Diggle Plush Toy

According to the website, Dungeons of Dredmore is a comic fantasy roguelike dungeon crawler game from Gaslamp Games. I've spent some 30 hours playing it and I am absolutely hooked! Among many an interesting/strange enemy, you will find the diggles, a strange little bird-thing that tunnels through walls with its odd, rubbery nasal appliance.They're adorable little critters that try to stab you everywhere you go. As you progress through the game, the diggles change colour, signifying a change in their level, that is to say how quickly you can kill them before they kill you. So here, in honor of these worthy opponents, I will make a plushy diggle!

P.S: Anything recognizable is property of Gaslamp Games, who I wanna cover with kisses for making this addictive and fun game!

Here's the DoD site: http://www.dungeonsofdredmor.com/

Step 1: Basic Diggleology

There are  many kinds of diggles. I fully intended to go through the entire game and find all the different diggles, but when you add the different mods, it would be like collecting Pokemon. So I'll just show you the basic kinds.
You can select which colours you want. Basically we will need two shades of the same colour.

The parts that will need making are:

1) Head
2) Body
3) 2 arm fins
4) 2 leg fins (though these could be the same as the arm ones)
5) Tail
6) Drill-bill

Now, the in-game version of a diggle looks much like a potato with a giant ice cream cone stuck to its face, I'll go with the art provided by Gaslamp Games for the t-shirt design. In the pictures, you can find the approximate proportions, based on the t-shirt image. All the body parts are measured in reference to the size of the head, except for the bill and the width of the fins. I will be doing my measurements in cm, but you can do it however you like :)

Step 2: Materials&Tools

Materials:

- Dark purple felt or plush
- Light purple felt of plush
- Basting thread
- Toy stuffing (300g)
- 2 ball-shaped black buttons
- Dark purple ribbon (1.2 meters)
- Paper
- Granulated stuffing (optional)

As I mentioned, diggles come in many colours, so dark purple may not work for you. Perhaps you want a green one. Or blue. Whatever your preferred diggle-colouring, take that colour plush and ribbon.

Tools:

- Scissors
- Sewing machine
- Needle
- Sewing pins
- Tailor’s chalk/non-permanent felt-tip pen
- Compass
- Protractor
- Ruler
(- Printer)

All the diggle bits (as I'm making them) will have a pattern provided in pdf form, so you can just print and cut it out. If you want to make your own pattern, the steps are provided. If not, skip to step 8.
I don’t like tailor’s chalk, so I’ll be using felt-tip pens since they leave a more precise line. Just make sure you don’t use a very good one, because it might soak through the fabric and show on the other side, which would be bad.

All the patterns were made by yours truly, using SolidWorks.

Step 3: [Pattern] Head Slice

So here is where all my hard work at university pays of: Estimating the size of six cloth slices that will form the diggle's head!
Here is how we will do it;

1) Select a size for your diggle's head or the diameter. In my case, this will be 10cm. So the radius (r) is 5cm. Now get your calculators out.

2) The longer (yellow) line will be half of the circumference of the ball
r*pi = 5cm * 3.14 = 15.7 cm

3) The shorter (green) line will be one sixth of the circumference of the ball, or a third of the yellow line:
r*pi/3 = 5cm * 3.14/3 = 5.2 cm 

4) The lines should be perpendicular and intersecting in the middle.

5) All that is left is to draw the arcs et voila! You got yourself a ball section pattern!

6) Cut out an additional 5 (six in total), while leaving a seam allowance.

The actual process of getting this slice is somewhat complicated, so I've made a video to help out. You can also find the pattern for the head slice in the drill-bill section.

Step 4: [Pattern] Body

The body will be slightly longer than the head, but we want to keep a curve to it, so it has a belly and a butt.
So here's what you'll do:

1) Copy three head slices next to each other.

2) Using a ruler (or just freehand it) extend the left most and right most line along the side of the head slices as shown in the picture.

3) When you reach a point where you think the neck part would be wide enough, stop and connect the two sides.

4) Congratulations! You've just made the body pattern!

Keep in mind that the neck won't be as wide as the line you've left. That's going to be half of the circumference of the neck. To calculate how wide the neck will actually be, divide the length of the neck line by 2*pi.
I would like the neck to be about 5cm wide, meaning the radius will be r=2.5cm. From there I can get the length of the neck line.

L = r * pi = 7.85cm

Since there is no way I can estimate 7.85 with a ruler :) I'll just make it an even 8cm.

Step 5: [Pattern] Fins and Tail

The fins and tail you can draw any way you like, they aren't as dependent on the pattern as the other bits, since they will only have two sides. But! Worry not, if you don't feel like making your own, I will provide a pattern, as I did with everything else :)

Step 6: [Pattern] Drill-Bill - Part 1

Ok, so this one will involve a bit of  math, if you aren't making your diggle in the same size as I am.

Here is how you do it:

1) Select how wide you want the drill-bill to be. Based on the drawing, it's about 0.75 of the width of the head, so I chose to make it 6cm wide, that is to say that the base of the cone-shaped drill-bill will have a 6cm diameter (or 3cm radius). The radius is marked as r.

2) Select how long you want the drill-bill to be. It's about the length of the head, so 10cm. This is marked as L.

3) All you need now is to calculate the angle (theta) between the two connecting parts of the drill bill

theta= (L * 360)/(2*pi*r)

In this case, the angle will be 191 degrees.

4) Draw this, cut it out and you have yourself a brand new drill-bill pattern!

In case you don't want to go through the process of drawing all of this, I've attached a pdf with the pattern.

Step 7: [Pattern] Drill-Bill - Part 2

I've put quite a lot of thought into this and decided to make two changes to the drill-bill

1) I have no idea how to project a spiral onto a cone face, hence, all the revolutions will be circles, instead of being a spiral. If you want to do a spiral, just skip the steps of copying the pattern and freehand it. I just wanted it to be equally spaced because I'm nutty that way.

2) There will be no protruding parts on the drill-bill. It would be very complicated getting it just right and I'm not that skilled.

I've divided the drill-bill into 5 sections, because of the four revolutions shown on most drawings. These will be used to mark out where the ribbon will go, as you'll see in step 12.
For this version of the drill-bill, you will need about 1.2m of dark purple ribbon. Depending on your ribbon type, you may have to iron it out (or if you don't feel like it, you can do what I did and just fold it with your fingers). To calculate how much ribbon you need, you need to measure every individual arc of the drill-bill sections. The parts that connect should only be measured once. The last section's arc attaches to the face so it won't need an arc.

Step 8: Sum of Its Parts

Alright, now that we've taken care of the patterns, we can move on to the assembly. Here's how many and of which parts we'll need to cut out.

6 head slices
2 body pieces
4 arm fin pieces
4 leg fin pieces
2 tail pieces
1 drill-bill whole
1 of each section of the drill-bill

Step 9: [Assembly] Head

* most of the pictures will be the assembly with basting thread only because it's easier to see

Getting the bits out:
(this part will be pretty much the same for every part of the diggle. Repetition number may vary :))

1) Draw the outline of the head slice on the material. Fleece (which I'm using) stretches equally in each direction, but if you have a material that has a grain direction, align the longer side with it. Use two pins to secure the pattern in place while you draw around it.

2) Draw the seam allowance around the contour of the head slice. The easiest way to do this is to measure out how much you want to leave (in this case 1cm) at a few points along the edge of the contour, then connect the dots :)

3) Cut out the shape.

4) Repeat 5 more times.

Connecting the bits:

1) Place two slices over each other,  so that two wrong sides are facing away from one another.

2) Sew along one side.

3) Place a new slice over one of the previous ones, connect the old slice's free side and the appropriate new slice's side.

4) Repeat this until the sixth slice closes the circle.

5) DON'T FORGET: Leave an opening at the bottom, where the neck will be.

If all is well, when you turn this strange looking thing inside out, it will form a ball-like shape. There's your head! Well, okay, not your head, the diggle's head. 

6) As I found out later, you should really sew the eyes on now and save yourself a lot of grief. So place the eyes in reference to one head slice, close to its edges. This will be your diggle's face.

Step 10: [Assembly] Fins and Tail

Getting the bits out:

1)  No special instructions for the tail. Draw it out with the seam allowance and cut two pieces out.

2) For the legs and arms, you'll need to do two of each from the pattern, then flip the pattern over and do two more of each. All in all, you should have 4 arm and 4 leg parts. One set of two will form the left arm/leg and the other will form the right arm/leg.
Then draw the seam allowance and cut the pieces out.

Connecting the bits:

Place all the parts so the right sides are facing each other and match them up so you end up with something like the picture.
Leave the parts that are marked in yellow open so you'll be able to turn the arms/legs/tail inside out and fill them.

When stuffing the arm fins, you don't want to overdo it. They should remain flat-ish. The leg-fins should be round, so stuff them as much as you can :)

Step 11: [Assembly] Body - Part 1

Getting the bits out:

Do the same as before. You'll need two equal parts.

Connecting the bits:

This is the time where things get complicated. 

1) Cut out one body pattern as is, no changes, just with the seam allowance.

2) Now you're going to do something unthinkable! Take the body pattern and cut it in half! Oh no! :) 
Now copy both halves onto the material, draw the seam allowance and cut the parts  out. These parts will form the diggle's back. You should end up with something like the picture.

3) Take the sewn tail and flip it inside out, so it's turned the way it will be in the end. There's no need to fill it with toy stuffing, since it's rather small and will look stuffed enough as it is. Fold the top part in half and place it between the two back parts (pink on the picture) so that the tail is turned to the inside, between the right sides of the fabric. (If you have trouble following this, there's a video in the second part of this step)

4) When you're done with that, align the two back parts and connect the middle arc parts. Follow the colours in the picture and you won't have a problem. Leave the outer edges for now.

Step 12: [Assembly] Body - Part 2

That was getting a bit overcrowded so I thought it best to split this part of the assembly into two sections. Let us continue!

5) Turn the arm and leg fins inside out and stuff them to the top edge, where you left them open.

6) Place the arms and legs on the one of the body slices. I highly recommend basting at this point because the sewing machine is going to have trouble getting through the arm and leg fins.
If you want your diggle to sit, place the legs a bit wider apart, so they're approximately aligned with the curve of the sides of the body. That way, they will lend support to the body so it doesn't tip over.

7) Put the second body slice over the bottom one and the arms and legs and sew everything shut, leaving only the neck open.

8) Turn the material inside out, so the right side shows and the arms and legs are outside.

9) The granulated stuffing is really optional. If you want your diggle to sit better, then use it. I filled a 200g jar with silica gel granules and used that. If you don't want to use granulated stuffing, then just proceed to the regular toy stuffing. The bottom will take quite a bit of material.

Step 13: [Assembly] Drill-bill

Getting the bits out:

1) Cut out the "drill bill whole" pattern

2) Copy it onto the light fabric, leave seam allowances, cut it out.

3) Cut out drill bill sections 1-4 and just keep them handy for now.

Connecting the bits:


1) Put a couple of pins along the edges of the drill bill (not the arc) so you'll know where these lines are on the right side. (the yellow lines in the picture)

2) Align the first section of the drill bill with the pins on the right side and copy the outer arc. 

3) Align the second section with the first arc and the pins, and copy the outer arc.

4) Repeat this for sections 3 and 4 as well.

5) Now take your ribbon and fold it over the firs arc, pinning it down so it follows the curve. Once you get from one edge to the other, cut the ribbon. I would suggest doing one at a time, since I tried doing two and ended up pricking myself.

6) Repeat this for all the drawn arcs. You should end up with something resembling a rainbow.

7) Use the VVVVVVV like sewing program on your sewing machine to attach the ribbons permanently.

8) Once the ribbons are secure, flip the drill bill over, fold it in half and align the ends of the ribbons and sew the two edges together. When you flip this inside out, you should have a brand spankin' new drill-bill :)

9) It turned out later that my bill was just too darn big for the diggle's face,so I had to shrink it a little

Step 14: [Assembly] Don't Lose Your Head

Once the head is stuffed, you can proceed to attach it to the body. First off, though, you need to close it up. Unfortunately, all of this has to be done by hand.

1) Sew loosely around the bottom of the head, then pull the thread gently until it forms a little neck.

2) Place the head into the neck opening of the body. Since the body and legs are stuffed, the diggle can sit comfortably while you work :)

3) Using a hidden stitch start sewing the head onto the body. When you're almost all the way around, add some toy stuffing to make the head stand the way you want it to. If you want the head to hang, place a bit more stuffing ta the back, if you want it straight, place it around equally. When you're satisfied with the result, sew the remaining hole shut.

In case you don't know how to do a hidden stitch (or a slipstitch) here is an instructable on it.

Step 15: [Assembly] Here's Your Bill

Almost there, guys!

1)Place the bill on the face, between the eyes and secure it with sewing pins.

2) Again, you will have to use a hidden stitch almost all the way around.

3) Leave a small opening at the bottom so you can stuff the bill

4) Close it up!

WOOHOO! DONE!!!