dottie dino tutorial and pattern

need a quick and easy baby gift? meet dottie dino! she's ready for hugging, loving, and she doesn't even mind drooling. what a peach ;)

let's get dino-making, shall we??

what you'll need:
1/3 yard of fleece
scraps of white felt
6" strips of five different ribbons
stuffing

to download pattern, click on pictures below. from flickr actions menu, select view all sizes. download at original size and print at 100% (to do this, you will most likely need to turn off scaling in your printer settings). match up pattern pieces, tape together, and cut out.

1. use pattern to cut two pieces of fleece. mark where eyes go, and cut two small circles from your white felt.

2. handstitch one felt circle to the right side of each piece of fleece, taking care to make sure stitches are secure. (you don't want anything falling off in a little one's mouth!)

3. fold one of your ribbon strips in half (wrong sides facing) and pin along the top of one piece of fleece (fleece should be right-side facing up). repeat for each piece of ribbon.

4. lay second piece of fleece (right-side down) on top and pin around edges.

5. stitch around edges, leaving a space to turn. i've found it's easiest to leave this space at the base of the tail (see below). after stitching around entire dino, go back and stitch again in the seam allowance where the ribbons are (just to make sure they're extra secure).

6. trim seam allowance around the head, tail, and at the bottom of the legs (see above). clip curved areas and where the legs meet the body.

7. turn dino right-side out, stuff, and finish by slip-stitching the opening.

now you're ready to snuggle with your dino! or, you know, give it to a lucky kiddo so that they can ;)