Little sewn things, done properly
Hello, and welcome to the craft table. Cute Wendy is where small handmade toys get written up properly: the felt mouse, the hedgehog pincushion, the bear whose arm keeps coming loose.
A pattern only tells you where to cut. The posts here cover the rest: which fabric survives the washing machine, how to sew a seam a toddler cannot pull open, how to stitch a face that looks friendly instead of startled. Pick a card off the board below, or start with the big construction guide.
On the board
Everything pinned up so far, old notebook pages and new workroom write-ups alike. The dot is the fabric swatch for each topic.
- Fabric
- Faces
- Patterns
- Stitching
- Stuffing
Blanket stitch round felt edges, evenly every time
How to work a neat blanket stitch along felt edges and round corners, keeping the spacing and depth even.
Stitching
Wool felt or acrylic felt? Testing both side by side
How wool, wool-blend and acrylic craft felt differ in strength, pilling, washing and stitching, and which one to use for which softie.
Fabric
Getting a pattern onto fabric without losing its shape
Tracing, copying and cutting softie pattern pieces accurately, with grain lines, notches and the freezer paper trick for small pieces.
Patterns
Seam Engineering for Softies: Stitch Length, Allowances, and Stress Reinforcement
How stitch density, seam allowance geometry, and stress-point reinforcement prevent soft toy seam failure under pressure.
Stitching
Adding weight to a softie, the safe way
Why and how to weight the base of a sewn toy with poly pellets in an inner bag, so it sits up properly and nothing can ever escape.
Stuffing
Pattern basics
Four stitches carry almost every softie. Each one links to the page where it is shown properly.