Plushie advice?

You're not alone. one time I made a horse for my 4 year old cosine, and it was perfect. Later on I made one just for fun, and it turned out looking like a anorexic goblin

I guess it depends on the material and the pattern you use. I guess my second horse failed, because I used a thicker yarn, and less sturdy fabric. I think it also depends on the level of difficulty

P.S: Working on your last item I think you're going to like it . Now I just got to scrounge up $20 bucks to ship it.

:o Try flat rate shipping, it's not so expensive!

And my problem isn't pattern or fabric, it's mostly that I seem to be horrible at stuffing things enough. lol That or I tend to sew a lot faster than I should... I don't know for sure.

Monika, I'm not sure what to say if I don't see a comparison of your results. As for stuffing, what I do is pull apart the polyfil a little so they're not so clumped together (this may cause the stuffing uneven.)

Stuffing patiently bit by bit suits me best. I normally stuff limbs or features that sticks out first (when its gathered with parts that are not totally separated and have connecting holes) and from time to time I poke them with tweezers to make it even more even. Hope that helps. If not feel free to ask ;)

For the limbs and other skinny parts, I use the end of a sharpie and push the stuffing in with it to make sure I get enough stuffing in. If it's a complex plushie (like a giraffe I made once) where it's hard to get to certain spots when you sew it up most of the way, then I stuff it as I sew.

What Anna Bean said about stuffing as you sew is probably one of the best tips someone gave me early on. Anything with lots of twists and turns in it is going to be a pain to try and do at once unless you have the perfect tools for the job.

I found a craft tweezer set at a dollar store that has made stuffing my plushies a million times easier. Most of the tweezers weren't really useful for anything, but one pair had two flat parts that lay on top of each other that you can pinch little bits of polyfil in and stuff them into the skinny parts, so you can get it evenly stuffed without everything bunching up and turning lumpy (I'm not good at describing things, I can post a pic as soon as I figure out where I put them) .

Make sure you're using an extra fluffy polyfil rather than the kind for art dolls that tends to be a lot stiffer and bunches up into those ugly lumps a lot easier. It's good to have around for reinforcing areas that may need a bit more structure (tips of ears for example, or I always throw some into the necks of my plush bodies before sewing on the head so that the head doesn't flop around as much), but otherwise the fluffier the polyfil, the easier it'll be to get everything stuffed evenly and avoid lumpiness (and also to sneak an extra bit of fluff into a hand or foot with your tweezers if you realize you didn't quite fill something as much as you'd like after you've already stuffed a whole arm). I didn't even realize there were different kinds of stuffing at first, but it really makes a big difference which kind you're using.

I sew all of my plushies by hand as well, so I can force myself to go slow and pay attention to every stitch. It slows down production times a bit, but I get a lot of compliments on my stitching so I guess it's worth it.

All of this helps, thanks! I am going to try to sew slower, and probably lower the tension on my machines a bit. I'll see if I can find some decent tweezers, too.

I seem to have misplaced my awesome tweezers at some point while I've been trying to clean out my desk, but this is about what they looked like.

I used to have 3-4 pairs like that when I still lived in PA, but neglected to ask my mom for one the last time I was visiting. :x I might have to stop at the sewing shop in Sioux Falls next time I'm up there.

They're hugely helpful in stuffing corners and narrow areas because you can push the fluff in with the rounded corner without having to worry about accidentally poking through your fabric like with pointed tweezers.