what's better than a plush that you designed? One that plays music of course! Here you're going to learn how to make your own plush that plays whatever sounds you desire!

Here's a video of him in action!

http://bass-boosted-space-monster.tumblr.com/post/155477321690/and-a-little-video-showing-off-his-soundsystem

Creators note: please do not use the character or exact pattern shown here, this is a personal character with a lot of meaning to me. Instead, create something new and wonderful!

Step 1: Materials

you will need:

-Fabric of your choice (fleece is perfect for this, but since I didn't have any at the time I used crushed panne)

-An A3 piece of paper (for patterning, or you could download a pattern online)

-A pair of fabric scissors

-A sewing machine or hand needle, whichever method you prefer (or if you can't sew a glue gun works too!)

-Polyfil stuffing (around varies depending on size of plush)

-A short zipper or velcro

-A quick unpick (a very useful tool, you'll need it)

-Dressmaking pins or any kind of sewing pins

-A pen or dressmaking chalk

-A small chunk of upholstery foam (larger than your speaker)

-A small bluetooth speaker

-Thread the same colour of your fabric

-Some music to listen to while you're working

And most importantly

-A lot of patience

OPTIONAL FOR DETAILING

-Felt sheets (try to get the thicker stuff, but if you can't you can always glue two of the thinner sheets together)

-Thin foam (this supports the fins and ears on my one)

-Thin craft foam

-Acrylic paints

-Hot glue gun (for attaching all the details)

Step 2: Make Your Pattern!

firstly, make a concept sketch to figure out what the plush is going to look like, and make any design changes you need to.

Next, grab your A3 and draw a side view, make sure this is 1:1 scale. Then separate the pieces into different parts, eg arm, main body, leg, etc

MAKE SURE TO LABEL THE DIFFERENT SECTIONS (you'll thank me later)

Note: the arrows shown in my pattern are due to the fact that I was using a fuzzy fabric which layer a certain way, these arrows dictate what direction the fuzz should be going

Step 3: Transferring Patterns to Fabric

cut out all your individual pattern pieces, making sure to label them and pin them onto your fabric, cut the fabric leaving both seam allowance and Polyfil allowance (it's going to get wider when you stuff it) of about 2cm total (if you're sewing this by hand it'll be about 1.5cm) similar to the image above.

Note: if you're tracing the pattern out use dressmaker chalk. Do not use permanent markers as they will soak through to the other side and be visible (plus if you wash the plush it could go all through the plush, staining it and you'd have to redo the whole thing *speaking from personal experience*

Step 4: Sewing

sew along the top edge of the main body, do not add limbs yet. Cut out a strip of fabric a bit longer than being able to go from one end of the bottom of the main body to the other, this is what's going to determine the width and shape of the body. Eg: tapering off edges to tails and heads

Now cut roughly in the middle part of this strip (diagram with the purple) and use the middle part to create a sort of flap attach your velcro/zip here, sew the middle part back to the rest of the strip and sew it to the body (you can sorta see it in the photo)

Note: if you're using a zipper remember to have it half open so you can flip the plush the other way around.

Step 5: Filling Out the Shape

flip your plush right side out, and stuff the head and tail, don't stuff the torso, we'll be getting to that shortly.

Grab your chunk of upholstery foam and trace the torso onto it and cut it out. After, round off the edges by cutting the edges (this may take some time!)

Step 6: Foam Carving

cut a slit running all the way on the underside of the foam, on the top end of the foam trace around your speaker and cut this out, be careful not to make it go all the way to the other end of the foam. Every once in a while, check and see if your speaker fits. If it does, cover the top end (and any other holes you might of made) with a thin fabric. This is to separate the zip/velcro from the stuffing so it doesn't become jammed/clogged

Now put this in the main body and make adjustments if necessary

Step 7: Limbs

sew the pieces of your limbs together if you haven't already done so, stuff them, and pin them to the body to see how it's going to look (scale up/down if necessary) when you're happy with how it looks, cut slits in the body where the openings of the limbs are, unpin the limbs, destuff, pin the arms on and sew them on (you'll have to do this by hand, I haven't found a way to do this on a machine)

When done, restuff and adjust if necessary

Step 8: OPTIONAL - Detailing

you create additional details by either sewing them on, or gluing them on (I chose glue, since sewing 20-something spots plus other stuff wouldn't be very fun)

The details in the photos were made out of felt, but I've found that craft foam looks really good for things such as robot parts and such. It's really just a matter of what texture you want.

Patterning these is the same as the rest of the body, just using different materials

You can also drybrush certain details on to create gradients, extra patterns, you name it!

Note: if you're using craft foam, trace around your pattern with a pen to avoid the small holes left by pins