Super Meat Boy Plushy Toy

I have a friend who loves Super Meat Boy (to the point of annoying me with it). Since Christmas is coming up, I decided to make him a SMB toy. If you’re unfamiliar with this game, I’m told it is great for those of you out there who are not badly coordinated (like myself). Give it a go if you get a chance to.

Last but not least: Any recognizable art is property of the owners of SMB, that is to say Team Meat. I’m not making any money off this, guys. Please don’t sue me!

Here’s the SMB site: http://supermeatboy.com/

Step 1: Measurements

Based on some rather rough measurements of this sketch, here are the proportions the toy will have. In my case, I will be making it in centimetres since metric is how I roll, but you can make it in any units you like. This plushie will be 10cm wide along the sides. I know it's supposed to be more cube shaped, but 20cm seemed like a lot :)

Step 2: Materials&Tools

Materials:

- Dark red felt/plush (about 0.3m^2 or in this case 130cm x 21cm)
- Red thread
- Basting thread
- Polyester toy stuffing
- White felt/cotton/sponge rubber
- Black felt/cotton/sponge rubber
- Ruler
- Glue

As the basic material, I will be using a fleece blanket, which can be bought at a rather low price of €3 at the local cheap-and-random-stuff store. Picked polyester stuffing because it’s light. Granulated stuffing would make the toy too heavy. And lastly, I'll be using sponge rubber sheets because they were cheaper than getting a whole pack of felt sheets of different colours.

Tools:

- Scissors
- Sewing machine
- Needle
- Sewing pins
- Tailor’s chalk/non-permanent felt-tip pen

If you have the time and the inclination, you can, of course, sew by hand. I’ll be doing it on my sewing machine. 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.

Step 3: Sum of Its Parts

The images above are the sizes of the individual parts in centimeters. Keep in mind that there’s no seam allowance around the edges. Leave about 2cm around the edges. You can trim it off later if it gets in the way. If I manage to get AutoCAD up and running, I'll make a nicer version of this so you can just print it all out, cut out the sections and transfer to the fabric.

#1 Front/Back -----> 2
#2 Upper Side-----> 2
#3 Lower Side-----> 4
#4 Inside Leg -----> 2
#5 Bottom       -----> 1
#6 Top            -----> 1
#7 Arm            -----> 10
#8 Arm Side    -----> 4

Step 4: Finger Bone Connected to the Hand Bone

Sewing is sometimes confusing since you have to connect everything upside down and inside out and figuring those steps out is somewhat taxing. Here are the steps of how to connect the parts, along with what they should look like.

We'll start with the arm, to get rid of the tiny and numerous parts needed for them. You'll need five #7 parts per arm. It's gonna look like an opened up box. Don't sew it all the way to the end, leaving the seam allowance free to attach to the other parts later.

The right sides of the fabric should be facing each other. This means that the side where you've drawn your square with the seam allowance should be visible when putting two pieces together. 

If you don't want to read through the steps, here's a video on how to do it: Super Meat Boy Toy Assembly - pt.1

1) Connect two squares to parallel sides of a single square (Step 1 and Step 2)
1b) Attach two #8 pieces to the furthest sides of the row of #7s (sorry, figured out a bit later that it's easier with this step in the middle)
2) Fold the squares out and then connect the fourth square over the two that are folded out (Step 3). Make sure your fabric is facing the right way
3) Connect the fifth square the same way
4) Sew the sides marked with red and blue arrows together. One isn't marked because I ran out of space, but when you're finished, it should be a box shape. Be careful on the corners, there's three layers of material connecting there, so it might be a bit tougher to get through


Repeat the process for the second arm.

Step 5: Toe Bone Connected to the Foot Bone

This is going to be the base of the foot. Align the #3 pieces so the longer sides go together. Same with the #4 and #3 piece. You will need two #3 pieces and one #4 piece per foot.

Step 6: Foot Bone Connected to the Leg Bone

Both of the feet will attach to the #5 piece, so you only need one #5 piece.

Roll out one of the feet so the fabric is the right side up and place the #5 piece so the right sides of the fabric are facing each other. Align the longer side of the #4 and #5 pieces and connect.
When you add the second leg to the mix, it should look like the image.

Step 7: Head Bone Connected to the Neck Bone

Attach a #2 part to each of the shorter sides of a #6 part. This will make the top of the head and the sides above the arms.

Step 8: Neck Bone Connected to the Shoulder Bone

Connect the free seam allowance of #2 to the free seem allowance on one side of the assembled arm. Easiest way to do this is if you fold the arm out so it's facing the right wat and align the #2 piece with it, so the marked side is facing up. Also make sure that you've already flipped the #6 piece, so it's facing out. If this doesn't make any sense and the image doesn't help, there is a video at Step 10 showing how to do this.

Step 9: Leg Bone Connected to the Hip Bone

Connect one free seam allowance of the #3 leg part to the free seam allowance of the arms. Easiest way to do this is the same as the arm. Attach to the folded out arm, so that the marked side is facing out. Again, if this doesn't make sense there is a video at Step 10. 
Now we have the sides/frame completed.

Step 10: Back to Front

Welcome to Step 10, the place where the second video is :)

Super Meat Boy Toy Assembly - pt.2

Now this is where things start to get very tight. Don't panic, let me do that instead.
Take the frame we've completed and sew one of the #1 parts onto it. As before: Right side to right side, wrong side away from wrong side. When you hit a corner, fold the fabric carefully and proceed. Leave one of one foot unattached at the bottom. (I didn't do it in the video while basting, sorry) This is where we'll flip the whole thing inside out and stuff it with... well, stuffing :) It's easier to hide the closing seam somewhere people don't look too often. You'll need to do this only on one side.

I know, I know, it looks horrible. All the arms and legs are inside, all the threads are showing, but worry not! We're almost done :)

You might want to finish the seams off. Cut the seamallowance in half and do a zigzag stitch around the edges. This will keep the fabric from unraveling. I did it before finishing assembly and it's difficult to align everything that way, so perhaps put it off until everything is sewn together :)

When you finish step 13 and apply the face, sew the front side on like you did the back and remember to leave an opening at one foot!

Step 11: That Winning Smile

You, of course, could always print out the image of SMB and do this, but I wanted to do it by hand. There's a handy grid image and also the result I got from it, if you wish to roll that way. Whichever way you chose to do it, here's what you do after you have your outline.

1) Cut the shape of the mouth out of paper. You might want to place some cardboard behind it so the paper doesn't lose shape when you draw around it. I didn't do it, ended up having marker stains all over my fingers :)

2) Flip the paper over, draw an outline of the mouth on the black sponge rubber.

3) Cut the teeth out of the paper and then transfer them to the white sponge rubber.

4) Paint the edges with a black marker, along with the details.

5) Glue teeth onto the mouth.

Step 12: Eye of the Tiger

Again, you can print out the image and then cut and transfer it from paper to the sponge rubber, but since I am a lazy bum with no functional printer, I will just draw it with a compass. If you're with me on this one, there are measurements to follow :)
I won't be doing the little bruise under his eye.

The cut-off bellow the eye, giving that cute squint, is about 1cm.

Copy and cut out the same way we did with the smile :)

Step 13: Face-off

Look at that face! Isn't it adorable? With the little missing tooth and the band-aid...
Anyway, it's time to put together the face. There's a picture with the measurements/placement of the eyes and mouth. These will go on the last remaining piece of cloth, on the right side of it.

And if you aren't sure how, here's a clip: Super Meat Boy Toy Assembly - pt.3

Take care to measure from the future seam, not the edge of the cloth.
I'll be using my silicone glue gun. If you're doing the same, or using just regular glue, place something underneath the fabric, like a piece of plastic for example. In case the glue gets through the fabric, you don't want it sticking to your work surface. Once you've applied glue to the eyes, be sure where you're placing them. You only get one shot, two at most. After that, the fabric will be sticky and matted and if you didn't place it right the first time, patches of glue will show around the eyes. Same goes for the amount of glue you use. Put too much on and it will spill around the edges.
The picture says 1 to 1.5cm. I'll go with 1.5, because 1 seems too close, but see which you like better :)

Step 14: I'm Stuffed!

Ha! We did it! Final step!

1) Turn your toy inside out carefully.
Press the corners out and see if any of them are unraveling. This is your last chance for a fix. If there is a hole somewhere, flip the fabric again and sew it up.

2) Stuff your SMB!
This is what the mixing spoon is for. You can put in as much stuffing as you feel you need to, depending on how soft you want the toy to be. Give it an occasional squeeze to check if it's at the level you want it and make sure the stuffing is equally distributed.
In the corners, you might want to do a bit of extra stuffing with smaller bits of fluff, to keep the shape more defined.

3) Sew it up.
Once you're done filling, fold the fabric inside at the leg, where we left the opening, and close it by hand. Apparently, this is called a slip stitch and you can find a very nice instructable on how to do it right here.