Baby Frank Plush : The Tutorial
Hello everyone! Welcome to the Baby Frank Plush Tutorial. Here you can find the step-by-step instructions for creating your very own Baby Frank Plush! The steps are relatively simple and it takes about 2 hours to complete a single Baby Frank. My name is Tiffany and I have had the fortunate opportunity of landing an incredible internship with Six Apart this summer doing graphic design and illustration for their brand new blogging community Vox. Along with my passion for art and illustration, I have always loved crafting all sorts of plush creatures in my spare time.
As you all probably know, Frank the Goat is LiveJournal's faithful mascot. The image of Baby Frank originated from the well-known
frankthecomic created by the incredibly talented
ryanestrada. With much anticipation, Ryan is making a Baby Frank Storybook and is posting a new page every weekday. Check it out here .
When we saw how adorable Baby Frank was, the urge to make him into a cuddly, squeezable plush toy was undeniable. Using the Baby Frank illustrations that Ryan made and some sewing know-how, I created a few Baby Franks. They were so popular around the office, we knew other people would want to make their own.
So get out your sewing needles and fuzzy fabric, and get ready to make a Baby Frank!
1.To begin this tutorial you will need the following to create your very own Baby Frank:
• the Baby Frank Pattern (get it here)
• fabric for the body (you can use anything, but I chose a soft, gray, sweatshirt-like material)
• 1 sheet of black felt (for the eyes)
• 1 piece of white felt (for the horns)
• black embroidery thread
• thread (preferably the color of your body material and black thread for the eyes)
• 1 sewing needle
• 1 embroidery needle
• pen (or fabric marker)
• scissors
• sewing pins
• plush stuffing
2. Cut out the Baby Frank pattern.
3. Place the pattern down on the fabric (furry side down) with Baby Frank's smile facing up. Trace the shape around the fabric using a pen (I used a ball-point pen). Repeat again, but this time flip the pattern around so the face isn't showing.
4. Cut out the Baby Frank shapes a good inch and a half from the outline. In this instance, I didn't bother cutting out the forms of the legs just yet so that It will be easier for me to sew later.
Sewing Baby Frank's Face
5. Begin by flipping over the cut fabric piece who's fuzzy-side matches the original pattern. Place the printed pattern on top, centered between the extra inches of fabric around the side. Use your pen again to poke and mark two dots where the eyes are in the fabric. Be careful not to mark your eyes too close to the side of the head!
6. Remove the pattern. Using the pattern as a guide, lightly draw the lines of the smile and nose on the fabric (still furry side up). This helps provide a guide when embroidering the smile so that the smile is straight and curves correctly. Alternatively, you can cut out a smile out of felt and glue/sew that on too. I found that embroidering was the best way to achieve the crispest line.
7. Using the pattern as a guide again, cut out two skinny oval eyes from the black felt. You can place your cut ovals over the pattern to justify the size and shape.
8. Place the eyes on the little dots that you previously marked and pin them in place. Sew on eyes using black thread. (Yay! Baby Frank can see!)
9. Using your embroidery needle, thread your black embroidery thread and sew the mouth using the marked out guide. If you stitch directly on the marking, the marking will not be seen. Start with the lower curve of the mouth then do the lines in the nose. (Yay! Baby Frank can smile and the face is complete!)
Sewing Baby Frank's Body
10. Flip the piece over and pin it to the other side of fabric. Make sure that the fuzzy side is in the inside and the marked side is on the outside. Pin the two pieces together in preparation for sewing.
11. With the back stitches of the face facing upwards, sew the pieces of fabric together using the marked lines as a guide. You'll need a hole to flip the fabric inside out and put the stuffing in, so make sure you leave a gap at some point in the sewing (I made mine right underneath the tail in the bum).
12. Once you've finished sewing the fabric, use your scissors to cut the excess fabric surrounding the outline. Be careful not to cut through the stitches, but trim very closely so there won't be any extra fabric obstructing when you turn it inside out.
13. Turn the fabric inside out so that the furry part is on the outside. The ears and legs are tricky to turn out, so I used a pen to poke them out.
Stuffing and Completing Baby Frank
14. Time to stuff Baby Frank! Start with the ears and legs and then stuff the body with the plush stuffing.
15. Once fully stuffed, sew up the hole using the same colored thread as the color you used to sew the body. Et voila, stuffed frank!
16. To make the horns, cut off a good inch and a half strip of white felt and fold it over. Take your white thread and sew a little arch nub, a bit bigger than what you really want to be the size of the horn. Leave and opening where the folded felt edges meet, and cut off the excess felt around the arch.
17. Turn the horn inside out and carefully sew the edges directly on to Baby Frank's head. Repeat steps 16-17 for one more horn.
18. Fin! Your very own Baby Frank!