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Pingu design challenge: first results

pingu the stuffed penguin

Remember our post about the Pingu design challenge? Well, I’ve worked hard on it last Saturday and I thought I’d show the results so far. Remember, I’m doing this challenge together with a friend so I’ll be showing her results soon, too!

Of course I forgot to take photos of every step… I should really think of something to remind me to take photos! More photos of the finishing details on this stuffed penguin will follow in our next blog post (I warn you: it got kind of sloppy at the end, oops!).

If you’re a regular reader of our blog, you’ll know I have little experience in sewing or designing plushies. For Pingu, I simply started with this drawing and by researching other penguin plushie patterns. The most helpful was this pattern. I’m sure you’ll recognize some of it in the end result, although I really did try to make my own version.

penguin drawing

And like I said, I forgot to take photos of most steps. Sorry! But here are the few I did make. Mostly about creating its main body and then it magically has wings and feet. ;) 

plushie sewing penguin plushie sewing penguin

To give him a beak like Pingu whenever he goes “Noot, noooot” I tugged the tip of its beak back in again. This was actually an idea by my other half which I thought was pretty smart, but next time I’ll make the beak a little longer so it really looks more megaphone-shaped. I’ve also added a gusset to make its head more round and cut off the tail part in the original pattern since Pingu doesn’t really have a tail. I’ve also adjusted the pattern to make its lower body a bit more rounder, but I think I should’ve added even more width.plushie rice bag

To make sure he wouldn’t tip over I added some weight to its bottom by adding a little bag filled with rice. Mom and I should probably invest in some heavier stuffing if we’d ever want to sell this little fellow in our shop, because I know rice can cause issues. But for a prototype it came in handy. ;)
stuffed penguin finished stuffed penguin

 

I love the way its feet turned out so big but I’m not really happy about the size of its head yet. Should be bigger and rounder next time. :) It’s wings/paws turned out OK, but I might need to think of something to make them a little longer and more flat. What do you think? Please leave a comment if you have any suggestions! :)

pingu the stuffed penguin

4 thoughts on “Pingu design challenge: first results

    1. Oh a cat.. hm. I haven’t tried one before, it’s still on my huge to-do list ^.^
      Closest I’ve found was this free pattern
      http://weewonderfuls.typepad.com/wee_wonderfuls/downloads/Pointy-Kitty-Pattern.pdf
      but I probably haven’t exhausted all search terms yet, so maybe there’s a better one out there. :)

  1. I am always very interested when people write about their design process, so thanks for sharing! I also thing the penguin’s big feet are great -they’re something that makes your penguin unique, different from most other penguin designs out there. As for a tip, have you thought much about eyes? Is he going to have any? I’m not sure what I would suggest, since its hard to make eyes stand out on a polka-dot pattern, but I know that good eyes can make a huge difference on a plushy. Good luck with your continued designing!
    Alexis

    1. Thank you Alexis! I have thought about the eyes but I can’t seem to decide on any. Sometimes plushies are cuter without, sometimes they come a lot more alive with eyes. I might try some small felt eyes! I’ll get back to this in the next post on Pingu. :)

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