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How to Sew a Friendly Felt Alien – Free Pattern Included

Remember Anna’s felt doll based off one of her drawings? My eight-year-old son Johnny drew an alien, which we then turned into a very true-to-the-original-drawing felt stuffie. Today I’m sharing a few tips on the process for turning a drawing into a felt stuffie. I also have a pattern so that you can sew a friendly felt alien for your own home!

How to turn your child's drawing into a stuffed toy.

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How to Sew a Friendly Felt Alien – Free Pattern Included

This friendly felt alien craft is easy and fun for kids to make! I cut out the pieces for Johnny, stitched on the mouth, and inserted the safety eye. I also helped attach the different body parts. He sewed the rest on his own.

There aren’t a lot of sewing projects targeting boys, so I was happy when Johnny came up with this one all on his own. You can use our pattern or use our methods to design a custom stuffie based off of your own child’s drawing!

Materials Needed for Sewing a Felt Alien

This is what you need for this friendly felt alien craft.

Here are some optional but helpful add-ons that simplify the sewing process.

  • Tweezers – for getting stuffing into tight spaces.
  • #2 pencil or chopsticks. Also useful for getting stuffing into tight places.
  • Wire cutters (for adult use only, or under close adult supervision). For trimming the back pole off of the safety eye. You can use scissors, but these will work better (and, therefore, are safer, provided an adult uses them.

WHY USE WOOL FELT?

100% wool felt is much more expensive than the craft felt that is in every craft store. Why bother with wool? It stays looking nice much longer. Of course, it is not the end of the world if you choose to use craft felt instead. It just won’t feel or look as nice.

WHAT’S SO SPECIAL ABOUT CLUSTER STUFF

Cluster Stuff is a hypoallergenic polyester stuffing material that is designed to never clump or bunch up. It comes in tiny clusters that are helpful when stuffing tight spaces. I have been using this stuffing for several years now, and it never disappoints. As with the felt, there isn’t a real problem with using something else; it just won’t be as fun or easy to work with (with the possible exception of using wool roving for stuffing…)

How to Sew An Alien Based on Your Child’s Drawing

It is very easy to turn a child’s drawing into a small stuffed toy! As you can see from the image at the top of this post, you simply take the drawing, break it into different parts, and then stitch those parts together.

Making the Friendly Felt Alien’s Face

To attach the safety eye, cut a very small hole in the center, and push the eye through. Attach the disk backing, then use sharp scissors or wire cutters to cut off the extra plastic backing. Wire cutters work much better than scissors, if you have them.

The smile is backstitched on. Ikatbag has a wonderful printable on how to this stitch, as well as the stitch used below (and more).

Stitching the Friendly Felt Alien Together

This doll is entirely whipstitched. Whipstitching is traditionally diagonal on the outside and perpendicular on the inside. My kids and I like to reverse the process, so that the stitches run  perpendicular to the edge on the outside and diagonal on the inside. This takes a bit more focus and we sometimes do get sloppy, but it creates a neat finished look.

  1. Stitch the antennae together, then set aside. These are not stuffed.
  2. Stitch and stuff the hands, then set aside.
  3. Stitch the arms, attaching the hands at the end. Stuff. Set aside.
  4. Stitch and stuff the legs.
  5. Stitch around the body, adding in hands, legs, and antennae as you go.
Cute felt alien sewing tutorial with pattern based off of a child's drawing. Includes tips on how to turn your children's drawings into toys like this!

The end result is an adorable stuffed alien that your child will love – a piece of their artwork brought to life!

Cute felt alien sewing pattern and tutorial. Designed from a child's drawing.

Download the Pattern

felt-alien

Are you ready to sew your own felt alien? Click on the image below to download the PDF pattern!

I would love to see photos on  my Facebook page or tagged on Instagram if you or your kids make one of these!

More Sewing Fun for Kids

sewing tutorials for all ages

You can find more fun sewing tutorials and patterns in this post! Do you have a sewing project that my kids would like, or have you made a friendly alien based on this pattern or tutorial? Let me know by sharing on my Facebook page or tagging me on Instagram!

MaryAnne is a craft loving educator, musician, photographer, and writer who lives in Silicon Valley with her husband Mike and their four children.

12 thoughts on “How to Sew a Friendly Felt Alien – Free Pattern Included”

  1. Natalie PlanetSmartyPants

    Oh, I love how this turned out. So great that Johnny is learning to sew. My husband is certainly better at it than I am :)

    1. Johnny says that he wants to grow up and design toys for kids to play with – in between also being a basketball player and an inventor :)

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