Extra goodies.
This post will probably be a lot more incoherent and confusing than the main plushie post, mainly because I made up half of this as I made the things, then went back later and tried to figure out what the hell I did. It also doesn't help that I don't actually have access to Bumblebee or Ironhide right now.
Helmets
One of the hardest parts to make, I found, was the helmet. Small pieces of stiff cloth do not lend themselves well to 3D-ism.
This is a semi-polished sketch of the pattern I use to make the helmets (perfected after three plushies, and it should be at approx. the right size for Bumblebee) I highly, highly suggest cutting it out in paper first and pinning it to the plushie's head with the edges lined up with a little bit of overlap, to ensure that it will go together right, and is the right size. The sketch in the upper left shows what it looks like sewn together, the lower left shows it flattened before the middle seam is sewn. It's easy enough to change the shape of the face opening before sewing together.
Putting it together is simple enough, match the colored dots and sew (I use a whip stitch, because when it's folded seam side in, the stitches show and I like the effect) I find that one stitch on each cheek is enough to keep it attached, with maybe one in the middle of the back of the head if necessary.
This image shows (again, roughly) the designs I used for 'Bee, 'Hide and Jazz's specific helmet designs. The pink on 'Bee's face guards is just extending the lowest piece of the pattern, and the horns were formed by cutting a V-shape in the top piece on each side. The pink on 'Hide and Jazz were separate pieces sewn on after attaching the helmet itself. This image will be updated as I work on Ratchet and Prime.
Wings
Bumblebee's wings were made with a wire armature of floral wire. Cut two pieces of wire about ten inches long and twist them together, making the twisted section about half an inch long. The middle vertical section is the twist. Since 'Bee's armor was felt, I whip-stitched the edge of each armor piece in metallic thread, and I slid the wire armature through the loops of the stitches on the wings and bent into shape. To attach, place the twisted section in the middle of the plushie's back, and pretty much cover it in stitches, anchoring them in the plushie. The wings are fairly stiff, and will hold a pose as long as he's not leaning back on them.
Cannons
Ironhide's wee little cannons were made of gray felt, following this pattern. The black parts in the pattern were made of the same fake leather as his armor (the small piece at the very top should be black, too, I just realized it wasn't :B )
Cut the end cap circles bigger, for your own sanity. You can always trim them later. (Also, I ended up just making two the diameter of the top cylinder instead one a lot thinner than the other. Kept the lengths the same, though.)
Anywho, the cannons go together much the same way the legs did, except with two bottoms instead of one. I recommend sewing the circles to the middle section first, then sewing up half of the opening (which runs the length of the cannon) before flipping it inside out. Sew on the beads (I used the steel balls of a large ball-and-chain necklace because that's what I had nearby, but I do NOT recommend this. The links remained inside the steel balls and made it a pain to get the needle through. Just buy beads) and the cone-shaped muzzle (the long, curved part on the pattern, but I guarantee, cutting and shaping your own will give you a much better look. Remember when I said I free-handed most of this? I wasn't lying) now. If you want to keep a more soup-can shape, instead of a pill shape, glue buttons to the inside of each end before stuffing and closing the opening. The little, tiny cylinder on his right arm doesn't have buttons in it. Attach the cannons to the arms before adding the armor, using a hidden stitch.
The same laws apply to the armor as before - any armor pattern is a suggestion only, and one should look at pictures of the mech himself to determine what should go where.
Bonus tips:
Some of the following is needlessly complicated, because I'm an ass who likes making things hard on myself. Feel free to try any of this, but I recommend practicing first, if one is unfamiliar with a needle and thread. Hell, I recommend practicing anyway, just so you don't end up with Quasimodotron.
I added Ironhide's distinctive knuckles by making tiny x-shapes in gold thread on one side of his hand pieces before sewing them to the arms. And the little orange-ish dots on his shoulders aren't thread, but clear orange seed beads. Bumblebee has several metal rings in various places, made by pressing metal gromets and wrapping them in thread. Jazz's visor and headlights are made from scraps of cloth found in the remnants bin at Joann Fabrics (fray-stay was a must with these).
A cheap $2 travel sewing kit yielded many of the non-metallic colored threads, such as the red taillights and insignia on Jazz and 'Bee, and the orange used on Ironhide's running lights. Ironhide's Autobot insignia, which is actually impressed into the metal of his tailgate on the real mech, was made using black and blue thread together to get it to blend in with the 'metal' of his butt.
Oh, as for the Autobot insignias, first, I DO NOT recommend metallic thread for them. It's too stiff, and at that small, you will want to stab something, I promise you. Use normal thread in one or two ply. For Jazz and Bumblebee, who had smaller insignias, I sketched the Autobot symbol straight onto the cloth in pencil, and pretty much just redid the outlines in thread. At that small, this works.
Ironhide's was a little bigger, thus, would require filling in. What I ended up doing was drawing the outline of the symbol on thin paper (I used a receipt) and placing this pattern on top of the place I wanted it, then sewing through both the felt and the paper, keeping the stitches on the lines and very close together. When it was finished, the holes from the needle acted like perforations, allowing me to tear away most of the surrounding paper, and I used a pair of tweezers to dig out what was under the threads.
When adding decorations like Ironhide and Jazz's grills, use one ply of metallic thread, and don't pull that tight as you go back and forth. I did all of the lines one way, them wove the cross lines in and out of the first lines like a loom. The outer edges of each were backstitched.
Bumblebee's taillights were whip-stitches, close together. Jazz's were back-stitched hexagons with a * in the middle. License plates were felt rectangles with the letters back-stitched on.
Bumblebee
Ironhide
Jazz
Back to the main tutorial.
Helmets
One of the hardest parts to make, I found, was the helmet. Small pieces of stiff cloth do not lend themselves well to 3D-ism.
This is a semi-polished sketch of the pattern I use to make the helmets (perfected after three plushies, and it should be at approx. the right size for Bumblebee) I highly, highly suggest cutting it out in paper first and pinning it to the plushie's head with the edges lined up with a little bit of overlap, to ensure that it will go together right, and is the right size. The sketch in the upper left shows what it looks like sewn together, the lower left shows it flattened before the middle seam is sewn. It's easy enough to change the shape of the face opening before sewing together.
Putting it together is simple enough, match the colored dots and sew (I use a whip stitch, because when it's folded seam side in, the stitches show and I like the effect) I find that one stitch on each cheek is enough to keep it attached, with maybe one in the middle of the back of the head if necessary.
This image shows (again, roughly) the designs I used for 'Bee, 'Hide and Jazz's specific helmet designs. The pink on 'Bee's face guards is just extending the lowest piece of the pattern, and the horns were formed by cutting a V-shape in the top piece on each side. The pink on 'Hide and Jazz were separate pieces sewn on after attaching the helmet itself. This image will be updated as I work on Ratchet and Prime.
Wings
Bumblebee's wings were made with a wire armature of floral wire. Cut two pieces of wire about ten inches long and twist them together, making the twisted section about half an inch long. The middle vertical section is the twist. Since 'Bee's armor was felt, I whip-stitched the edge of each armor piece in metallic thread, and I slid the wire armature through the loops of the stitches on the wings and bent into shape. To attach, place the twisted section in the middle of the plushie's back, and pretty much cover it in stitches, anchoring them in the plushie. The wings are fairly stiff, and will hold a pose as long as he's not leaning back on them.
Cannons
Ironhide's wee little cannons were made of gray felt, following this pattern. The black parts in the pattern were made of the same fake leather as his armor (the small piece at the very top should be black, too, I just realized it wasn't :B )
Cut the end cap circles bigger, for your own sanity. You can always trim them later. (Also, I ended up just making two the diameter of the top cylinder instead one a lot thinner than the other. Kept the lengths the same, though.)
Anywho, the cannons go together much the same way the legs did, except with two bottoms instead of one. I recommend sewing the circles to the middle section first, then sewing up half of the opening (which runs the length of the cannon) before flipping it inside out. Sew on the beads (I used the steel balls of a large ball-and-chain necklace because that's what I had nearby, but I do NOT recommend this. The links remained inside the steel balls and made it a pain to get the needle through. Just buy beads) and the cone-shaped muzzle (the long, curved part on the pattern, but I guarantee, cutting and shaping your own will give you a much better look. Remember when I said I free-handed most of this? I wasn't lying) now. If you want to keep a more soup-can shape, instead of a pill shape, glue buttons to the inside of each end before stuffing and closing the opening. The little, tiny cylinder on his right arm doesn't have buttons in it. Attach the cannons to the arms before adding the armor, using a hidden stitch.
The same laws apply to the armor as before - any armor pattern is a suggestion only, and one should look at pictures of the mech himself to determine what should go where.
Bonus tips:
Some of the following is needlessly complicated, because I'm an ass who likes making things hard on myself. Feel free to try any of this, but I recommend practicing first, if one is unfamiliar with a needle and thread. Hell, I recommend practicing anyway, just so you don't end up with Quasimodotron.
I added Ironhide's distinctive knuckles by making tiny x-shapes in gold thread on one side of his hand pieces before sewing them to the arms. And the little orange-ish dots on his shoulders aren't thread, but clear orange seed beads. Bumblebee has several metal rings in various places, made by pressing metal gromets and wrapping them in thread. Jazz's visor and headlights are made from scraps of cloth found in the remnants bin at Joann Fabrics (fray-stay was a must with these).
A cheap $2 travel sewing kit yielded many of the non-metallic colored threads, such as the red taillights and insignia on Jazz and 'Bee, and the orange used on Ironhide's running lights. Ironhide's Autobot insignia, which is actually impressed into the metal of his tailgate on the real mech, was made using black and blue thread together to get it to blend in with the 'metal' of his butt.
Oh, as for the Autobot insignias, first, I DO NOT recommend metallic thread for them. It's too stiff, and at that small, you will want to stab something, I promise you. Use normal thread in one or two ply. For Jazz and Bumblebee, who had smaller insignias, I sketched the Autobot symbol straight onto the cloth in pencil, and pretty much just redid the outlines in thread. At that small, this works.
Ironhide's was a little bigger, thus, would require filling in. What I ended up doing was drawing the outline of the symbol on thin paper (I used a receipt) and placing this pattern on top of the place I wanted it, then sewing through both the felt and the paper, keeping the stitches on the lines and very close together. When it was finished, the holes from the needle acted like perforations, allowing me to tear away most of the surrounding paper, and I used a pair of tweezers to dig out what was under the threads.
When adding decorations like Ironhide and Jazz's grills, use one ply of metallic thread, and don't pull that tight as you go back and forth. I did all of the lines one way, them wove the cross lines in and out of the first lines like a loom. The outer edges of each were backstitched.
Bumblebee's taillights were whip-stitches, close together. Jazz's were back-stitched hexagons with a * in the middle. License plates were felt rectangles with the letters back-stitched on.
Bumblebee
Ironhide
Jazz
Back to the main tutorial.