How to Make a Stuffed Animal Out of an Old Sweater

Use your old sweaters to make soft and cozy stuffed animals.

Many people have a pile of old, outdated, or too-small sweaters in a drawer or closet. You can put your unused sweaters to good use by repurposing them into handmade stuffed animals. Because these stuffed animals are made from well-worn sweater fabric, they will have a soft and cozy feel, making them especially appealing and comforting to children or anyone who needs a lovable pick-me-up toy. Although using a sweater as fabric takes a bit of preparation, it's not much different than using standard fabric.

Things You'll Need

• Sweater
• Scissors
• Stuffed animal pattern
• Fray-preventing gel
• Thread
• Pins
• Sewing machine
• Stuffing
• Hand-sewing needle
• Chopstick or pencil
• Notions

Instructions

1. Wash your sweater in hot water. If you sweater is wool or a wool blend, it will shrink and "felt," meaning that it will obtain a new felt-like texture. Lay your sweater flat to dry or dry it on a low setting in your clothes dryer.

2. Cut open your sweater all along one of the side seams, starting at the waist. Cut up along the waist to the armpit and continue all the way down the arm to the cuff. Continue cutting on the upper side of the arm cuff up to the side of the neck. Open up the sweater along this cut seam line so that the sweater lies flat.

3. Read your pattern instructions and cut out the pattern pieces necessary for your stuffed animal. Pin the pieces to your sweater as indicated in the pattern directions. Cut out the pattern pieces from the sweater fabric. Unpin the pattern pieces from the fabric.

4. Apply fray-preventing gel generously to the edges of all the cutout pieces to prevent them from running or fraying. Allow them to dry for about 15 minutes.

5. Thread your sewing machine. Pin the pieces together as instructed in the pattern directions and sew the stuffed animal together as directed.

6. Stuff the animal with the stuffing recommended in the pattern directions. Use a chopstick or the eraser end of a pencil to push stuffing into legs or other small areas.

7. Sew the stuffed animal closed. This is most often done by using a long piece of thread and a hand needle, using short stitches to close the folded ends of the opening shut.

8. Sew on any notions, such as eyes, a mouth or a tail.

References

• Stayathomepa; My Old Sweater Is The Coolest Jellyfish In Town; April 2011