Stuffed Elephant

 So today I'm so excited to share with you my first sewing project I completed with my new sewing machine. I admit, it has taken a while to get here, but now I've finally gotten the hang of the machine.
Before we get started, here are a few things I've learned as a beginner sewer: 

• If your sewing machine includes a DVD, watch it: I read, re-read, and triple-read my instruction manual, and was still having problems. I even went online to try and find help. I finally, out of desperation, decided to watch the DVD and was surprised to learn a lot more from it, such as the proper way to thread the bobbin and the machine.
• Practice makes perfect: I started off practicing on some left-over fabric I had hanging around, which was good, because I really needed the practice. It was nice not to have to worry about messing up on good fabric when I was just staring out and learning.
• Go slow: Even though it is easy to press that pedal as far as it will go, you will have a lot more control if you keep it slow.

So after I had practiced and practiced I decided to tackle my first project, a plush elephant toy. I found the pattern for this vintage elephant here and had pinned it on Pinterest a while ago, and found some cute fabric at Wal-Mart.

My first attempt at this project wasn't a success. The ears were just too difficult for a beginner like me. So I scrapped it and started fresh, this time deciding to just embroider the ear outline on the pattern.
So I traced the elephant out on the back of my fabric twice, once from the front of the pattern and one from the back.

Then I got out my yarn and put together a little yarn tail for the elephant that I thought would be cutter than the little fabric triangle on the pattern. I also found two cute pink buttons and sewed them on for the eyes.
Back to the fabric, the next step was to pin together both sides, the back of both fabrics facing out. I also pinned the tail, making sure it was sticking inside the elephant.
From there I carefully sewed around the whole thing, going slowly and carefully, and leaving a big gap near the tail.

After I finished sewing I turned the elephant outside right. Then I took some batting and stuffed it. Finally I took a sewing needle and thread and hand stitched the hole closed.

There you have it, a hand-made little stuffed elephant! It isn't the best thing ever, but I think it was a good first sewing project attempt. It was looking really, really sad when I finished sewing it, but it looked a lot better once I added the batting. But now I'm looking forward to attempt my next project, feeling more and more confident with my sewing machine. 



Happy Crafting,

PS: Here's where we link up.