How to Make a Felt Porcupine

Embroider your felt porcupine's eyes and snout.

Create your own felt porcupine as a new member of your growing family of crafted pets. A felt porcupine with a double life as a pin cushion serves as a welcome addition to your sewing basket. This portable porcupine is rather flat and keeps a low profile. Try experimenting with a paper template before you cut and stitch the felt pieces. Sewing two felt layers of different colors may even give your porcupine more personality.

Things You'll Need

• Scissors
• 2 felt pieces
• Straight pins with colored heads
• Embroidery thread or general purpose thread
• Needle
• Stuffing, such as cotton batting, dried beans or rice

Instructions

Prepare the Template

1. Draw an outline shaped like a tear drop on a sheet of paper. The tapered end will form the porcupine’s snout.

2. Cut out the template.

3. Pin the template to one felt piece. Cut this piece. Repeat this step to shape the second felt piece.

4. Remove every pin. Set aside the template.

5. Set aside a small piece of scrap felt to experiment with the stitches.

Assemble the Porcupine

1. Draw eyes on the paper template. Work with the eyes' shape, size and position on the template before you stitch the felt.

2. Experiment with stitching the eyes on the scrap felt. Thread the needle with embroidery thread. Knot one end of the thread. For example, use the straight stitch by bringing the needle up from the underside of the felt, gently pulling the thread to cover about 1/2-inch on the upper side, then returning the needle to the underside. Try working parallel stitches of varying lengths to form an eye.

3. Create eyes on one felt layer for the porcupine’s upper side. Use the template as a guide to position the eyes, if necessary.

4. Knot and trim the threads on the wrong side.

5. Pin the top and bottom layers of the porcupine together near the edges.

6. Seam the edges of the two layers with an overcast stitch. Leave approximately a 1/2-inch thread tail. Bring the needle through the layers and reinsert the needle approximately 1/8 inch from the first stitch. The stitches will resemble a radiating pattern. Leave an opening large enough for the stuffing.

7. Sew more stitches in the tapered area to accent the snout area. Try stitching with a darker thread for a darker snout.

8. Stuff the stuffing materials through the opening.

9. Overcast the opening closed. Overlap the early stitches to secure the thread’s tail. Knot the loose thread close to the felt and try to hide the thread between the felt layers.

10. Give your porcupine quills by inserting pins with colored heads.

References

• All About Needlepoint: Overcast Stitch & Binding Stitch
• Parddu: My Embroidery Stitches Page

Resources

• Prudent Baby; Porcupine Pin Cushion; February 2010