Dan Efran
Active Member
I always kind of wanted a tribble. They're so cute!
These days, craft-store faux fur is very soft and very cheap, so yesterday I decided it was time to finally go ahead and sew one up.
A tribble is a project barely worthy of a build log. It's basically just a teddy bear with no head, limbs, or features.
But for those who are interested, here's how I did it.
I grabbed the usual 40%-off-one-item coupon code from Michaels.com - they have that almost all the time! - and ran over to Michael's to pick up one 9x12" sheet of craft fur.
That's enough for approximately one large adult tribble, two midsized tribbles (teen tribbles?), or four baby tribbles. Maybe a bit more or less than that. You'd probably need two sheets for the very largest ones, like that huge throw-pillow Kirk is holding.
I wanted a medium-small alien pet so I used a bit under half the sheet. I'll use the rest later, for something or other.
I cut off a yucky edge so I was working with nothing but good soft fur. Then I cut little, like, darts, to help it curl into a ball. It's kind of like that style of map projection with the wedges.
Then I sewed it up. You can use a sewing machine on this stuff but it's a bit of a pain. Since I'm only making one, I decided to just hand-sew the whole thing. That way I could get tiny little seams right at the edge, and deal carefully with the curves.
The backing is sort of a knit fabric, which is great for hand-stitching. It's almost like embroidery cloth. I sewed about 2 or 3 "holes" from the edge, over and around the edge, stiches pretty close together - maybe every fourth hole along the edge. Every so often I'd tie a little knot, too, by putting the needle back through a stitch once or twice while tightening it. That strenthens the whole structure a bit.
I had to start and stop sewing multiple times due the the complicated pattern of seams, but that also kept the thread length manageable. As is usual for a stuffed animal, I sewed up about 90% of the seams before turning the piece right-side-out. Here it is at about 60% sewed-up.
Once the last opening was under 2" long, I turned it inside out and stuffed it with some doll stuffing I already had on hand.
The last inch or two of seam is the hardest, because now you have to hide the hem without being able to sew from the wrong side. I just sewed right over a tiny bit of fur with each stitch, so that I could keep the edges tucked in beneath the seam.
After tying off the end, I ran the needle entirely through the piece, to the far side. I pulled the thread semi-tight and cut it off close to the far side. That way, puffing up the piece pulls the thread end back inside, hiding it. But it's still too long to pull out or unravel. It's just buried inside somewhere.
And that's it. Total cost, about one dollar.
What do you think?
These days, craft-store faux fur is very soft and very cheap, so yesterday I decided it was time to finally go ahead and sew one up.
A tribble is a project barely worthy of a build log. It's basically just a teddy bear with no head, limbs, or features.
But for those who are interested, here's how I did it.
I grabbed the usual 40%-off-one-item coupon code from Michaels.com - they have that almost all the time! - and ran over to Michael's to pick up one 9x12" sheet of craft fur.
That's enough for approximately one large adult tribble, two midsized tribbles (teen tribbles?), or four baby tribbles. Maybe a bit more or less than that. You'd probably need two sheets for the very largest ones, like that huge throw-pillow Kirk is holding.
I wanted a medium-small alien pet so I used a bit under half the sheet. I'll use the rest later, for something or other.
I cut off a yucky edge so I was working with nothing but good soft fur. Then I cut little, like, darts, to help it curl into a ball. It's kind of like that style of map projection with the wedges.
Then I sewed it up. You can use a sewing machine on this stuff but it's a bit of a pain. Since I'm only making one, I decided to just hand-sew the whole thing. That way I could get tiny little seams right at the edge, and deal carefully with the curves.
The backing is sort of a knit fabric, which is great for hand-stitching. It's almost like embroidery cloth. I sewed about 2 or 3 "holes" from the edge, over and around the edge, stiches pretty close together - maybe every fourth hole along the edge. Every so often I'd tie a little knot, too, by putting the needle back through a stitch once or twice while tightening it. That strenthens the whole structure a bit.
I had to start and stop sewing multiple times due the the complicated pattern of seams, but that also kept the thread length manageable. As is usual for a stuffed animal, I sewed up about 90% of the seams before turning the piece right-side-out. Here it is at about 60% sewed-up.
Once the last opening was under 2" long, I turned it inside out and stuffed it with some doll stuffing I already had on hand.
The last inch or two of seam is the hardest, because now you have to hide the hem without being able to sew from the wrong side. I just sewed right over a tiny bit of fur with each stitch, so that I could keep the edges tucked in beneath the seam.
After tying off the end, I ran the needle entirely through the piece, to the far side. I pulled the thread semi-tight and cut it off close to the far side. That way, puffing up the piece pulls the thread end back inside, hiding it. But it's still too long to pull out or unravel. It's just buried inside somewhere.
And that's it. Total cost, about one dollar.
What do you think?
