Today I have a fun softie toy sewing pattern for you, “Sleepy Raindrops.” These sweet little softie toys would make adorable gifts for a little one in your life. Keep reading to find out how to make them!
I have these two cute friends that I met over 5 years ago. They are sisters in law, who have the same name. How did that happen, you ask? They are both named Elizabeth, and they married brothers.
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These two creative friends live halfway across the country, so I don’t get to see them very often. They also happen to be very talented bloggers and fabric designers. (Hint: they are the Simple Simon & Co girls if you haven’t guessed that already).
The Fabric Collection Used in the Projects
Things have changed so much since my kids were babies; there are so many other options for “kids stuff” than there were back then. I adore the modern vibe and variety of designs that you can now find in stores.
I was lucky enough to get my hands on some When Skies are Gray fabric this month and sat down and stitched up a tote bag with matching softies to fit in the pockets.
The bag in the photos is my Derby Tote bag pattern. When I designed the bag, I always pictured little toys or dolls poking out of the pockets. To me, it seemed like such a good bag for kids to tote with them to church or school. I imagined it filled up with coloring books and crayons and a floppy teddy bear poking out of the top.
The girls at Simple Simon & Company asked me to be a part of the blog tour for their new “When Skies are Gray” fabric line. Like I mentioned before, it was designed as a “modern nursery” line. The fabric could be used for so many other things besides just nursery, but I thought it would be a fun challenge to make something fit for a modern baby quilt in a nursery.
Inspired by the designs in the fabric, I decided to make a few softies coordinate with my tote bag. I’ve included a free printable pattern for the raindrop and cloud softies in this post. The tote bag pattern can be found in my shop.
Raindrop & Cloud Free Softie Sewing Pattern
These softies are just the right size to stuff into a tote bag and feature embroidered faces.
Do you want to make some?
Supplies
- ½ yard of felt – I prefer to use wool or bamboo felt
- A few fat quarters of When Skies are Gray fabric for the back of the softies
- Sleepy Raindrop & Cloud Softie Pattern – download it on the TEMPLATES page CLICK HERE
- Stuffing
- Needle & thread
- Embroidery Thread
- Marking Pen – I use Frixion Pens
Instructions
Begin by cutting out from the pattern pieces 1 piece of felt for the front and one piece of fabric for the back.
On the felt piece, trace (use a lightbox) the face on to the front of the fabric using a fabric-safe marking pen.
Using a simple backstitch and 3 strands of embroidery thread, stitch the face onto the raindrop pieces.
After you’ve finished the embroidery, stitch the felt piece to the fabric piece, right sides facing. Stitch around the perimeter with a ¼″ seam allowance leaving a 3″ opening.
Clip the curves and turn the piece right side out.
For this step I find it helpful to use this Clover Hera Tool (you can pick it up on Amazon), it helps me to get all of my curves smooth.
After you’ve smoothed out your curves, begin stuffing the pieces.
Melly (who is a softie making expert) taught me this trick when I saw her last May. Use a paint brush with the bristles trimmed down to get the stuffing into all of the little corners.
After you’ve stuffed the pieces, close the opening using a simple ladder stitch.
Clip your strings, remove your markings and that is it!
To see more projects created with When Skies are Gray fabric, hop on over to the Simple Simon & Co blog.
Melissa — what a great interpretation for a beautiful fabric. No babies in my life but sure love the idea for future reference. Thanks to you and the girls from “Simon”
Thank you kindly Melissa for these patterns… Do you have any printables for a star ???
How sweet are those little raindrops, and that bag is awesome. Am I seeing you’ve used a shiny metallic of some kind for piping on that pocket? It really stands out. Love it.
I had lost track of who it was with the two sisters-in law who had the same names. I remember reading a blog post about all of you a long while back with pictures; possibly in a wedding post maybe?
Funny story about same names; one of my twins has finally met someone although how serious I’m not sure. He attended law school and then further education for a higher law degree after the usual 4 yr degree at a university, so his face had been in the books since high school and he was very good at sticking to getting through what he’s done now. Well, now he’s met a woman and funny enough is that she has the same name as mine. I started laughing when I heard this; mostly because of what I was told after learning that fact. He just cannot call her by her full first name, or the shortened name we both also use as it reminds him of Mom too much. That’s probably not a good thing to always see your Mom in your head when you’re with your ‘girl’. LOL
Thank you for the cute little raindrops.