I decided to write this post when my wife has made this Totoro stuffie for me. So, she has made two presents for me: the toy and the idea of this post.

Step 1: Materials and Tools

A piece of cross-stitch fabric.
Embroidery flosses and needle.
Embroidery hoop.
Embroidering scissors (to cut floss) and tailor scissors (to cut fiber).
Some stuffing material (you can get free stuffing from an old pillow).
A piece of cord or ribbon for a loop to hang on the toy.
Pencil (to draw a contour, also it helps us stuffing the toy).
Printer to print the pattern (optional).

Step 2: Inspiration and Searching for a Picture

It is great when a homemade present has a personality. Think about a person whom you want to present.

What is his/her favorite cartoon character?
Favorite animal?
FC mascot?
Does he/she have a funny nickname?
Any story you want to remind?

If there are no ideas, maybe .. kittens? Everyone loves kittens.

There are a lot of embroidery schemes on the Internet. Just chose what you want. My wife chose Totoro because we both are great fans of Hayao Miyazaki.

Step 3: Embroidering

As far as you found (and probably printed) the scheme and collected all needs, you may start embroidering.

We used classic counted cross stitch method. If you have any difficulties with embroidering, look at Instructables Embroidering class.

Step 4: Cutting, Sewing, and Stuffing

Draw a cutting contour by pencil. Keep few squares of free space around the picture contour. Then cut embroidered pieces.

Sew both sides together. We used the blanket stitch for sewing.

Keep about 2-3 cm on the top not sewed and start stuffing. You may use a pencil to stuff all parts of the toy the same way. Do not stuff too tight; otherwise, your toy will not be soft enough.

Then, insert the cord loop and finish sewing.