DIY Wednesday: Make a monster doll

This is not really a home design project, but it is free fun and, even better, requires pretty much no skill whatsoever.

I made this monster doll for my little cousin Danny (nicknamed Danny Monster) who had hernia surgery last week. If you look closely, you may note that my monster has stitches in what I believe to be the standard monster hernia area.


Supplies were an unattractive fleecy jacket, old sock, fabric napkin, buttons, scissors, needle and thread. Total cost: pretty much zero, excluding my dignity.



First I cut out the largest section of jacket fabric and laid out my buttons and sock mouth to get an idea of my monster's dimensions.

I cut a piece of paper to the size of my fabric and sketched out a monster shape. I folded my paper in half to make the two sides of the monster symmetrical, although symmetry is by no means a requirement.

I cut out a front and back to my monster and hand-stitched the features to the front. (If you are using a sewing machine, which I recommend, add a half-inch seam allowance before cutting. )

I then hand-stitched the front and back together and stuffed the monster with cut-up pieces of the rest of the jacket. If using a sewing machine, put the front and back of the monster together wrong sides out and stitch, leaving a space for stuffing. Turn the monster inside out and stuff.

I believe a machine-sewn seam would have improved my monster, since he is already looking frayed at the edges. Otherwise you pretty much can't go wrong, as you can see from some of my favorite handmade monster toys.

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Go forth and scare small children.