Midna Plushy Tutorial

Please read the WHOLE tutorial before you begin!

There are two size options, i.e. two patterns. Size when finished:
head to toes: 19 cm // 30 cm
wearing the headpiece: 26 cm // 40 cm

Material:

There are three ways to make this plush.

1. Make a basic plushy and glue black and white felt on it. (My big version.)
2. Make a white plushy and paint the black pattern on. (My small version.)
3. Make a white plushy and sew the black pattern on.

You will need:

● about 0.5 m white stretch fabric, e.g. an old t-shirt or some cotton jersey → I recommend
this for versions 1 and 2
● alternatively: black and white fleece (only big version). If you decide to use fleeceI
recommend version 3.
● version 1: black and white felt for the body, two paper-sized pieces each
● a little piece of ordinary cotton, non-stretch, for the eyes
● felt for the hair: 1 paper-sized piece light yellow and 1 darker yellow and 2 pieces light
orange, 1/2 piece for the black part of the hair, 1/2 piece grey for her brooch
● green/turquoise thread for the glowing patterns OR liquid fabric paint (green, blue, white for
dark colors)
● black fabric paint (version 2 only!)
● felt pen/acrylic paint/fabric/t-shirt pens for the eyes in the following colors: yellow, orange,
red, black
● for the headpiece: about two paper-sized pieces of white foam rubber and silver acrylic
gloss enamel (or any other liquid water-proof color) OR two paper-sized pieces of silver or
grey foam rubber
● a thin grey waterproof pen for the pattern on the headpiece
● for a detachable headpiece: some velcro, about 10 cm
● a wooden stick from a popsicle (for a more solid neck)
● fiber fill
● transparent nailpolish, glue (a lot for versions 1 and 3) and other basic sewing things like
thread (black, white, yellow, orange), scissors, measuring tape, pencil (sewing machine not
necessarily required)

Comment: Buy some good quality felt. It shouldn't be too thin. And make sure you have enough of
the orange one!

Next few pages: Reference pictures (three pages), small pattern (one page) and big pattern (two
pages)
Small Midna
Big Midna 1/2
Big Midna 2/2
Important: Please read the whole tutorial before you begin. You will have to put a lot
of work into this! You should have some sewing experience. I cannot guarantuee
success. All I can give you is an accurate description.

Step 1: Preparation

● Check your sewing supplies and buy the things you need.

● Print out the patterns, cut them out. Do not make the headpiece yet!

● Versions 1 and 2: Draw the following patterns on your white stretch fabric and please don't
forget the extra allowance at seams: head (x2), body (x2), arm (2 + 2 reverse), leg (2 +2
reverse).
For version 3: head (one head on the white fabric, one on the black - white will be where the
face goes), all 4 (2 + 2 reverse) arms black, two legs white and two legs black (Make sure
that you can make one completely white and one completely black leg! see below)
Cut them out! Don't forget seam allowance.
Lazy person version (what I usually do because I have enough fabric): Draw one head, one
body, two arms and two legs as described above. Cut them out. Do not forget seam
allowance! This works because you only need to see the lines on one side.

● Now draw the eyes on the white non-stretch fabric. Cut out (lots of seam allowance!).

● Version 1: Draw the ears on black felt. Depending on how thick your felt is, you might want
to make them out of two layers of felt, glued together. Or glue some cardboard between two
layers.
Version 2 and 3: You might not want to use felt but this depends on your basic material. You
could sew the ears like the arms or legs and stuff them lightly (draw ears on white fabric for
version 2 and on black fabric for version 3).

Step 2: Sewing the body

Note: Refer to the big version of the pattern for red dots etc.

● Sew the two parts of the body together. Leave neck open for stuffing where red dots
indicate.

● Sew arms together. Leave the part open for stuffing that the red dots indicate.

● Sew legs together. Leave the part open for stuffing that the red dots indicate. (Version three:
one black and one white leg, remember!)

● Sew head together. There are two marks which indicate how much you should leave open
for stuffing (plus red dots).

● Sew ears together for versions 2 and 3. Leave the part open for stuffing that the red dots
indicate.

● Cut off seam allowance so it does not exceed 0.5cm. Exceptions are the openings for
 stuffing. You can never have enough allowance there. Turn parts inside out.

● Stuff all body parts. Ears lightly, the rest as you like it.

● Start by sewing the legs to the body (the white one left and the black one right for version
3). For this I use a technique that I call "open sewing", meaning I do not close the openings I
left for stuffing, I just fold the allowance towards the inside. The legs are not posable when
you do this (except if stuffed very lightly, which I do not recommend) but at least the plushy
can stand and look pretty natural.
Now, use some fixing pins and sew the first leg to the body. Prepare the second one for
sewing, check if the legs have the same length and are equally stuffed. Sew the second one.
Looks pretty neat already, doesn't it?

● Up next, the head. For this you first ought to sew the neck from the outside, so it looks like a
tube. Don't close it though. Take the wooden stick and put it into the body, so it's about
halfway down there. Add more stuffing around the stick and in the neck. The stick should be
about in the middle.
Take your head and put it on the neck (white side should face the front for version 3). Stick
the stick into the stuffing of the head without removing it from the body. Position the head
carefully, maybe add some more stuffing. The neck shouldn't be too long and the head
shouldn't be too close to the front or the back. Look at it from all sides.
If it looks good fold the allowance inward and sew the head to the neck. The head shouldn't
wobble much (thanks to the stick!).

● Lastly, the arms. Close the openings. Make sure the thumbs are pointing to the front. Sew
them to the shoulders. They can hang limply or not, that's your decision.

Step 3: More preparation

● The eyes: Use your paint or pen to colour the eyes carefully. Let them dry. Now take that
nailpolish and soak the eyes in it - don't actually put the fabric into it, just use a lot of
nailpolish on it the way you would on your fingernails. This will stop the fabric from fraying
lateron. It should also make the felt pen more or less waterproof. Let it dry. Cut them out.

● Look at your reference pictures to get an idea of the black and white pattern. If you're not
sure about something get more reference or ask someone who owns the game.

● Glue the ears (version 1).

● Cut the felt for the hair as follows:

First of all I assume, that you have felt that has the average size of a piece of paper. The
short side will be the lenght of your hair. It should be about 20 cm. You really need that
lenght! Now, cut simple stripes, about 1 cm wide.
8x bright yellow
8x dark yellow
16x orange (you may need more of this later)
I don't recommend cutting any of the pointy orange or black hair yet.
(Use these size instructions for both plushy sizes!)
Step 4: The black and white pattern

Version 1 (felt):

I should warn you that this is not exactly easy. It's quite some work and it can be frustrating. This is
not the way I did it, actually this should be easier.

● Glue white felt on her face, her body and her left leg.
The face should be made of one piece. The body and leg should be made of one or two
pieces. Yeah, I just said that. Here is how you do it:
Take a complete piece of white felt. Wrap it around her starting on the right side of her body
(the right seam that is). It must cover her whole front from her neck to her crotch plus the
outside (or left side) of the left leg. I know that her left arm is not exactly helping it, so make
a hole in the felt and put the arm through it. The felt should still cover the same parts.
(Btw, I know this is madness.)
Pin the felt to her body on the left seam along the leg. Make the felt fit her body by slowly
pinning it to the body and cutting it where it needs cutting. You might be able to cover her
whole body in one piece but I'm not sure about the inside/right side of her left leg. If you
can't cover it with this piece then use another one.
Now glue the felt to the body bit by bit. Start at the left seam. I know this is not easy but you
will make it. This was the easy part.

● Cover the upper half of her head in black felt. Please use a reference for this, it's not like a
line, it's more like two curves.
Now you need to be able to look at reference pictures of her all the time. Trust me! It is
absolutely necessary. Work in front of your computer to avoid having to print out
everything.
Start by covering her right leg completely in black felt. You should be able to do it in one
piece. Remember: pin, cut, glue, cut some more, glue some more. Now the little pointed part
on her left leg. That one is rather easy. Cut it out and glue it on. This should look cool
already. Don't give up now.
Continue with the arms. You can do them in one piece, too. They are not too hard to do. The
next part is the hardest but after that you're done.
I'm talking about the pattern on the front and the back of her body. It's best to split it up in
four parts.
 1) front: left breast / shoulder and pointy part at her neck
2) front: right breast / shoulder / pointy part at her neck / tummy and between her legs
3) back: shoulder / part of the side / left part of the butt and pattern on the right side
4) back: shoulder

You can make patterns of these shapes or simply place the felt on her body and cut it into the
right shape. For exact shape, size and position use reference pictures. Try to make the pointy
parts at her neck a part of pieces 1 and 2. If you can't think of a way, then don't do it. It is
rather difficult. Pieces 1 and 4, and 2 and 3 respectively should meet at the seam at the side.
Now take a break. You deserve it.

Version 2 (paint)

There's really nothing much to say about this. Get some black fabric paint, reference pictures and
paint the pattern on. This is the easiest way to do this.
Important: Painting on fleece will not work very well!

Version 3 (sew)

This is a lot like version 1, the black felt part. Except that your arms and one leg are already black.
So all you need to do is the upper half of her head, part of her left leg and her body.
Cut out the pieces, hem them, or use nailpolish on them and then sew them in place. I recommend
making patterns of these black parts. Should make it a lot easier.

All versions:

Add ears and eyes now. I recommend adding the pointy bits on her arms after you've done the green
pattern.
Step 5: The green lines

There are two ways to make these: embroidery or paint

1. Embroidery:

This was the first time I did this so I'm sorry I can't exactly give you much advice.

● There are green lines on the following body parts: both legs, both arms and hands, both ears.
Use some good reference. Don't despair.

● Use as few stitches as possible and as much as necessary. Circles or anything else that is not
a straight line needs more stitches. Try making straight lines out of one stitch.

● Start with something easy. The patterns on her legs aren't too difficult.

examples of my embroidery

2. Paint:

Get a good brush, a rather thin one. This is really easy. If you've never painted anything on fabric
before then practice on a test piece.
Step 6: Hair

Now, get your felt, it's time for Midna's hair.

Part 1: The long hair

Note: You can either sew or glue the hair to the head! I sewed it so I wrote the tutorial accordingly.

● You start with the bright yellow. Sew it to the head using about three stitches for every
piece of felt. The left picture shows you where the first four pieces go, the right one shows
you where to put the next four. Do not sew them to the exact center of her head, instead
imagine the head divided in thirds, horizontally. The little square in the middle that you
leave free should be just below an imagined line between the upper and middle third.

● Now, the dark yellow. Look at this new picture. The circle indicates where the first layer of
felt should be. Sew the next eight pieces around them. Not too hard, is it?
● Finally, the orange hair. This is the only one that you will see completely lateron. The circle
in the middle is your first layer, the one around it is your second layer. Start by sewing the
eight pieces of felt to her head - the orange ones in this picture. They are your basic layer.
Now cover them with a second layer ( like the white ones in this picture). If you now try to
make the high kind of Midna-ponytail the orange should cover all other colors.
To make her hair "fuller" sew the orange (only the orange!) layers to the head where the red
line indicates. Maybe in a smaller circle. Just see what works for you.

● How do you make her hair stand up like that? By using a simple trick! Take a small amount
of your filling and place it in the middle, on the light yellow layer. Position it towards the
top of the head. Now take the strands of yellow hair and put them up around the filling.
Check a reference picture to see if the ponytail is in the right position! Stitch it in place
carefully where all the strands meet (see left picture). You won't be able to cover the filling
with this first layer. Put the second layer of yellow (the dark one) on top of this and sew it to
the first one (see right picture). Don't let the colors in the pictures fool you, we are still
talking about the first two - yellow - layers here.
 ● Put the orange layer on top of it but don't sew! Instead, cut a stripe of grey felt and make a
hair-band out of it. You can pull the strands of hair in place but don't pull too much or you'll
tear the felt. You can put another layer (or two) of grey felt on the first one.

That's it. You've made her long hair!

Part 2: The short hair and the black hair

● Orange first. Cut a stripe of orange felt about 6 cm wide (length is short side of your paper-
sized felt piece). Cut out triangels. They don't have to be regular. In fact, they can look as
chaotic as this:

Lovely. Now sew them to the top of the head - between the seam (between the front and
back of the head) and the orange hair. Two or three layers will do. It should look like this:

● Now black. Cut a stripe of black felt about 4cm wide (length is short side of your paper-
sized felt piece again). Cut out triangles. See above. Now start by sewing them to the top of
her head. Continue around the head (they go behind her ears!) like this:
 ● The last part is the three to four strands of long black hair that you can see even when she
wears the headpiece.

Cut them out and sew them to the head. Easy as that! And while you're at it, this might be a
good time to add the pointy things on her arms (I forgot them). As far as I can tell, there are
four on every arm. For position please see reference. Cut them out and sew or glue them on.

Step 7: Headpiece

You can make the headpiece permanent if you want to but I don't recommend it. Mine is detachable
and it's just a tiny little bit more work.

● First you have to adjust the pattern "headpiece, main part". It should be cut out so try to put
it on Midna's head. You should be able to see her left eye whereas here right eye should be
completely covered. If that's not the case adjust it.
The length is important as well. This pattern is definitely to short to go all the way around
her head. Pin it in place, measure the distance, divide by two and add to the right and left
side respectively. Add some one or two cm just in case.
Make the new pattern or modify the old one.

● Draw the pattern on the foam rubber and cut it out. Paint on both sides with the acrylic
enamel if necessary.

● You're almost done! Look at some good reference pictures and draw the patterns on your
pieces. Glue the front to the main part.

● Now get the velcro. Glue the soft side on the part made from the pattern saying "back" (you
can make this a bit smaller if you want to), one piece on the right and one on the left. Hold it
to the back of her head and put the rest of the headpiece on her. Make little marks where the
velcro touches the main part of the headpiece. Glue the rough side of the velcro there. Let
the glue dry! Preferably over night (depending on the kind of glue you're using).
Put the headpiece on aaaaand, that's it!

Admire cute little Midna!