The Sewing Lesson that Nobody Asked For – How to Make a Platypus

Cause why not?

Here’s our printable platypus pattern. Make sure the pattern prints to a full 8.5×11.

First, cut your pieces from your fabric and place the body pieces right sides together.

Whip stitch around the outer edge leaving the top of the head open. (The head is the wider end). Then, flip it right sides out. Use a pin or a needle to pull out the four leg points so they stick out nicely.

Now, on to the bill. We used embroidery floss to create the nostrils, although you can draw them on as well. Place them together and whip stitch around the entire bill, leaving the bottom open.

Then, stuff both the body and the bill. Don’t stuff the tail too tightly, because we will make some cross hatch stitches through the whole tail at the end.

Now we want to attach the bill to the head. Put the head of the body into the open part of the bill, and whip stitch the bill to the body. Stitch across the top and then across the bottom, back to where you began.

Using a thick thread like embroidery floss, make straight parallel lines through the tail, and then do the same facing the other direction to create a cross hatch look.

Now let’s add in the feet! One by one, twist the bottom part of the foot. Using a pencil, line it up with one of the points and push it into the body so that the bottom of the foot is sucked into the point. Then stitch it in place.

Mini Turtle Pin Cushion (or stuffie!) Tutorial

Everyone needs a turtle pin cushion, right? So let’s make one! Here’s our printable pattern and tutorial! 🙂

First, start by cutting out all of your pieces. And there’s a lot! Then, we’ll sew the shell first. Take the middle of the shell and one of the side pieces, and right side them together, lining up the top of the side piece with one edge of the top piece. Then, whip stitch it together and repeat that step with all 5 of the side pieces.

Next, sew each side of the side pieces together to close the entire top of the shell.

Now that we’ve got the top done, time to sew the legs, head, and tail. Simply whip stitch all the way around leaving the bottoms open, flip right sides out and add a bit of stuffing.

Now it’s time to pin them into the shell. It is important to note that the turtle head and tail can be flat or sideways depending on how you insert them. The green turtle has a sideways head and tail, and the orange turtle has a flat head and tail.

Inset them all facing inward to the right side of the shell, and pin them in place, like so:

Simply flip the tail and the head sideways if you prefer the orange turtle.

Next we want to prep the bottom of the shell. Take one piece of the bottom, and fold in the flat edge according to the seam allowance on the pattern. Pin that down, and line up that half right sides together with the top of the shell, closing the legs inside.

Whip stitch around the outer edge making sure you are sewing far enough in to capture the legs, tail and head! Then, line up the second piece (no need to fold the flat edge this time) and sew that down as well. The flat edge of the second piece should just cover the fold of the first piece.

Time to flip! Once you’ve got it right sided out, fill it with some stuffing. Then, tuck in the edge of the unfolded side and stitch the hole shut.

The last thing to do is add your eyes! Either draw them on, or glue on some googlies! Cutest turtle ever? We think so!

Mini Hand Sew Cup

As promised, we have a matching mini cup to go with mini cake! We made a revised pattern for the cup, so please print this sheet below:

Start by prepping all of your felt pieces. Cut out the pattern, trace them on your felt and cut one of each piece. Then, pin down the long strip across the large piece of the cup, and using a running stitch, sew it down.

Then, fold the cup right sides together and whip stitch the open side shut.

Next, place the top of the cup right side down along the top opening of the cup. Whip stitch all the way around. Then, turn it right sides out.

Time to stuff! Fill the cup with stuffing and whip stitch the bottom of the cup all the way around.

Cut out a mini straw, fold it lengthwise and stitch the opening shut. Make a little whipped cream with some white felt if you’d like, cut out a mouth, add some googly eyes and glue everything down!

Cutest cup ever? I think so. Let us see your mini cups and mini cakes and let us know what other mini hand sew tutorials you’d like to see. Let’s start a whole collection!

Mini Cake Stuffie – Hand Sew

Hi everyone! We have a SUPER cute miniature cake stuffie tutorial for you. All done with hand sewing material, no machine required!

Step 1: Pattern Time!

We’ve made a pattern for you to print. Just make sure you’ve selected “fill the page” when printing so that the pattern prints at the accurate size. The cake is on the right hand side and the cup will be for a future lesson.

Step 2: Cut Your Pieces

Cut out the pattern and trace them onto your fabric of choice. Make sure you trace two of each piece that says “cut 2” on the pattern. Then, cut all of your cake pieces out of your fabric.

Step 3: Sew Your Frosting

Place the frosting strips in the center of each cake side and do a running stitch along the edges of the frosting.

Step 4: Close The Front of the Cake

Right side the two pieces with the frosting together and sew one of the short edges closed using a whip stitch.

Step 5: Insert Your Triangles

Insert the top of the cake (keeping everything right sided together) and whip stitch one long side of the triangle to the long side of one of the rectangles making sure the point of the triangle meets the front of the cake (the side you have already sewn shut). Then, sew the other side of the triangle to the other side of the cake so that the triangle has created a top for your cake.

Then, repeat this same step for the bottom of the cake. You should only have the back of the cake open at this point. Make sure that everything is still right sided together!

Step 6: Insert Your Back

Keep everything right sided together, insert the back of your cake and whip stitch 3 sides of the back so that you can flip it around and stuff it. Leave the bottom side open.

Step 7: Flip and Stuff

Flip your mini cake right sides out and fill with stuffing. Then, whip stitch your final side closed and you’ve got your cake!

Step 8: Make a Candle

You can decorate your cake any way you’d like! We love candles and googly eyes so that’s what we’re going to use. Some yarn frosting over the top would also be cute!

For a candle, cut out a rectangle that you can fold over and sew shut that will be a decent size compared to your mini cake. Using a running stitch, sew the side of the candle shut.

Cut out a flame shape, give it a little pinch and a twist and then insert it into the top of the candle. A small stitch will hold it in place, or some hot glue will easily do the trick too!

Step 9: Attach Your Decorations

Glue or stitch everything on that you would like to add! We are adding some googly eyes, and small mouth that we cut out of fabric and the candle on top. We used glue to attach all the pieces.

Voila! Mini cake complete! 🙂 Show us all you mini cakes please! Matchy cup coming soon. Miss you all!

Machine Sewing from Home

Hi All.. this is Jaimee. This is the first blog post of many for our sewists who have a machine at home and need some fun ideas to work on. Our newest sewing teacher Mrs. Deanna hooked us up with this super sweet project and video!

I have a feeling you guys have some extra time on your hands. Plus, this shelter-at-home time is good for one special thing: bonding with family! So, we give you this fun interactive memory game project to work on. It’s your typical memory game, but using different scraps of fabric you have at home instead of paper. Plus, you can take it to the next level by using clear vinyl to make little pockets in which you can place a drawing, a leaf, flower petal, whatever!

If you need us to help hook up some supplies for you, please just shoot us an email at jaimee@paintboxartstudio.com. We will gladly leave some supplies curbside for you. Lord knows we have enough scraps.

Supply:

* Scrap fabric for the background of memory ‘cards’, enough for 2 sides each x as many cards as you want. (at least 30/15 matches I think!)

* Smaller pieces of scraps of whatever you have laying around the house for your ‘images’ on your matching cards

*Scissors, pins, sewing machine, ruler, paper to make a pattern.

*Bonus material: vinyl from a container around the house or old shower curtain. You can even use the thick plastic from one of the bigger, thicker zip lock baggies.

HOW TO: Watch Video!!

HOW cute is this game?
Bonus points for adding clear vinyl pockets to your game..
Fill the vinyl sleeves with pictures or cool elements from nature.

We want to see some pics and video of your games that you make at home!

Tag us on istagram @paintboxartstudio or shoot us an email at jaimee@paintboxartstudio.com

Look out in the upcoming week for a series of art, sewing and hand sewing classes that are going live via zoom!