Recommended Tools And Supplies:
- felt fabric
- toy stuffing
- doll eyes or embroidery thread
- wire or pipe cleaners
- needle and thread
- small scissors
Sew Your Own Felt Raccoon!
Begin by cutting all of your felt pieces as directed by the last page of the pattern. The easiest way to cut
felt is with a small sharp pair of scissors. For the greatest precision you could:
- choose to trace the pattern pieces onto the felt, or
- iron some wax paper to the felt then trace onto that and cut, or
- tape the pattern pieces to the felt with some wide clear tape, cutting through both tape and felt at once.
Cut all pattern pieces from the pattern in their recommended colors of felt. To start the project, begin by matching the face detail pieces together. Match black eye masks to white as well as black front face piece to white. Top stitch the pieces together with a running stitch. Attach the mask pieces into place on the main body pieces and top stitch into place. Set aside the front face detail for a tad later.
Sew the Raccoon tail stripes into place on both main body pieces, being careful to sew the stripes on opposite sides of the body so that they line up when you hold the pieces together.
To install eyes onto the raccoon, hold the two main body pieces matched together and insert a pin where the eye would go. By inserting the pin you create a small hole uniform to both sides of the raccoon to mark where you will install the eye. Install safety eyes, sew in small beads, or you could choose to embroider the eye into place.
Begin preparing the under body piece by folding the racoon’s limbs inward towards the body and sewing along the fold. This will help create dimension and hold the legs downward. Match the end of the front face piece to the front of the under body and stitch together with the seam facing inward.
Match the under body piece to one of the main body pieces and pin into place at the legs. Find where the
back side of the under body piece meets the base of the tail and fold under. Stitch across the top of the fold.
Knot your thread and begin stitching the pieces together at the back of the under body piece, attaching at the underside of the tail. Stitch the edges together using a short, tight blanket or whip stitch, moving towards the front of the raccoon, towards the legs.
Continue stitching, moving past both legs, up past the chest to the front of the face and ending at the back
of the neck.
Stitch the front of the face detail pieces into place. Match the opposite Main Body piece into place and pin it
into place at the legs and tail. Begin stitching at the back of the raccoon about an inch before the tail. Stitch
entirely along the edges past the tail and legs.
Once you reach the front of the face it is best to switch to a black thread to sew the seams together at the
black face mask and front face detail. Switch back to gray again once you are past the face details.
When you’ve reached the top of the raccoon’s head is a good time to pause your stitching to sew in a cute
little nose. Thread a needle with black embroidery thread and insert the needle into the inside of the head
exiting just at the side of the face where the nose would be located.
Insert the needle into the raccoon’s face back in on the direct opposite side of the face, pushing the needle
out of the opposite side. Repeat this process 2 or 3 more times, overlapping stitches to create a small black
nose. To finish, push the needle back into the head and out the back of the neck to trim the end of the
embroidery floss.
Begin stuffing the Raccoon by stuffing the face, then balling up very small pieces of stuffing to push into only the feet. Begin preparing wire to insert into the raccoon’s legs. To do this, cut a piece of chenille wire in half. Hold the wire up the the raccoon at the legs to determine where the wire should be folded to fit into the raccoon’s legs
Fold the Wires into a square U shape then fit them into both the front and back legs at the inside of the raccoon. Finish filling the raccoon with stuffing by adding some to fill the legs to the top, into the tail, also filling the body. Return to the tail and finish the details by closing the stripes with black thread. Continue sewing from the top of the head until you have just about an inch or so opening left.
To finish the raccoon body stuff completely full and stitch the very last opening shut.
Pair three layers of raccoon ear pieces together, gray in the back, black in the middle with white at the front.
Stitch all three layers together with gray thread. Pin the ears to the raccoon’s head to begin top stitching into place.
