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Sewing: Puffer Fish {Tutorial}

Sew and make a puffer fish stuffed toy and home deco out of a microfiber chenille mitten…. from square to sphere…. and turning a household’s cleaning glove to a kid’s loving soft toy. With a short elastic cord attach onto it and hang it in your car, stroller or even play pen for your kids to play with, let the puffer fish bounce and bungee jump all over the place. Toss it around, play “monkey catch” with it, or nap with it, it’s going to be your kid’s favorite buddy!!! Click next to view more pictures under the main photo.

Siblings and I used to go fishing at a deserted beach during the old days of childhood. One day we caught “a lot” of puffer fish than usual. In fact, there weren’t a lot of puffer fish in the sea, just that, there was 1 particular hungry puffer fish kept eating our bait and angled by us repeatedly. Knowing that puffer fish is poisonous and can’t be eaten, we released it back to the sea (it ain’t so lucky if we are Japanese, LOL)…. but it kept on coming back with hook scars all over it’s lip. In order not to disturb our fishing fun, we decided to keep it on the land and let it bloat, but will put it back to the sea before it exploded (will it?) or out of breath Looking at how it’s inflating was darn so cute (sorry, I don’t mean to be cruel to animals or fish), it was like blowing a balloon, with it’s funny facial expression, it was telling us that it was gulping it’s favorite air. Watching the fish getting bigger and bigger, rounder and rounder… wow, that piece of memory embedded into me so deeply that I have to make this puffer fish. This idea struck me immediately when I saw the chenille mitten at the store and inspired me.

Hope you will enjoy sewing a chenille mitt puffer fish, here is the step by step instruction:

Difficulty Level: Intermediate

Finished Dimension: 6″ (W) x 7″ (L) x 5″ (H)

Material:
1. Microfiber Chenille Mitt
2. Fabric, about 14″ (W) x 7″ (H)
3. Felt (Black & White)
4. Polyester Cord, 1/4″ Ø, 5 1/2″
5. Elastic Cord
6. Ribbon
7. Poly-fill
8. Strong thread
9. Long sewing needle, prefer at least 2″ long

Cut fabric to 4″ square for tail, 2 pcs. of 3″ square for fins, 5 1/2″ x 1 1/2″ 45° diagonal for mouth.
Cut black felt 2 pcs. of 3″Ø, 2 pcs.of 7/8″Ø.
Cut white felt 2 pcs. of 1 1/8″Ø and 6 small circles ( I used leather hole puncher to punch the small circles).

EYES

Place white circle felt onto the center of the 3″ black felt, zigzag sew the circumference with sewing machine. If you hand sew, use blanket stitch.
Then, place the 7/8″ black felt onto them, sew as previous.
Patch and stitch the small white circles onto them.

Run stitch at the circumference of the black felt. Tug and pull to gather.
Stuff poly-fill into it and tighten up.
Darn a few more stitches across the opening to close it better.

This is the eye ball of the puffer fish. Repeat the same for another eye ball.

Trim off some chenilles from the corner of the mitten. Remove the residue. This is the socket of the eye ball.
Check the amount needed to trim off by placing the eye ball into it.
Repeat the same to the other side.

Push the corner of the mitten inward to create a socket and place the eye ball into it. Pin to dock the placement.
Slip stitch the eye ball to the socket. Sew near to the white edge of the eye ball. Remove pin.
Repeat the same to the other side.
Set aside.

FINS & TAILS

Fold the fin fabric into half with right side facing each other.
Sew with 1/4″ seam allowance and leave 1″ opening for turning right-side out.
Turn the fin right-side out and press. Stitch to mend the opening.
Repeat the same for the other fin and tail.

Run stitch near the edge, tug to gather the fabric to about 1″ wide.
Set aside.

MOUTH

Align the slant edge of the mouth fabric, in right angle to each other and sew with 1/4″ seam allowance.

Turn and press the seam flat. Press one of the raw edge 1/4″ inward.

Baste the polyester cord at the non-press raw edge. Trim off excess cord.

Fold the fabric to wrap around the cord and slip stitch along.

Trim off a column or 2 of chenilles at the center between the 2 eyes. Slip stitch the mouth to the face.
Stuff poly-fill from the wrist of the mitten, not too full but full enough to inflate the mitten. You will find that your fish is not round… yet! Don’t freak out!!! The following steps are the secret to make it round without any trimming.

ASSEMBLY

To make the fish rounder, you need to shorten the length of the sides.
Use double strong thread and make a big knot. Make a stitch at the the side, about 1 1/4″ from the edge of the eye, stitch again at 1 1/2″ from the fist stitch, then back to the first stitch. Squeeze the stuffed mitten a little to bring the 2 points closer to each other before pulling the thread to bring them together. The reason I squeeze the mitten before pulling the thread is because the mitten fabric is a loose woven type, pulling without squeezing might rip off the mitten’s fabric.

Make a few more stitches around it to further secure the tug. Knot and hide the thread end.

Sew to attach the fin at the tug site. Repeat the same to the other side.

Stuff the mitten more to make it fuller. Trim off the elastic wrist band and leave only about 1″ behind.
Run stitch around and pull to gather to close the opening. Darn a few stitches to fasten it further.

Sew the tail to the back to cover all the stitches.
Your puffer fish is done.
Lastly, find the center point of the puffer fish and sew the elastic cord to it, then decorate it with a ribbon.
Enjoy!!!
Tip: Pinch the top of the puffer fish to find the balancing point of the puffer fish to sew the hanging cord.

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