My kids love dragons, so this summer I created this felt dragon toy sewing pattern for them. This project is possible for a beginner with some guidance, but definitely easier for a more advanced sewer! Find more sewing tutorials for all ages and abilities.
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Summer vacation is the perfect time to sew with your kids! I love using felt to sew with children, because it doesn’t fray and needles glide straight through. Wool felt is my favorite. It’s certainly the most rewarding to work with. But the ecofi felt is quite nice these days, and I’ve used basic acrylic felt as well.
This is one of many sewing tutorials on my site – scroll down to the end of the post for more great projects your kids will enjoy!
How to Sew a Dragon Toy – Kids Can Sew, Too!
What You'll Find on This Page
1) Cut out your pattern pieces
This post features a free sewing pattern that you can use to make your little plush dragon! Click on the image below to download your pattern. Please note that I am happy for you to use this pattern to sew dragons that you sell provided you give me credit for creating the pattern and link to this post in any listings or blog posts.
I used crimson and gold for this dragon, but you can use any color combination you like! Here are some other color combinations that the kids are working on.
2) Sew on the ears
Ear placement has a big impact on how your dragon looks! This dragon’s ears are pointing up, but you could also have them point down like the luck dragon in the movie for The Neverending Story.
3) Embroider your dragon’s eyes
I used a french knot stitch to embroider the dragon’s eyes. My friend LiEr illustrates this stitch beautifully along with the whip stitch we will use later useful stitches guide.
4) Add your plushie’s wings!
Like ears, wing placement will have a big impact on what your dragon looks like. Play around with placement to find the location you like best.
5) Stitch the dragon’s belly
This row of stitching will ultimately be on the inside of your plush toy.
6) Sew the insides of the legs to the outsides of the legs
Clover wonder clips are definitely your friend here! They keep the two pieces together while you stitch without the risk of getting stabbed that you’ll find with pins. They also keep the fabric more still than pins will.
The leg openings are pretty narrow, and you might want to stuff them as you sew. I also use chopsticks, pencils, and tweezers to help get stuffing where it belongs sometimes. Just make sure you don’t stab the stuffing in through your stitches!
7) Stitch your toy dragon’s head closed.
You can actually do this before or after stitching up the second side of the legs. Here I did it before, but it doesn’t really matter.
You will want to stuff this as you sew, too.
8) Stitch around the dragon toy’s tail and back
Keep on stuffing your toy as you work! It’s important to stitch around the tail first, because if you sew the back first it will be very difficult to stuff your soft toy’s tail!
9) Stitch beneath the legs
I know, the dragon looks dead! So traumatic! But it’s for it’s own good. One of the challenges when making four-legged soft toys is getting their legs to stand up straight.
You can solve this with jointed limbs, but I was trying to stick to a low number of pattern pieces for this project.
I resolved the issue bystitching in a small dart directly underneath each of the legs. Children who have done a lot of sewing should be able to do this step on their own, but this is a place where younger children may need help.
10) Play with your dragon!
Because isn’t that the point of making toys?
Our is hard at work guarding our container garden.
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Please share photos if you use this pattern to make a dragon!
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MaryAnne is a craft loving educator, musician, photographer, and writer who lives in Silicon Valley with her husband Mike and their four children.
I love the idea of this project, but there are so many ads and popups that it’s frustrating for an adult. I am trying to simplify for kids, but cutting and pasting doesn’t work either. Also, more explanation to go along with the picture would be really helpful.
Thanks for the feedback, Melissa. I need the ads because that’s how I make blogging work as a job, but maybe I could make a more detailed version to sell as a PDF pattern (ad-free).
Oh my goodness, this is so cute! I’ll have to show my daughter, who might want to sew it for her brother.
I hope so! Share a photo if she does?