Sloth Blankie Buddy softie toy tutorial, a handmade gift idea by Felt with Love Designs

Hi everyone! I’m Alicia from Felt With Love Designs where my husband, Patrick, and I write about all of our crafty and artistic endeavors. Patrick is the artist behind our designs. I create patterns from his sketches and bring them to life with a needle and thread. While we specialize in felt creations, we are also passionate about sewing, family, creative writing, crafts, drawing, reading, and education. Enough about us…

Today, I am sharing a tutorial and free pattern for creating a Sloth Blankie Buddy. We came up with the idea for Blankie Buddies after designing a stuffed monkey for a friend and created a series of Halloween critters as well.

We have designed a series of blankie buddies that make excellent homemade gifts so we designed this sloth specifically for Fleece is Fun!

To make your own Sloth blankie buddy, you will need:

• The pattern (click to download)
• Fleece (brown)
• Felt (light brown, black, and grey)
• Matching thread
• Fabric (2 – 9″ squares and a scrap for the belly patch)
• Softie safety eyes
• Needle
• Scissors
• Sewing machine

1. Cut the body, legs, and arms from fleece (leave a seam allowance – not included in pattern)
2. Applique the belly piece to the front body
3. Stitch the the light brown face outline to the front body piece
4. Position the grey mouth outline and the black nose and sew in place
5. Stitch a “smile” beneath the nose
6. Add the eyes (I included a piece for creating eyes from felt but I used the safety eyes)
7. Sew the 2 leg pieces and 2 arm pieces together, leaving a gap where it connects to the body (to flip and stuff)
8. Flip right side
9. Optional: Stuff legs and arms (I wanted mine floppy so I didn’t stuff them)
10. With right sides facing and the arms pointed in, toward the center of the body, sew the arms to the decorated front body piece
11. With right sides facing and the legs pointed up, toward the head, sew the legs to the decorated front body piece
12. Pin the plain brown body piece (legs and arms should be folded up inside still) and sew all the way around, leaving a gap big enough to turn (I left a gap on the left side, under the arm – you can see the gap in the photo in the next step)
13. Turn right side and check all seams for holes (fix any problem areas before moving on)
14. Stuff to your liking
15. Using a ladder stitch, sew the opening closed
16. Stitch the corner of the blanket into the skeleton’s hand (see below for steps to make the blanket)

To make the blanket:

1. Cut two squares of fabric
2. Place squares with outsides facing and pin together
3. Sew around squares, leaving a gap at one corner
4. Turn blanket right side out
5. Hand-stitch gap closed
6. Top-stitch all the way around blanket

**See the stuffed monkey post for photos, if you need more guidance making the blanket.

If you liked this, you can find more fun sewing projects over at Felt With Love Designs!

 
To help you with ideas for “Handmade Saturday”   I’ve got a group of wonderful women who are sharing their talents throughout the month of November.
Be sure to check out this Pinterest Board with a bunch of ideas here:
Follow Angel ~ Fleece Fun’s board Handmade Saturday 2014 on Pinterest.

You can find all the current Handmade gift ideas with tutorials here: