Welcome to Gaia! ::

I thought you might be interested in seeing how I go about drafting and making plushies. I originally did this for some other forum back when Gwee was first released.

It took me a couple of days to decide I wanted to make a Gwee and once I decided it only took a few days from start to finish (mostly waiting for paint to dry as you will soon see below).

First I start with the original design... ahh...



And then I make rough sketches to figure out how it would be put together:



And I go digging through my fabric stash for skin... I found this lovely green as modeled by my Rhine, the Mermaid art doll:



Here is the fabric and the drawn out pattern pieces:



I cut out my pattern pieces and trace them onto the back of the fabric for accuracy in cutting:



After a trip to the sewing machine:



Before I could complete the body I had to dye the back scales. I used Rit Dye and failed (I'm guessing because it's a polyester and not a natural fabric):



So I tried some spray stuff from a can instead:



Now with a body, the Gwee is nearly complete... he's been stuffed and assembled with lock joints:



Just some details and Gwee is done:





I didn't plan to make very many of them... when I do make more I will shift the arm joint one inch closer to mid belly because it seems too far "back." I also plan to use the correct fabric color for the scales and sponge paint the purple with an acrylic for better blending.

And for fun... I was teasing people, saying if Gaia ever releases an official the same size as Kiki, Coco and Grunny, it would probably look like this:


xd Now you know my "secrets." Shhhhh... don't tell. xd

I know crying

EDIT: Is creating patterns so they stuff right a technique that is taught, or just sorta something you learn from trial and error?

It's mostly trial and error. You have to know what works proportionally and you do that by making different sizes... like how I made two pairs of legs for Cal the Faun. I didn't know which one would work better until I tried them both. Doll makers have been known to scrap various body parts and remake them when they don't work. I think the commercial patterns teach the basics like clipping curves and corners and adding seam allowance.

I think too... practice and experience makes it easier for me to visualize what the final will look like based on the shapes of the pattern pieces.

For example... there was a younger plushie pattern drafter and she wanted to know if her pattern would work. So I showed her what it would look like if she used the shapes she had... and suggested that she change the shape:



Black was her original shape, red was my suggested addition because it would give a seam allowance to the foot. B. Shows how the seam allowance would allow the back seam of the leg and the foot. C. Shows how the seam allowance aould allow the top of the foot to be sewn onto the bottom.

Experience teaches you where seam allowance should be.

@ Tawney: Those are very cute. I too have made Grunny and OMG. Did you draft your own patterns?