Easy to Make Plush Toys for Dogs
Home Made Stuffed Dog Toys Save Money While Recycling Old Clothes
Oct 27, 2009
When the pup wants something soft and fluffy to rip apart in minutes, a $10 stuffed toy can seem an extravagant waste of money. While an old sock will do the trick, it teaches the bad habit of turning human footwear into K-9 entertainment. Using recycled sweatpants, towels, even old luvies, it is free and easy to create a home made alternative to expensive store-bought dog toys.
Materials for a Homemade Doggie Plush Toy
- Scraps of fleece, cotton, or any soft fabric: These can be cut from old clothing, blankets, towels. The more colorful the better.
- Stuffing material: An old pillow or recycled fluff from Doggie’s last luvie works great. In the absence of real fluff, scraps of fabric shredded into small bits will also work.
- Sewing machine: Beginner sewing machines can be found for around $100-- the cost of a dozen store-bought dog toys. Inexpensive thread
- Dog squeaker (optional): These are available on line in bulk for pennies a piece.
Cutting the Body Shape
The most basic toy of all consists of two identical pieces of fabric sewn together, turned inside out and stuffed just like a pillow. Making it into a shape only requires a little imagination. Adding eyes and whacky scraps of fabric to form frills or fringe is optional for a beginner, but it makes the toy more enticing. It is easy to make a ghost, a duck, or amoeba-like blob depending upon the amount of effort and skill applied. Thin strips of fabric are more difficult to invert and stuff, but can be sewn to look like a sausage, a hot dog or a bone.
Two pieces of fabric should be cut into identical shapes about two inches larger than the finished product desired. These form the main body of the toy.
Making Eyes (optional)
Eyes make any stuffed toy more interesting, especially expressive eyes in uneven sized circles or squinty half-moon shapes. No need to hide seems. Just sew two eye-shaped scraps of fabric onto one of the two pieces of body fabric. Make sure the eyes are sewn on the outer side of the fabric.
For extra fun, a little fluff can be stuffed into the eyes just before the final stitches are sewn. Eyes can also be sewn in layers to represent the pupil with a dark colored circle sewn onto a slightly larger white piece of fabric which is then sewn to the body fabric
Adding Frills (optional)
Dogs love to chew on fringe attached to their toys, and the extra chew time can extend the life of the luvie.
Cut strips of fabric in any desired length. Strips can be long like fringe, or triangles like the spines of a dinosaur. Place one piece of the body fabric on a table with the side that will show facing up. Lay each strip of fringe on the body fabric so that the ends line up with the edge of the fabric in the exact placed in which they will stick out of the toy.
Attach these with straight pins and sew them together about one quarter of an inch from the edge.
Sewing the Main Body of the Toy:
Lay one piece of the body fabric on a table with the side that will show facing up. If fringe was added in the optional step above this is the piece that should be laid on the table with the fringe resting flat on top of the fabric.
Place the second piece of body fabric on top of the first, with the outside of the fabric facing down. Pin the two pieces of fabric together about an inch from the edge.
Sew the two pieces of fabric together about a quarter inch from the edge, stopping about two inches before reaching the starting point.
Inverting and Stuffing the Plush Toy
The two inches that were not sewn form an opening between the two pieces of body fabric. Invert the toy by carefully pulling the fabric through the opening to reveal the outside of the toy and the eyes or frills if they were added.
The toy can then be filled with stuffing. Adding a squeaker in the middle of the stuffing will make the toy even more exciting. Squeakers can be purchased at craft stores, or at on-line pet supply stores for pennies a piece.
Once the fabric is right side out, and the toy is stuffed, the remaining unstitched opening can be sewn shut.
The Cheapest New Favorite Toy
Because this is a dog toy, it does not matter if the stitching is sloppy or obvious. Whatever the workmanship, it will be soaked with slobber or shredded to bits before long. The recipient will be proud to have such a loving gift and blissfully unaware of the quality of workmanship or rock bottom price tag.
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