Need something to keep that door from closing? Or maybe a little plush toy? Meet Oliver. He’s more than happy to be either. We decided to make a doorstop, using rice as the filling, but this can easily be changed to a plush toy Oliver by simply replacing the rice (or other heavy stuffing) with toy filling. The fabric choice is simple – just choose something you like the look of!
Stuffing (we use rice, but depending on it’s use, you can use anything you like. We only had a 1KG bag to hand, but it ended up being perfect to make Oliver heavy enough to keep open the door. This is cheap enough from any supermarket, just buy the standard store brand and you can pick it up for less that £1.
First gather all of the materials listed above.Cut out all your pieces using the downloadable pattern (link above).Sew on the tummy fabric. You can use any stitch you like. We used an applique stitch for ours. This should be sewn in the centre of the fabric about 1 and a half inches from the bottom.The applique stitch looks like this on our machine and this uses the standard machine foot.To place the eyes, fold over the top point to it sits just over the top of the tummy piece. Pin it in place if it makes it easier for you. Then place the eyes slightly hidden under either side and pin in place. You can now sew these in the same way you added the tummy.You should be left with something like this. If you sew slower, you’ll get a better finish! Shall turn down the sewing machine speed next time! 😉
Pin the back and front body pieces together, with right sides facing each other.Sew around all edges (except the bottom) about 1/4 inch in.Carefully pin the base piece to the bottom of the previously sewn fabric. You need to pin this so that the right sides of the fabric are together. Simply place the fabrics together at one point and begin pinning. The base should have been cut to the correct size so that it all fits together perfectly when pinned.As with the other pieces, sew this in place about 1/4 inch from the edges. Leave an opening about 2 inches wide to allow you to turn and stuff the owl. NOTE: After completing this, we realised that if using rice, it would be easier to sew up the entire bottom, and instead use the underside of the beak area to stuff the owl. If you want to do this. There is a note at the relevant point further up the page regarding this. If you’ve opted to turn and fill at the beak, simply sew all the way around the base piece without leaving the gap.Remove all the pins and turn the project right side out.You can now stuff the owl. As we are making a doorstop, we decided to use rice as it’s heavy enough to keep the owl from moving. You can use any stuffing you like – This can even be used as a soft toy, in which case toy stuffing would be used. Once stuffed, you’ll need to sew up the gap you left in the bottom (if using rice, this needs to be done upside down!!!) – Simply push the seam allowance to the inside of the project and use a simple stitch to close up the gap. If you used the alternative beak method for filling the owl, you should sew that up now.Turn the owl over and place him on a flat surface. Give him a little shake if using rice to bring as much of the rice to his tummy as possible. Now we’re going to give him a beak… Simply fold over the top point of the fabric on his head and gently pull it downwards and to the centre. Stitch this in place with a few hand stitches to stop it moving. When stitching this in place, try to stitch through the underside of the fabric so you can’t see the stitches on the top layer of fabric.So, we got to this point and although it looks great, we realised he looks a little angry! So… we added buttons to his eyes…Voila! Your very own (less angry!) Oliver! We loved creating this project so much that we made a few! If you make your own Oliver, please do send us your pictures as we’d love to see! We plan to make a smaller version of this to create some lovely mini owls to use as pattern weights – So keep your eyes peeled for that being added.
