Toys to Sew: Dozens of Patterns for Dolls, Animals, Doll Clothes, and Accessories [Paperback]

Claire Garland (Author)

Book Description

Release date: October 24, 2006

What could be more enchanting than creating homemade toys for the children in your life?

In Toys to Sew, designer Claire Garland leads you step-by-step through thirty whimsical projects for charming animals, dolls, and other soft toys. From classic patchwork hobbyhorses to colorful smiling dinosaurs, you will be amazed at the variety of results you can achieve using Garland’s stitching methods.

All of the projects stitch up quickly and easily for sewers of all skill levels, whether you are using a machine or sewing by hand. Vivid photographs, diagrams, and Claire’s clear and experienced instruction enable even novice stitchers to create beautiful playthings. You will love making these projects as much as the children in your life will love their new cuddly companions.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Claire Garland is an embroidery and sewing expert, with degrees in art and design. Her designs appear in magazines worldwide. She specializes in sewn items for children, and her three young children have inspired many of the projects featured in this book. Claire lives in Cardiff, Wales.

Product Details

• Paperback: 96 pages
• Publisher: Potter Craft (October 24, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0307345416
• ISBN-13: 978-0307345417
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 0.3 x 8.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #383,501 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

25 of 25 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Such cute toys!!! November 22, 2007

By Susie

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

I absolutly love the toys in this book, and so does my daughter!! With all of the lead and recall issues lately we have taken aways most of my her toys and replaced them with safer toys; many from this book. They have their own special touch like the silly high placed thumbs, big googoo eyes, and more. I made the cat and one mouse skittle and my daughter loves throwing them at me and laughing. This is a soft toy that won't hurt a fly and they are soo cute. I did add more personality to one of the mice by making her into a ballernina. I will also do a pirate one. These toys can be made so inexpensivly that I am actually able to give gifts to my nieces and nephews for Christmas. I have a hard time controlling myself!!I want to make them all!!! They are soooo cute!! The only reason I gave this a 4 instead of a 5 is that I agree with the other reviewers: the instructions and pattern pieces are lacking. If you are a beginner you will find this frustrating. With a little experience you will be able to figure out what is not told to you. There are times also that the pattern will not yield the same results as what you see in the picture. For example: the gator has pointy claws in the pic but the pattern has round blunt claws. I have learned to look over the pic well, compare the pattern and make adjustments. As far as increasing the pattern piece sizes I too found this cumbersome. I didn't drive to a print shop, but I did have to have my teenager teach me how to use the enlarging feature on my home copier/printer/scanner. So if you can enlarge pattern pieces and figure out missing instructions here and there, this book will be excellent for any parent wanting to make cute, safe toys for their children and gifts for others!!... Here is a list of what you will find in the book:
1 doll/ 4 variations: pirate, ballernia, Sony Sam, fairy. Other clothes.
4 sock animals: tiger, monkey, dog, puppy.
Stuffed animals: pink elephant,gator, trutle, bear, spotted elephant
Felt toys: 4 dinos and one baby dino hatching out of an egg and bag, cat and mouse skittles (boweling), cone shapped houses.
A hobbie horse and a wooden pull toys (like a flat wagon). Read more ›

21 of 21 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Great book, but not for beginner November 11, 2007

By Annette G. Praay

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

This book is packed full of really cute toys to sew. However, the instructions have much to be desired if you are a beginner sewer. I've sewn toys before, so I knew what to do, but more details are needed, such as how to sew on knit fabric (for example socks are used for the cover toys -- if too short a stitch length is used, you may have stretch occurring), placement of embroidered details like eyes and nose, and how to sew on limbs so that the seams don't show. That's another issue, many of the seams are visible on these toys, which means wear of the toys may be an issue. I also would opt to put on details like the dog patch and nose after stuffing and not before, especially as the knit fabric of the socks stretches but the felt does not (nose and eyes). Fabric instructions and sizes are not clear as well.

If you are not a beginner, I think there is a great deal of inspiration in the toys in this book. They look like fun items kids will love. Okay, forget kids, I love them.

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars beautiful images, frustrating instructions November 26, 2007

By s. beaumont

Format:Paperback

The ideas in the book are beautifully photographed. The materials chosen for the projects are inspiring. But the instructions are given without illustrations, and the case of the pattern I am working with, the instructions are inaccurate and inadequate. You must figure out how to correct the errors. The images and ideas are top notch, however, the instructions make at least one toy ("Pull-Along Nellie") difficult to make. A new sewer would have a hard time solving the problem of the wrong instructions.

23 of 24 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Fun & easy stuffed creations... May 9, 2007

By J. Engdahl

Format:Paperback

I'd forgotten how much fun it is to work with felt. The patterns & instructions in this book are easy to follow and the results are great. I made the mouse skittles (the mice are the bowling pins and the ball is a cat) and my only warning is that you will find yourself making more and more mice, just because the group looks so good. My only quibble with the book is that I wasn't able to locate the pattern for the egg (meant to hold a baby dinosaur), but I shouldn't complain. Surely we can all figure out how to cut out an egg shape.

23 of 24 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars charming February 28, 2007

By E. Thomas-McGinnis

Format:Paperback

I love this book!!! The designs are so charming, creative and fun! I want to eventually make everything in it!! There is a large section about a rag doll and clothes to go with it. The sock animals are unique and playful....but the best patterns are the alligator and the turtle, they make really stunning toys. These designs seem simple enough for a beginner to do and are a really quick sew for the experienced seamstress.

Did I say, I love this book!!?!!!

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars frustrating instructions December 3, 2008

By Adrieanna Prickett

Format:Paperback

This book has some really fun ideas, but the directions are terrible. It is pattern-based for much of it and some of the patterns are missing, mis-labeled, or missing pieces. The directions are missing steps in many cases. I don't recommend this book unless you are good at improvising, tweaking, and creating based on a picture alone.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Cute toys, mislabeled patterns June 20, 2009

By Kristin Beckwith

Format:Paperback

Since I am new to toys and have some new nieces and nephews, I bought this book because of how cute the toys are. I started with the mice and cat and they were easy and fun. My next project was the dinosaurs. Once I enlarged the patterns, I realized that patterns and the instructions don't quite match up. Being new to toys, I am finding myself at a loss on how to finish. Perhaps one more round at the editor would have made this book wonderful.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

1.0 out of 5 stars Not my kind of craft book October 4, 2009

By Bree

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

I bought this book a while back... but have yet to make anything from it! The picture on the cover was about the only neat thing I would make.

I found it to be too sloppy for my taste. If I has seen this at the bookstore, I would skip it.