Plushie making - need lots of advise!

[Zapper]

Custom plushies are beautiful but expensive, custom plushies also look a lot like G4 95% of the time. So I decided to make my own! My problem: I haven't done anything like that before. Not even clothes. Only recently I started looking into custom plushie making and either I'm stupid or I just don't know where to look.
All I could find were G4 plushies for sale or G4 plush sewing patterns. But I want to have my own and learn how to do things from scratch.

I'd be ever so grateful if you could provide me with advise, links, How Tos - anything concerning these topics:
-Pattern making! Where do I get started?
-Embroidery - especially symbols and eyes (I'm a real n00b, How Tos on techniques would be amazing)
-What material? I hear lots of people use minky but I can't seem to find it in German shops. Is there a good alternative or (EU based) online shops I could import from?

I hope a few plushie makers on here will have mercy and take me under their wings
Thanks in advance!

[SpaceV]

Hi there! I'm always happy to hear when people want to get into plush making. It's so fun!

Since you're just starting out I suggest using free premade patterns first just to get the feel of how a plush goes together. Start with a simple pattern and continually work your way up to more complex patterns. Your first attempts aren't going to be great, but that's where practice comes in! My first plushes looked horrible, but if you keep at it you'll learn from your mistakes and gradually improve.

Fleece is a good starter fabric. It's cheaper than minky and behaves in a similar way. Work with that until you're comfortable enough to move on to minky and better quality materials.

Do you have an embroidery machine? If not, the Brother SE400 is a good starter machine. A lot of plush makers use one, but it only has a 4x4 embroidery area. That should be fine for eyes and cutie marks on a pony around 12-14 inches tall. If you feel like you need a bigger embroidery area, the Brother PE770 embroiders up to 5x7. But it honestly depends on what you're looking for in a machine and what your price range is. I do recommend starting small at first.

Another thing you have to consider is your digitizing program. Those can cost just as much as an embroidery machine so you'll need to look around a bit. I personally use Stitch Era Universal, which costs me $100 per year for the subscription. There are other programs that you can buy at a flat rate but expect to spend $400-$2000 on those. Stitch Era is great but it can be intimidating. But once you figure it out it's easy to use. Always try a trial version first of whatever software you intend to use.

There are other methods to make eyes for plushes too. You could try iron ons or appliqued eyes. The latter can look just as nice as embroidery.

I hope this helps! I'm going to link you to a few tutorials and material resource journals I've made. If you have anymore questions feel free to ask!

Pony Patterns - http://spacevoyager.deviantart.com/journal/So-you-want-to-make-a-pony-298476820

Where to buy minky - http://spacevoyager.deviantart.com/journal/So-you-want-to-buy-minky-297806791

Simple Digitizing - http://spacevoyager.deviantart.com/journal/So-you-want-to-digitize-299103299

How to hide knots - http://spacevoyager.deviantart.com/journal/Tutorial-How-to-hide-knots-428957389

How to machine stitch heads onto bodies - http://spacevoyager.deviantart.com/journal/Tutorial-How-to-machine-stitch-heads-onto-bodies-438635047

How to machine stitch Unicorn horns onto heads - http://spacevoyager.deviantart.com/journal/Tutorial-How-to-machine-stitch-horns-onto-heads-439355558

[Zapper]

Thank you so much for all your advise and the links, Space
Especially the machine stitch tuts on how to join heads and horns with the bodies. Thanks a ton!
But surely there has to be a way to do eyes without a machine? I would be willing to do it all by hand, after all my first plushies are only for myself and not meant to be mass-produced
I was able to find descriptions of techniques but I learn better by looking at pictures. So if anybody has a few handy embroidery tutorials that do not use a machine - I'd be thankful.

Something else, a friend of mine recommended I make a foam dummy because I have worked with that before (sculpting and puppetry). Has someone worked with such a dummy before? What are your experiences compared to working without one?

[SpaceV]

You're welcome! If you have a basic sewing machine you can applique the eyes, which is basically layering pieces of fabric over another and sewing it down. Here's a quick youtube video on how to do that: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BwcaC2dnuLo

If you want to do everything by hand then your options are a little limited. You could use iron ons, paint the eyes, or learn how to embroider by hand. Embroidery by hand takes a looong time. It takes a lot of time, patience, and practice but it can look just as nice as machine embroidery. You should be able to find tutorials for that online.

I've made dummies before too. Not with ponies, but I've made some to help with the more awkward shapes that I was having trouble with, like my Toothless and Francouer head. I just used plain white play-doh for that and then carefully wrapped the entire thing with masking tape. I then used a marker to draw the lines of the pattern, cut along those lines, and got my pattern that way. Even if you do that to get your pattern you'll more than like have to edit it a few times. But you have your basic shape now so it should be easier.

[Zapper]

That video was very helpful, I think I like this method best! It looks like something a newbie like me could do. I want to make a larger plush so that method will probably save me some nerves, too

If anybody has more tuts and links to EU-based online shops please let me know.

[ZennaBug]

Those links are awesome, Space!  I haven't made any plush anything since I was a kid, but now I'm tempted too. 

Good luck with your sewing adventure, Zapper!  You'll have to show us what you make. 

[Zapper]

Thanks, Zenna! I will! It's going to be a large G3 Minty (and when things go well I want to make G1 Gusty and Sparkler, too) <3