It's Always Autumn

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STL: felt monsters to make with your kids {plus free mix-n-match pattern}

adorable felt monsters free sewing pattern and tutorial

 

My four-year-old and I spent a few happy hours last week designing, cutting out, and sewing up a monster for him. We had such a great time that I created a free mix-n-match felt monster PDF sewing pattern, which includes five different monster bodies, five different sets of eyes, five mouths, and five different accessories. (Keep reading to download the free pattern!)

Note: Find 20 beginner sewing projects here

It’s a pretty cute line-up, right? But this is even cuter:

James is in love with his very own little monster, created using pieces he chose from the mix-n-match pattern as well as a little extra personalization. Younger kids, like James, can help trace their monsters, pick out eyes/mouth/accessories, hang out with you while you sew it up (and maybe even sit under the table and push the sewing machine pedal for you), and then help stuff the little guy.

Older kids could trace and cut their own monsters and pieces and maybe even glue the pieces on. It’s a great interactive project.

The 8 page PDF pattern can be downloaded by clicking here. Just print it out and then cut out the monster and other pieces you’d like to use. Trace the pieces on felt, and you’re ready to put your monster together.

Construction is so easy you probably don’t need instructions, but here are some step-by-step photos, and I’ve added a few tips below.

Things to note: I used different colors of acrylic felt cut from a bolt at Joann’s. I purchased 1/4 yard of each color, which came to $1.25 each at regular price, and I could have easily made three monsters from each 1/4 yard piece. Acrylic felt is cheap and comes in lots of colors, so it works well for this project, but it will pill as the monsters are played with and snuggled. Wool felt would hold up better, but it’s much more expensive, so you can decide what works best for you.

This turquoise guy above is the easiest monster, so if you’re new at sewing this might be where you’d want to start.

I sewed my monsters together so the seam allowance is visible on the outside – I think it gives a little sharper look and more definition to the small pieces (like horns and spiky hair). But if you don’t like that look, just sew the front and back of the monster with right sides together, then turn it right side out before stuffing.

When sewing on eyes/mouth, etc., you can use either a straight stitch or a zig zag stitch. On the pink monster above I used a straight stitch, but on the yellow monster below I used a zig zig. I found that the zig zag was a little easier on circular objects, but a bit harder on objects with points (like the teeth). I think it looks fine either way.

I sewed everything on in matching thread, meaning I switched thread four or five times for each monster. However, I used a white bobbin on everyting but the grey/black pieces and it worked just fine. In fact, when I sewed the front and back pieces together I also used a white bobbin thread, and the back looks just fine – so I think you could probably get away with sewing all the pieces (except grey/black ones) with white thread – just use a straight stitch, not a zig zag, if you try this.

My apologies that this red guy looks so much like a little devil. I really didn’t intend it – but when I cut him out in red and added the fangs and guitar he just got a little, well, devilish. My nine-year-old thought it was pretty darn cool, though…so maybe this monster will appear to older kids.

A few more things:

When you’re sewing these up and you get to a point or a corner, leave your needle down through the fabric then lift your presser foot and turn the material to make a nice crisp corner. You’ll probably need to do this a few times around some of the tighter curves as well. I sewed them all up with about a 1/4 inch or 3/8 inch seam allowance.

(That grey one is my favorite!)

Lastly, when stuffing you want to remember to stuff in a little at a time, and start by stuffing the small areas like arms and legs and use a pencil to poke the stuffing in nice and tight. You want to stuff these really firm, so use a lot of stuffing. When it’s all stuffed up, squish the stuffing that’s near your opening in very tight so you can pin the opening closed far enough away from the cut edge of the felt that it will fit under your presser foot. Be sure to backstitch at the beginning and end when you sew the opening closed.

When it’s all sewn up, check the edges for any areas where the seam allowance looks a little sloppy and trim if needed to make it even.

I had a great time making all these monsters and my boys had fun helping – so I hope you enjoy the pattern. Please let me know if you try it out!

These felt monsters are the perfect beginning sewing project for kids! Click through to download patterns for five different monsters.

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Comments

    • I normally alawys just ask for three yards unless I know specifically what I am going to make from the piece of fabric. I think after sewing for so long you can pretty much guess what you need. I think the 3 yards=60 inches and 4=45 is great advice.

      Reply

  3. These are so much fun! I love how you took your son’s design and made it into a real doll. He must have been thrilled!

    Reply

  5. How incredibly fun! I love how you made the pattern from your son’s drawing. I am definitely pinning this to refer to later. Thanks so much for sharing!!
    Melissa

    Reply

  10. Love this…sharing at my fabric board over at Pinterest.
    I have tons of felt leftover from a failed iPhone costume, and I think the boys would love these. Probably my dog too. ;0
    Have a good weekend,
    Nicolette

    Reply

  15. Those are super cute! I love the mix and match aspect. I would also love to link to your pattern if you didn’t mind.

    Reply

  18. Thank you SO much for the free printables! This is exactly what I was looking for for my son’s birthday.

    Reply

  19. They are so cute!! I want to make them but the PDF file doesn t download.. Isn t there any other way to print the templates?
    **Artemi – when you click the link it should open a new tab or window with the pattern in it. Then you can right click to download. I’ve gone ahead and emailed the pdf file to you as well. Thanks!
    –Autumn

    Reply

  21. I love love love these! We just made our first two, I let my son draw them one for him and one for his sister! They love them!
    Tried to post a picture but it won’t let me 🙁

    Reply

    • Thank you so much! It was pretty fun. He even sat on the ground and pushed the pedal on my sewing machine for me – that made sewing it up rather more difficult than it would have been otherwise, but oh well, we had a good time together 🙂

      Reply

  23. My son and I have made a lot of felt creatures. Felt is a great material for boys to start sewing on. Just had to comment on the quality of your post–very nicely done 🙂

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  24. Thank you very much for this pattern, I sewed some monsters for my son’s 4th birthday and they were a huge success, the kids were very happy with them.

    Reply

  26. Hey thanks for the pattern! I’ve been looking for a new one for my daughter to re-try her hand at sewing and I’m hoping the monsters with mix and match design ( for my mini-control freak :)) will be just the right motivation. I dig your pics too, good job!

    Reply

  28. I loved these so much I went out, bought everything immediately and made them right away! They are a perfect little xmas gift for our neice. I posted a picture to my instagram if you want to check it out: instagram.com/karimgeiger they are not as professional looking as yours, but they are still darn cute! Thank you for the awesome pattern!

    Reply

  29. So I came upon this looking for stocking stuffers thinking these would be cute and that I have all the necessary items on hand to make why not?! To make this project even better, I stumbled across Monster books in JoAnn’s that were 50 cents each so now they will all get the monster that matches there book. Thanks for the idea! I’m excited!

    Reply

  30. Hi! I’ve just stumbled upon this blog and even though this is the first post I’ve seen…I love you already! 😉 I am an intermediate sewer, as I’ve only been sewing about four years now (I take a sewing class) and these monsters are adorable and this project seems very easy. I’ve been looking for something like this for my little brother and I’m glad I found you. Keep up the amazing blog!

    ~Katie~

    P.s. if you ever see this comment I would love if you looked at my blog…katherinepratt.wordpress.com

    Reply

  31. Wow, straight to my favourites folder! 😀

    I love this! Thinking about doing a version sewn with the good side down and then turned inside out, I just started sewing and my stitches are too “everywhere” for me to let them stay visible, lol. They’re adorable though, hopefully I can produce something that looks somewhat like these. Thanks so much for this 😀

    (Also, I have to compliment your camera. Haha, amazing image quality!)

    Reply

  34. I just made a set for my nephews first birthday. He will love them! Felt is so fun to work with!!
    I have had a friend ask if I am going to make more to sell – is that possible with your pattern?

    Reply

  38. These are great! I just started teaching a sewing club at my school for 3rd through 5th grade class and I had some boys interested! I am thrilled, but now need to find boy friendly projects – things besides the common headbands, purse/bag projects. I started with bookmarks and this will be a great first sewing machine project. Thanks for sharing!

    Reply

  39. I am THRILLED to be teaching a Sewing & Textiles class here in our very rural high school and have turned to my fellow sewists and amazing bloggers for ideas and tutorial helps. My students,all 22 of them, (…that is a really good sized class around these parts, considering one of my Spanish classes has 8 students…) have created book covers, pin cushions, stitch samplers and are now ready to create their own monsters, being inspired by your family’s creations! Thank you for your continued ideas. I hope it is okay that I have shared your post with my students and have given you 100% credit on the project page where I give them instructions that I want them to follow and then my scoring rubric, etc. Please let me know if I have overstepped the sharing boundaries. I sure appreciate your re-purposing, re-cycling, up-scaling projects…as we are going to be doing a lot of that as well.
    A true fan, Jo

    Reply

  40. (I looked at your blog policy, yet, I am not linking, just printing out an instruction sheet with “as inspired by http://www.itsalwaysautumn.com” listed on it.) The students are to make their own, but may choose to use your base shapes as starting points. Please help me know how to best honor your work and help my beginning students (they haven’t had sewing here in this district for over 10 years+) explore the wonderful world of creating through sewing. I so want to do right by you.
    :-), Jo

    Reply

  41. I have two boys 6 and 7 years old. They had so much fun designing their monsters. At our craft store they sell felt by the sheet 4 for $1 so I think I spent maybe $2. I don’t have a sewing machine though and am not very experienced with sewing so it took me three days to get theirs done. But it was really a lot of fun and the boys love that they created them. Thank you for the great idea. Sorry, I couldn’t figure out how to add a picture of them.

    Reply

  44. We are making two hundred of these little guys to take to Girls Camp with us this summer. The girls will stuff them and add accessories, and then they will be donated to a children’s hospital nearby. Thank you for the free pattern! We are really excited to use this.

    Reply

  45. These are so cute. I printed the pattern at 50% because i’m teaching my kids to hand sew and want them to start with smaller items. Can’t wait to get started!

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  51. Hi Autumn, I do love this idea and am now in the process of making these Little Monsters for my 4 year old grandson. Many thanks for the idea and all the printable patterns. As I think felt sticks fairly well to itself, I’m thinking of sewing some of the features on, as well as the mouth lines perhaps, but making others and leaving them for him to stick on as he pleases. Do you think that will work?

    Reply

  52. Thanks so much for this tutorial! I actually made 30 of these as take-aways for my sons monster-themed birthday party a month ago. They were fun to make and the patterns were super easy to follow. Many thanks!

    Reply

Trackbacks

  51. […] We find that all kids we know like to play with stuffed toys and dolls, but not every little boy we’ve met likes playing with the kinds of soft dolls you’ll find in stores. Those tend to be primarily designed for girls and, while there’s nothing wrong with little boys having fun with baby dolls, some of them prefer something a little bit different. For the boys you know who would rather have soft toys in other designs, check out these hilarious little DIY plush monster dolls featured on It’s Always Autumn! […]

    Reply

  53. […] Whether you are skillful with a glue gun or handicraft-challenged, giving kids a small homemade souvenir after a party is always nice. A few weeks before hosting your Halloween Bash, check online for some quick Halloween Goody Bag ideas. It can be as easy as a treat bag stuffed with gummy worms & creepy crawlers or something more elaborate like the  hand-stitched Felt Monster Buddy. […]

    Reply

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