Helping Huggers
Collection of Stuffed Animals for Children with Disabilities
Collaborators:
Julia Handley
Aleena Thomas
Ethan Sadler
Our collection of stuffed animals are for children who use medical devices. We chose animals who have human like bodies so that the children would be able to relate to them more.
Theo the Panda
Made out of sewing thread, embroidery thread, grey cotton jersey, black cotton jersey, and white thin cotton jersey fabric.
This is a small presentation of our demographic and research about the subject.
Process
The first steps of this project was to sketch out the design of the panda from the inspiration and reference photos of pandas. From their I was able to start making a base form of the animal using paper and tape and morphing it into the shapes I needed to create the stuffed animal. Once the shape was formed out of the paper and tape, the next step was to create the pattern for the stuffed animal. To do this I wrapped the paper form in plastic wrap and then put tape over the plastic wrap. I knew I wanted it to be symmetrical so I concentrated my tape to one side of the form and only drew the pattern lines on that half with a Sharpie.
After all of the seams were drawn on the plastic wrap and tape I cut out all of the pieces on the drawn lines. I then traced them onto paper as well as transferring any marks that needed to be made to keep everything organized. I then added seam allowance to all of the pieces.
After the pattern was made, I tested out the pattern by making a prototype with a knit fabric. I slipped the sewn prototype over the paper form I had to see if everything was the way I wanted them to be.
Once I was done with my prototype, I got started sewing together the final version of the panda. I sewed it all together but one section of a seam on the back so that I could stuff it. Once I stuffed it, I sewed up that seam and added the finishing touches such as sewing on the feeding tube.