Pattern Description:
This project creates an adorable, cuddly elephant soft toy, suitable as a great gift for children of all ages. It is an excellent way to utilize fat quarters. The finished soft toy measures 12 inches long and 9 inches high.
Materials Needed & Measurements:
| Category | Item/Specification | |
| Finished Measurements | 12 inches long and 9 inches high. | |
| Seam Allowance Note | The project uses 1 cm/⅜ inch seams throughout. | |
| Fabric | Four fat quarters (Lewis & Irene Welcome to the World collection was used). | |
| Co-ordinating cotton. | ||
| Notions | Toy stuffing. | |
| Embroidery thread (or floss, used for the tail tassel). | ||
| Needles and pins. | ||
| A small piece of card (to wind the thread for the tassel). | ||
| Equipment | Sewing machine. | |
| Elephant templates (available as a pdf to print, typically A4 or A3). | ||
| Optional Embellishments | Buttons or felt eyes. |
Instructions for Making the Elephant Pattern:
Preparation: Templates and Cutting
Before starting to sew, you must prepare the pattern pieces. The elephant pattern is available as a PDF to print, resized to A4 for easy printing on home printers.
- For the body and underside sections, you will need to tape together the corresponding pattern pieces. Line up the matching numbers and tape the sections together before cutting the fabric.
- Use the pattern pieces to cut out all the required elephant sections as specified on the paper templates.
Assembling the Underbelly and Ears
The initial steps involve creating the foundation of the body and preparing the ear components.
- Underbelly/Leg Seam: Take the two underbelly/leg sections and place them with right sides together. Pin along the top edge, being sure to leave a 10 cm gap in the center. Stitch these pieces together using the sewing machine, back stitching at both ends of the opening. Press the resulting seam open.
- Creating the Ears: Place the ear sections right sides together and pin them around the curved edges. Machine stitch the pinned curved edges. To ensure the curves lie flat when turned, snip into the seam allowance all the way around the curved edges.
- Turn the ears out to the right side and press them using an iron, making certain that all the edges are nicely curved.
- Insert a small amount of toy stuffing into the ear.
- Topstitch 1 cm away from the edge of the ear, using a stitch that is longer than usual.
- Fold in the open edges of each ear and press them flat.
Constructing the Head and Body Sections
Next, form the head and the main body structure, which includes securing the back insert and sewing the inner leg seams.
- Head Assembly: Pin the head pieces with right sides together. Ensure that the neck edge and the end of the trunk are left open. Snip the seam and turn the piece to the right side, then press.
- Body Back and Insert: Take one back section and position the back insert. Match dot A and dot B with the same points along the back. Pin the insert and repeat this process for the other side of the back. Use the machine to sew the insert into position, remembering to leave 1 cm unstitched at each end.
- Once both sides of the insert have been stitched, sew the rest of the back seam from where the insert stitching ends up to the neck edge.
- Inner Leg Seams: Take the underbelly/leg pieces that were joined in the first step and place them right sides together on the inside leg sections. Pin around both sides and machine stitch both sides. Clip these seams to help the curves turn out nicely. Crucially, do not sew the bottoms of the legs, as separate circles will be attached there later to create the feet.
Joining the Head and Body
This step connects the assembled head and body sections at the neck opening.
- The head section must be turned to the right side, but the body should remain inside out.
- Insert the head into the neck opening, taking care to ensure that the top seams are aligned.
- If necessary, sew the neck seam closed a little more to make sure the head fits snugly.
- Stitch the head in place. A helpful tip is that because the opening is quite small, it may be easier to sew half of the neck seam, then remove the needle, reposition the fabric, and sew the remaining half.
Stuffing and Final Details
Once the main structure is assembled, the elephant is stuffed and finished.
- Pull the entire elephant through the gap that was left in the tummy join.
- Begin to stuff the elephant by inserting a small amount of stuffing at a time. The recommended order for stuffing is: the trunk first, then the head, followed by the top of the body, then the legs, and finally the center section.
- Closing the Body: Once the elephant is completely stuffed, sew up the hole in the belly.
- Completing the Feet: Use the pattern circles to finish the feet. Fold the edge of the bottom of the legs over and pin. Tuck the edges of the circle inside the edges and secure them using pins. Hand stitch around each foot using a needle and thread.
- Trunk End: Cut a small circle and complete the end of the trunk in the same hand-stitched manner.
- Attaching Ears and Features: Pin the previously prepared ears to each side of the head and stitch them in place by hand. Fold under the flap at the back of the elephant’s body and stitch it down. Buttons or felt eyes can optionally be added to the face at this stage.
- Making the Tail: Create a small tassel using embroidery floss. Wind the thread around a small piece of card. Cut the ends and tie them together at the top. Attach the tassel using a length of the thread and fix it securely to the rear end of the elephant.
Your elephant is now finished.
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