I was done. 

Turn them all the right way round.

Then stuff them so they are really firm but leave the open ends quite empty.

Once all the Donuts have all been stuffed they need pinning together and sewing, 

Take your first Donut (stitched end) and lay the next in sequence on top of it, do it so the split is facing upwards take the un-stitched end / side of the bottom one and line it up with the opposite side end of the one above. to create the first loop. So for instance if the stitched side is to the right then line the left side up with the right of the one above. 

You need push one inside the other and then pin through I suggest using safty pins because its needs to be held firm so you can manipulate it to sew it,

I stitched the two together using over stitch but when you have just enough of a hole left to stuff the joint, add some more stuffing through the hole so its as firm as the rest of it. then seal it up,

then move onto attatching and pinnng the next donut in the sequence. the open end of each link will always be on the same side and the third one joins as you did with the first.

Then when you attach the last one and stitch it after that it is done.

Ready for the toys :)

Get together the toys you want to put on the cot spiral I used toys that my daughter likes and then using the rings hung them onto the spiral, you can hang toys that have hooks on already or make toys to hang on it, 

thread the spiral round your cot or baby car seat or where ever you are putting it and then attach the toys through the loops.

That is it, 

Hope that this is easy enough for you to follow, 
As usual any comments or suggestions are welcome

Enjoy :) x