DIY Tux penguin soft toy

A little over a year ago, I installed Linux for the girl, namely Ubuntu. She is a programmer herself, so she was enthusiastic. But most of all in Linux, she liked the talisman - the Tux penguin. And the desire was voiced to get the appropriate soft toy.

First of all, I rushed to the Internet in search of an opportunity to buy one, but I did not find suitable offers. I found several offers in Russia, but they (I live in Ukraine, Kharkov) did not suit me very much, and besides, I did not like their appearance. One option was found in Kiev, a cute penguin, but only 10 centimeters tall.

In general, the gift was postponed indefinitely. But by the last of March 8, I decided to try to make this toy on my own.

Unfortunately, I did not document the process of creating a toy photographically, because I got to Habr after most of the work has already been completed. However, Habr is not a forum for seamstresses, so maybe this is for the best.

Patterns

It all started with a search for patterns - and then the problem was resolved very soon: www.free-penguin.org . This is a project to create open patterns of Tux. Here you can download them under the GPL. Despite the status of the alpha version and the last change in 2005, it is quite usable.

There is a gallery . Photos of toys created by these patterns by very different people were very encouraging. There are some very pretty specimens.

For the convenience of printing, the patterns had to be slightly edited, printed on an A2 Whatman paper, cut out with a margin of half a centimeter.

Materials

Here, too, everything seems to be simple. I did not find the fleece, so I took black (30cm x 1.5m) and white (20cm x 1.5m) faux fur and yellow canvas (20cm x 1.5m). For padding I took a synthetic winterizer (2m x 1.5m), but overdid it with the number of times 4.

Sewing

Then the fun began - sewing. There was only one complication - the fact that I actually could not sew. Here I don’t even have much to tell - I sewed, ripped open and so many times.

The only trick (which is most likely obvious to those who are not the first to sew) is that everything must be sewn inside out and turned out only at the last moment. Actually, this last moment was the most difficult.

Result

In general, it took me a little more than two weeks to sit with a sewing machine in the evenings to make a toy. The cost of materials is 25 hryvnia (about 100 rubles).

The result was justified, the gift had a positive effect. And this despite the fact that he was scratchy due to the use of faux fur instead of fleece, and in general, it looked somehow strange.

The whole secret is that a handmade gift is always valuable.

Afterword

Yes, this article does not fit perfectly into the subject of Habr, but it has almost a direct relation to IT.

I hope that this article will inspire you to create interesting gifts for loved ones with your own hands. There is still time left until the next March 8th.