apple plush tutorial for you! ;)

As promised..here is the apple plush tutorial! xD sorry if some pics are unclear..I hope it’s good enough..I’m filling my piggy bank to get a new cam by now

First I wanna make a cute apple with a big smile, but turns out it’s more like an evilish little apple..haha, guess it represents me more than I expect :p

Just a little note here, I made this tutorial as simple as possible. But please do remember that you will count on your fingers and instinct, perhaps a little more than you expected. What I mean is, not because this is a hand sewing project, but you will rely on your fingers to help the plush shape as much as apple-like since the pattern is actually only an ordinary round shape. You will have to fold them here and there as directions in the tutorial to make a 3D apple plush. So you can say, I made this with a little folding technique since the apple is actually only a stuffed yoyo.

More or less your result will be a real apple sized-plush

materials:

- thick red apple colored fabric. my suggestions is soft towel or any fabric with similar thickness and flexibility.

- brown fabric for twig on apple top (I used light brown towel leftofer and colored it dark brown with fabric marker)

- green leaf  fabric (I used green mint color towel and embroider it with green embroidery thread to make the leaf bones)

- sewing tools: thread and needle

- embroidering tools: black embroidery thread and embroidery needle

- black felt for the eyes

- fabric glue

- polyester fiberfill (Indonesian:  dakron)

STEPS:

1. First, make a round pattern with a 20 cm diametre. I made my own pattern without specific tools. I only fold an old newspaper, into small simetric piece, mark 10 cm and cut it with a little curve on the edge like this:

2. Put your red fabric on the floor. Pin your pattern on and mark it. Cut exactly on where you mark. No need to add seam allowance for this one.

3. Sew like in the pic. Do it all around the fabric. Then pull the thread carefully until the fabric looks like a bag (this is actually making a yoyo, if you’re familiar with this)^^

4.  Stuff with polyester fiberfill firmly. Make sure you fill all the spacewith the filling. Stick in your finger a few times to make sure.

5. Pull the thread again until the hole is as small as possible. and sew the opening until it’s closed.

6. Now here we start the folding. Hold the stuffed apple like here in the pic, it’s like folding half of the apple.  Sew carefully where the opening existed before. We are trying to secure the ex-opening and make it neat – also shaping the apple at the same time.

Don’t be surprised that the shape may looked a little weird, don’t worry we’re not done yet

7. When the two side of it already been sewed you will see a weird big folds on each of two other sides of the apple. Now here you need a lot of help from your fingers. Stuck your fingers into the “hole” and meet the two sides of “hole” to close it. You will need to use your finger to exact the shape since this is crucial for your apple’s shape. Your fingers need to be sticked in a few times to the inside folds to make sure you got the right shape you want Sew. Repeat to the other side until both “hole”s are closed.

Check if there’s any other unwnted fold/hole and sew them. When you’re done with this step this is the result:

8. Draw a leaf on a paper for the patern and make the leaf plush to put on top of the apple. Remember that you will need to add seam allowance. Tips: if you think the leaf is too ‘fat’ you can iron it, just simply replace it under a thin fabric and iron.

For the brown twig, I made it  from a leftover fabric, cut it as a small rectangle and sew two sides, stuff it a little bit, and close one opening  side after folding it inside – and then sew it to close the opening. One side is still opened, you will stick this side to the apple.

9.  Cut two little round black felt for the eyes. Stick them to the apple plush, on the side that you think looks better shaped. Embroider the mouth with a black emroidery thread. Tips: if you want to make the face look cute you better place the mouth exactly in the  downside- center of the eyes. Place the rough closing of the apple on top, since you can cover this little rough edges or ugly endings with the twig and leaf. It may be a little uneasy to sew the closing neatly at first so we need to cover this

1o. Sew the twig like in the pic, around the apple. Sew the leaf beside the twig, then sew leaf to apple. You’re done xD

PS. my leaf is emroidered with green embroidery thread to make the leaf bones look real. Only I face it inward when sewing it since it looks better from the front side of the apple Hope you like your apple..and please..don’t eat it! ;D Happy crafting! xoxo

Judith