sewing
My gallery is below, but you can also skip down to the resources, if you want!
Made for my coworkers for a Christmas gift exchange.
pikachu keychain
Made for a friend online!
oddish
Filled with the little plastic beads, so she's a pleasant weight!
retsuko ornament
Made for an online friend!
bulbasaur ornament
Made for my nephew for Christmas (along with the next couple of entries). My first time actually making one of these felt 2d ornament things -- I didn't really know what I was doing, lol. He has a back, btw:
spinarak plush
Made for my nephew! The legs were a pain in the ass in every way possible, but I think it turned out really well in the end!
luxio plush
Made for my nephew. I wrote more about making the angy little lion boy on my Dreamwidth!
pikachu & clefairy
Made for my nephew -- er, actually, originally, I made the clefairy first, just for me, but then my aunt commissioned me to make the rest of the troop. I wrote up some notes about making the pikapika on my Dreamwidth, as well.
pika: October 2024
clef: April 2024
resources
Why plushies from fuzzy socks? Simple: they're pretty cheap and more accessible than more traditional fuzzy fabrics, like minky. (*cough cough* Also, as a kitten, I would bingewatch Maqaroon's sock plush tutorials and daydream about making my own crafts one day...)
That said, fuzzy socks are kind of a pain to work with, actually! I might just be buying really crappy quality ones, but the fabric is very very loosely woven, so if you try to tie a knot at the end of your thread like you'd normally use for sewing, it'll just come right through -- not good! I found that it's better to try and make a little cross-stitch or something to that effect to anchor your thread around a piece of the fabric itself, rather than just relying on a knot, if that makes sense.
Still, despite that, socks are surprisingly versatile and you can really use the shape of them to your advantage! Like, using the heel to get a natural bend in the legs or the elastic for easy color changes, like Luxio's pants. On that note, I've found that it's really helpful to watch various tutorials to get ideas for different body shapes or other techniques to add to your arsenal! I'd recommend Sugar Maple Crafts or White Chocolate Heart (who seems to have since unlisted all of her videos, but here's a random playlist where you can find a few or you can look at her Amino or Reddit profiles for direct links).
If you were more interested in general plushie making, CholyKnight's site is a great resource, with free patterns tutorials from beginner to advanced, etc. Epimorphism (also known as Diffeomorphism on DeviantArt), also has good explanations of how to get started, how to design patterns, etc. (Honestly, though, I think it's really intimidating to jump into all of that...)
Other than that, y'know those little felt 2D plushies that were popular on DeviantArt circa 2011 (like this or this! I'm still obsessed with them to this day! Like, scene(-"core") is back in style these days and everything, but I really wish these guys would come back, too! Also, more relevantly, I really like the aesthetic of the Pokemon bell plushes, as well. There's just something so charming about how simple they are... <3