How To Make A Hedgehog Soft Toy
Free Sewing Tutorials By Sewing Bee Fabrics
Sew A Softie is a project designed to encourage children and beginners to take up sewing, so lots of us have come together this month to offer free basic toy patterns and instructions to help get you started. I want to show you how I sew these cute hedgehog soft toys for my children. You can download and print out the free PDF sewing pattern and either watch the video and sew along or scroll down to see the step by step instructions with photos instead. I've also popped links at the bottom to other sewing bloggers joining in for you to go and visit.
You Will Need:
- Print off the pattern above - You can scale your print out anywhere between full size (the same as the white hedgehog I made) to about 1/4 of the print size (about the size of the brown hedgehog I am showing you how to sew). The smaller the size, the quicker the sewing. Plus different sizes make for a great hedgehog toy family! Don't forget to add your preferred seam allowance when cutting out your fabric.
- Fabric for the face and neck - non-fraying non-stretching fabrics work best like some velvets but you could use non-stretch fabrics like cotton if you gave yourself a wide seam allowance/cut it out with pinking shears/sealed the edge with overlock stitches or fray-stopping fabric treatments.
- Fabric for the body - non-fraying, non-stretch fabrics like some furs work fantastically for hedgehog spikes. I have marked on the PDF pattern how I have lined up the direction of fur on my hedgehogs for you to copy if you want to.
- Thread for sewing the hedgehog together and embroidering the eyes. Embroidery floss works best for the eyes but you can use several strands of standard thread through the needle together instead.
- A safety eye for the nose (you could also use a button or bead if it's not being given to a small child, or you could embroider this on instead).
- Clips or pins to stop the fabric from slipping as you sew
- Stuffing
- Optional - an awl is useful for helping to get a safety eye in place but not essential.
How To Make It:
Once you have your pattern pieces cut out, I prefer to embroider the eyes before trying to sew the pieces together. The quickest way to mark your eye on your fabric is to lay your pattern over the back of the face fabric. Bend the paper down until you are level with one edge of the eye and put a dot on the fabric in the corresponding place. Repeat with the other end of the eye then join it up with a similar curve. You can then either repeat the same for the eyelash markings or draw them on freehand. Don't forget to flip your paper pattern over to be able to mark the eye in the opposite direction for the second face fabric pattern piece.
If you have embroidery floss then definitely use this, otherwise, you can use several strands of a normal thread all passed through the needle together to make a thicker thread. Flip between front and back of the fabric to check your needle placement as you sew over the eye marking that you have drawn. I find this easiest to sew along the line once then you can do more stitches just looking at the front of the fabric to fill it in more and make it clearer. It also helps to pass the needle through the centre of stitches so they overlap to make the line look more continuous rather than sewing next to the previous stitch.
I prefer to start sewing the hedgehog toy together by beginning at the face. Line up one of the face pieces with the underneath neck piece so that the top right sides of the fabric are facing each other and the under neck piece is lined up with the short edge in line with the back edge of the face, and the pointy end curling up towards the hedgehog's nose. Sew the 2 together along the side up to the point. Ideally, use a backstitch (a running stitch is easier for beginners who are just learning to sew but a running stitch is also more prone to stuffing coming out more easily so please keep this in mind if it will be played with by a small child after).
Next, clip the other face pattern piece in place with the right sides of both faces pointing inwards so that you are able to sew the tops of the 2 face pieces together, then at the nose, to follow the line down from the point, down the side of the under neck fabric.
It is easiest to attach the nose next. Turn your hedgehog face so that the right sides of the fabric face outwards. If you are using a safety eye, slide the pointed end through between your stitches at the point of the nose. If this is difficult you could use an awl (or even something blunt like a fork prong or hairpin) to make the hole a little easier to slide it into) Place the cap on the safety eye prong from the inside of the face. This will stop it from being able to be pulled out easily. If you prefer, you could embroider the nose instead. Or if the toy isn't being given to a small child then you could use a bead or button as an alternate nose.
Next up is to sew the body together. This is constructed in a similar way to the face, with the underneath part positioned between the 2 main body pieces with the pointed edge travelling up underneath towards to hedgehog's bottom. Again using a backstitch, sew up one side between the main body and underneath section, joining the 2 body pieces above. Leave the other side of the underneath piece unattached so that when you join the head and the body, you can always adjust the opening size if your seam allowances have been slightly different so you can let out or pull it in a little to make the 2 parts of the hedgehog join more easily.
Keep the face part facing the right way around and place it inside the inside-out body. Sew the head on to the corresponding body parts (ie. joining the 2 underneath sections and joining head sides to body sides. Make sure you finish at the opening under the body and sew part way up this seam, leaving enough space to be able to turn your hedgehog and add stuffing after.
Make sure there is enough stuffing inside that it is firm but not so much that it is stressing the seams. Poke the raw edges inside the hedgehog then close the hole using a ladder stitch. It doesn't matter if this isn't too neat because the stitches will be hidden by the fur.
Then your little hedgehog is ready to go off on an adventure!!!
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See tutorials from other sewing bloggers joining in with sew a softie month:
I’ve been looking for a pattern of a hedge hog. This is perfect!
What an adorable little family of hedgehogs, Linda. I’ve showcased your tutorial today.
Thank you so much Pam!
Thanks for joining in to Sew a Softie Linda. I love your little hedgehog family.
Thank you! So Pleased you like it!
Love your hedgehog family! They are so sweet and look really easy to put together! 🙂 Lisa