Stuffie Starter Swap

This is a swap for experienced swappers who want a stuffie, but don't necessarily know how to make one. It's also for people who crank out amigurumi like they're building their own little army of adorable mogs to take over the world. And everyone in between.

The idea is that you make a stuffie and send it to your swap partner. It can be really, really awful. It can be lopsided. Actually, I'm hoping it will be lopsided. It can have big hand-sewn X's for eyes because you just don't know how to sew eyes. It can have three arms. It can be soft sculpture. You can knit it, crochet, sew-- heck, you can even get away with glue (though I don't recommend it).

What it cannot be is store-bought, and it cannot be incomplete. You have to make a stuffie, stuff it with something, and send it to your partner.

What's awesome about this is what will happen after you make your stuffie. First, you'll never be able to say "I can't make a stuffie" ever again. Because you will have done it once-- maybe poorly, maybe great-- but you did it. When your recipient gets their stuffie, no matter how much you thought "gosh, this sucks," the recipient will (in all likelihood) say "OMG, that's so CUTE!!!" and love it and call it George. Or Sally. Whatever. And you'll think "this person is crazy-- how can they love my lopsided, one-armed, purple-until-I-ran-out-of-yarn-so-I-switched-to-green soft sculpture toothbrush?"

You will think that all the way until you receive a stuffie in the mail from your own partner, and then you'll yell "OMG! Teh CYOOOOOTE!!!! GEORGE!" And you'll think "Jeebuz, did I get the Professional Stuffie Maker as my partner? They make lopsided look normal!" And you will love it and cuddle it and call it George (or Sally), and when you post your effusive thanks to the sender, you will get back a comment that says, basically "Hahaha-- it took me hours; I kept trying to make it un-lopsided, but then I just decided to embrace the loppyness and send it, plus the deadline was looming."

All of which is to say: Join the Stuffie Starter Swap. It'll be fun. It will CHALLENGE YOU to craft outside your comfort zone. And you can take pictures of your attempt and put them on an ATC when you're done. ;)

A "stuffie" is a smallish stuffed animal or soft sculpture. In this swap, all stuffies will be hand made. Stuffie styles range from the Japanese kawaii style crocheted amigurumi, to oddball items as exemplified in papercrane.com, to ordinary teddy bears.

Materials: I recommend using ordinary craft felt or yarn (if you crochet or knit) for your first stuffie, because it's cheap and you can forgive yourself if you make a mistake. Use polar fleece if you prefer-- you can often find it for cheap at drug stores, being sold as "blankets." If you have scrap fabric about, use that to practice with. You will likely fill your stuffie with ordinary poly-fill from the craft store, though quilt batting or foam also make good fillers.

Subject: You can choose anything as your soft sculpture subject matter. One of my friends had a "monster stuffie party" at her house a couple of years ago, where everyone made some kind of random monster using bits of felt and lots of creativity. My very first stuffie was a toothbrush. Strawberries are deceptively easy to make.

Safety: Note that the difference between a soft sculpture and a toy basically comes down to whether or not a child can safely play with it without injury. Stuffies may have eyes that have not been secured completely (choking hazard), or may contain posing wires that may poke if they haven't been bent properly. Treat any received stuffies as though they were unsafe for children under 3 (and pets), please.

In general, try to make your stuffie about 6-8 inches "tall," or roughly the size to fit inside a shoebox. This will make it easier when you want to ship them. If you get creative and make a bunch of smaller stuffies as a set, still try to fit the set in a shoebox.

SUMMARY OF SWAP REQUIREMENTS:

• Make one soft sculpture for your swap partner. It can be of anything from a teddy bear to a bike helmet. It does not have to be good. Really. Not at all. It can be lopsided. In fact, it probably should be lopsided, if this is your very first stuffie.
• Include a card in the package thanking your swap buddy for adopting your early stuffie efforts (and identifying yourself, so they know who to rate!).
• WHEN YOU RECEIVE YOUR SWAP: post here with a comment and a thank you for the stuffie.
• Bonus: take a picture and upload it, so we can all see everyone's handiwork!

Tip: If you aren't a sewing person, but you like to play with clay, use clay "slabs" to make a sculpture of what you want, then peel off the slabs. Those form the shape of your pattern.

This swap was inspired by those in the forums who want to make stuffies, but just don't have the confidence to try and develop their inner stuffie-maker skills. Experienced stuffie makers are also welcome, of course.

Swap members must have at least 3 completed (received) swaps by the sign-up date with no no-sends. At least one of these must be a real-life (not online) swap.

Some tutorials:

Sewn (felt, fleece, faux fur, etc. Also lots of good basics):

http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art35653.asp

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OcXDGeHUUnY

http://www.stopmotionworks.com/articles/softsculpt.htm http://kwoozy.blogspot.com/2006/06/tutorial-for-rabbit-and-carrot.html

http://news.deviantart.com/article/30978/

links to bunches of patterns, including knit

baby Frank the Goat from LiveJournal

http://www.purlbee.com/purl-frog/

http://www.starwars.com/kids/activity/crafts/

Also, check your local fabric store for pre-printed fabric patterns. You can often buy a yard with a teddy bear pattern ready to cut and sew, for example.

Crochet (including amigurumi):

http://www.crochetme.com/amigurumi

http://huangfamily.com/craftingjapanese/archives/free_patterns/

http://www.crochetville.org/forum/showthread.php?p=871001

http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=30488.0;all

http://monstercrochet.blogspot.com/2006/09/free-pattern-severed-finger.html

http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=11811998&postID=407933873956151296 (modify these as a side of eggs with some bacon)

Knit:

http://geckogrrl.wordpress.com/2007/04/03/kumochan-amigurumi-tutorial-2-for-knitters/

http://jezzeblog.blogspot.com/2006/10/pattern-for-small-dolls.html

http://del.icio.us/bugness/stuffie

Where to buy eyes:

http://www.bjcraftsupplies.com/dolls/eyes-animal01.asp

http://www.etsy.com/viewlisting.php?listingid=6554392 and other Etsy and eBay sellers.

How to make eyes:

http://www.purlbee.com/purl-frog/attaching-the-eyes.html

http://www.familyeducation.com/whatworks/item/front/1,2551,1-10641-9852,00.htm