How to Make Plush Backpack

Turn some old plush animals into new backpacks.

Transform an old stuffed animal, or other type of plush toy, into a backpack for a child to carry around all your important travel accessories. You can use a large plush toy to make a backpack for your child to bring to school or make a tiny backpack from a little stuffed animal for her to store her little treasures in. If you have a bunch of stuffed animals around the home, use the backpack project as a party activity for a group of kids for a creative party favor.

Things You'll Need

• Plush toy
• Stitch ripper
• Scrap pieces of fabric
• Sewing needle
• Thread
• Zipper
• Faux fur fabric (about 1/2 yard)

Instructions

1. Lay the plush toy face down on your work surface. Use your stitch ripper to undo the stitches along the toy's back. Open a section of the seam at least 3 inches long for a small backpack or 10 inches long for a large backpack.

2. Pull out the toy's stuffing from the main body cavity. Leave the stuffing in the extremities and head.

3. Seal the stuffing in the extremities and head with small pieces of scrap fabric. Place the scrap pieces over the top of the openings and sew around the opening to keep the stuffing in the extremities and the head from falling into the body cavity.

4. Open the zipper and pin it to the ripped open seam, with the zipper teeth facing outward. Sew a running stitch to attach the zipper.

5. Cut two 24-inch by 3-inch strips of faux fur. Fold the strips in half lengthwise and sew the long edges to make tubes. Turn the tubes right side out.

6. Pin one end of each tube to the bottom of the plush toy, on the left and right sides. Pin the other end of each tube to the top of the body cavity (at the neck), on the left and right sides. Sew the faux fur tubes to the plush toy backpack to make straps.

References

• "The Sewing Book"; Alison Smith; 2009
• Cut Out & Keep: Stuffed Animal Backpack