Plush Writeup - Halloween Shifty

Oh Halloween Shifty, how I love you.

I don't think I've ever made a plush with this much personality before. She is such a little terror!

As my mascot, Shifty is supposed to represent the sewing side of my life. So she loves to make plushies and costumes, and accordingly her favorite holiday is Halloween, just like mine!

​I knew I wanted to make a sitting plush using CholyKnight's Vulpix pattern as a base. I also wanted to use various Halloween quilting cotton as accents on the plush, but I didn't have a solid theme in mind. So, I started browsing Etsy and Joann's websites for inspiration.

I saw a lot of cute repeating candy pattern fabrics and the idea hit me - a CANDY VAMPIRE!

I started doing a rough color over the sketch using images of the fabrics to get a design I liked. While I really liked this fabric, I thought the colors might clash with her fur a little too much, and if I coordinated all the fabrics with it, it might get loud really quick.

So I found an orange candy fabric from Joann's that I really liked for the wings, and changed the wing bones to dark brown. I also really liked this brown swirly fabric as a "chocolate" fabric that would help tone down the overall design; the sprinkles fabric to be used on the cape; and this white candy fabric, which I decided contrasted too much from the overall colors and also would blend in with her white tipped tail too much.

So I switched it out for this more basic orange dot pattern and liked it a lot more, even if it wasn't a blatant 'candy' pattern.

But then I found one I liked a little bit more! It was an orange & brown fall pattern (Reese's cups colors, anyone?)

I decided she needed a pop of color around her neck, so I brought back the original orange fabric for the bow tie. I also changed the cape to be made from the chocolate fabric, and (poorly) blocked in the rest of Shifty's colors. 

I also wanted to add more details to the wings - buttons, stitches, etc. to make them look very homemade, as everything Shifty makes is supposed to look 'shabby chic' 😉

One final idea I had was to line the cape with the sprinkles fabric for an extra pop of interest!

I could not stop thinking about this plush, so I decided to make a bit cleaner "sketch". I drew over Cholyknight's Vulpix pattern and edited the proportions a bit to how I preferred them, and also used Shifty's reference image (because I can't draw well, unfortunately :( )

A couple other ideas I had: bead "sprinkles" on the wings; candy corn beads hanging from the wings; and to raise her hands a bit so you can see her beans better!

It was a while until I could work on this plush since I had commissions & a trade to finish, but I was SO EXCITED to make it!

In the meantime, I could buy supplies!

Oh Halloween, I love you so much.

I thought the spider buttons were cute, and could possibly fit them into my design somewhere. I also really liked how the multi-color thread matched the candy fabric and wanted to use it for the applique!

Soon enough... it was time to start her!

I started by testing the head for the CholyKnight Vulpix pattern. I made the nose smaller, and I wanted to make the head rounder as well. I also did some needle sculpting in the eye area to make them lie flatter.

But oh boy... I was already loving this.

Omg, how is it possible to love a prototype plush this much?

My first edit to the body pattern was only making the neck a bit taller and also making the arms point upward. I'd also machine sew the arms on instead of hand sewing them on (feet would still need to be hand sewn on). I wanted to make the body chubbier!

The body was made tubbier, by adding some width, and also adding a dart in the stomach area. I also tested out her face embroidery since I wanted it to come out just right. And oh my god... I love you so much already!

These edits made her sit forward way too much. Cute for the concept overall, but bad for photos. This would need to be adjusted.

Last up was to quickly pattern a wing to make sure that the size was appropriate for the candy fabric. I didn't want the plush to be too small and cut off the design. But it looked really good!

These wings would be machine sewn in by adding a dart to the back of the pattern. 

Time to make the final plush!

I really wanted to try making small mochi paw pads for her, and I was thrilled it worked. I omitted the satin stitch on the edges because they are so small and didn't want it to disrupt how dainty they are, but they turned out sooo cute!

The applique for the wings! I had an idea to make the thumb of the wing candy corn colors. The multi-color thread looks great, too!

All the applique! I decided to use the new Shannon color cocoa instead of brown for her stripes, and I like it! It's truer to her ref.

She came together quite easily and oh man - even half sewn and half stuffed, she already had a ton of personality.

So, I got her stuffed with mochi stuffing, polypellets in her tail so it can swing, and a packet in her bum for weight to sit better. The hand sewing was also done (pretty light, only the feet, needle sculpting the eyes, and closing the stuffing hole). And I immediately couldn't resist taking photos.

One of my followers on twitter (and my client for the next commission!) had a great idea to put magnets in her hand, which i did (and her mouth too) for holding candy!!!

GIT!

I bought bugle beads to be "sprinkles" for her wings, and a variety pack of buttons for a nice homemade look. I originally planned on hanging candy corn charms from the wing bones, but with the candy corn wing thumb idea I came up with, it was too much. So they were omitted.

Her tail bow was super simple sewing, just a very long tube turned right side out and tied into a bow. I added a bell for extra cuteness!

Her vampire cape was pretty simple to pattern with my paper towel method of patterning clothes. The wing holes had to be a bit large to fit the wings since the fabric is not stretchy. I used a similar method to sewing welt pockets to finish the edges on the outside and the lining.  The material around the neck was just bias tape I had laying around, although it needed to be made longer than what's in this photo.

I had gone to the store the next day to get the final supplies for her big photoshoot when I happened to find these adorable candy corn bows. It came with two, so floppy Shifty got one. The colors were a little too much for candy vampire Shifty, so I harvested the charm from the bow and made my own bow with the chocolate swirl fabric instead. The orange fabric I had planned to use was just too much. Another direction change!

I also found some pails for the photoshoot that worked great as a trick or treat pail for her too 🥺

"The first step is admitting you have a problem, mom"

Yeaaaaaah... I went a bit overboard on all the materials for her photoshoot. I love Halloween, and didn't do a whole lot last year because of COVID, so I am definitely overcompensating this year. Most of this stuff was from the dollar store and Walmart, so not too costly overall, and I can give the candy out to trick or treaters too! Definitely not making excuses 😉

My lovely husband even helped me set up her shoot 😭 he has a great eye for these things and I don't, so I appreciated the help!

Her big photoshoot took all day!!!

You can see even more photos below! Please check them out! 🧡🖤