I've been meaning to add some toy making hints and tips to my blog for a while and try and pass on some of the techniques that I use to see if they're helpful. I'm starting with embroidering facial features as I had someone get in touch recently asking for tips how to go about it and unfortunately I now can't find that message to reply (huge apologies if it's you!) but hopefully this will find its way!
I'm using this bunny to demonstrate on purely because I had an unstuffed one in my remnants box but all of these tips would work for Nell Mouse too and a host of others.
Whilst the bulk of the work making a toy is done on the sewing machine the last few steps by hand can really transform the finished look. The main things that can go wrong when embroidering a face is that the stitches become too tight and pull and pucker the face out of shape or that the features are wonky, these tips should help prevent this.
Before any hand-sewing takes place though it needs some stuffing and to help with that I always have a slim blunt stick (the blunt end of a skewer works well) or a small Philips screwdriver to hand as they have fine but not sharp ends so won't make holes in the fabric and seams.
If the face needs embroidery or face-shaping then I stuff the head only and work on the face keeping the body empty, this is helpful for a few reasons that I'll get on to in a moment.
It's good to be quite forceful particularly when stuffing the head and really push the filling into the seams with your fingers to find their shape and use the stick to really get it into smaller areas such as the nose and snout.
I fill the head firmly to give it a good shape and hold the facial features, a firm base to embroider on won't pucker as easily. I use less filling in the body so that part is softer and cuddlier (which is sort of the point of a soft toy after all I suppose)! Once the head is filled draw the features on with a water erasable pen as a guide, an erasable pen is great in that you can experiment with different styles/expressions until you find the face you're happy with.
With this cotton fabric bunny I would use a 6 strand thickness of the embroidery thread for its mouth and eyes but to make it easier to sew with I divide the thread in in half to 3 strand thickness and then thread the needle and double it over and knot the end to give 6 strand thickness again. This then means only 3 strands go through the eye of the needle making it 3 strands on either side so 6 strand thickness is pulled through the fabric. If the thread is used in full as a single piece 6 strands go through the eye and it doubles to 12 on either side of the eye of the needle making a bigger hole as it goes through the fabric.
This is where having the head only stuffed can be helpful as to begin the face if your needle is long enough which it is for the bunny and it's not too awkward the needle can be taken in though the opening at the back and the point of the needle brought out at the point that the first stitch is to begin, pull on the thread to make sure it's firmly fixed. The knot is now hidden away inside the toy anchored in the filling for extra security giving a nice neat start to work from.
For non-plush fabrics that show wrinkles more, push the blunt stick back inside the head and into the snout to support the fabric from the inside. It can be awkward to keep the stick in place, I often clamp the other end between my knees and hold the head onto it with my spare hand. Keeping the fabric taut with the stick helps to minimise puckering.
Backstitch the nose and mouth taking care not to pull too tightly on the thread, the stitches are to sit flat on the fabric but do not need to be tight. If the thread becomes twisted or uneven with one side longer than the other then gently ease it bigger again and get your finger underneath the stitch to even it up and then even out the thread on the needle side and gently pull the stitch back down into place.
If you are unhappy with the placement of one of the stitches cut the needle off so that the thread is as long as possible and re-thread the needle with the 6 strand thickness. This isn't ideal but it is still preferable to complete the rest of the stitches this way than have to unpick and start again (in truth I do this all the time as I just can't live with a lop-sided smile on a toy and so have to re-do it!).
As the bunny has embroidered eyes and there is still enough thread left I will go straight onto the eyes but before beginning them will make a few small stitches to anchor the thread so that when I make the knot for the eye and pull the thread it won't shorten the thread from the mouth pulling the mouth out of shape.
I prefer a colonial knot as it makes a nice round knot. To make a colonial knot hold the needle horizontal above the location of the eye and take the thread in front and over and under the needle to the right and then in front and over and under to the left.
Pull the thread to tighten it around the bottom of needle and then take the needle in at the base of the location for the eye and over to the location for the other eye.
Once the eyes are complete I take the needle back an forth between them and pull on the thread lightly to draw them inwards a little bit to give the face a little more character.
Make a few small stitches behind one eye to anchor the thread and then bring the needle out if the head at any point away from the face and snip off the excess thread so that a tail of thread is held within the head.
Remove the stick if you haven't already and use it along with your fingers to adjust any filling that has become disturbed whilst the face was being embroidered and re-shape the face again, often I will add a little bit more filling - again this is where it is helpful to have left the body empty. Stuff and close the rest of the body once all facial details have been added.
With Avery Fox it is less easy to take the needle in through the back of the body as before with the bunny as the distance is too great to the bottom of the nose. In this cases like this double over the thread as before to get the required thickness (in Avery's case he actually a 12 strand thickness anyway) but do not knot it. Take the needle into the head from the outside at a comfortable distance from where the embroidery is to begin leaving a tail of thread of approximately 5cmm (2in).
Then make a small stitch at the base of the nose and before the loop closes thread the needle though it and then pull closed.
Pull on both the main thread and the tail of thread to tighten this knot and make one more small stitch over the knot just to really anchor it and then backstitch the mouth. Once the mouth is done secure the thread (I use the loop knot and a couple of small stitches) and take the needle into the head and out anywhere and then snip off the excess. Pull on the tail of thread and snip close to the bottom to remove the excess, any leftover will shrink back into the head and be invisible.
Hope these are of some help, often it's finding and combining techniques to find the method that most suits you. Bit of a mammoth post in the end!
Happy toy making,
Jo x
