A SUGGESTION FOR HOME MADE TOYS.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 20432, 12 June 1928, Page 14

A SUGGESTION FOR HOME MADE TOYS.

Soft toys, beloved by the tiny tots, are not difficult to make. The material should be soft, thick, and woolly in texture, velvet serving well for some models. The stuffing may be of kapok, wool, or flock. It is a good plan to study a wellmade bought toy for useful ideas on cutting out, placing the limbs, and finishing. Make a sketch of the animal, bird, or elf to be represented by the toy. It may be presented in a side view or from full front, as preferred, the former being the easier to manage. The head and trunk can generally be cut together in twopiece form, although some animals require three pieces to get correct contour. Try to make your sketch as full of character as possible; an inquisitivelooking kitten, an impudent puppy, or a perky chicken, will find more favour with the youngsters than will a more stolid model. . Nursery books will supply plenty of characteristic pictures to copy. Having made the drawing and cut it out. double the material wrong side out, and pin the drawing on it, going carefully round the outline with a soft pencil. Remove the sketch, tack the stuff to keep it in place, and machine along the pencil marks, leaving a small opening in some inconspicuous spot through which to turn the case and to stuff it. Cut out the figure about half an inch outside the machining and turn it right Side out. Stuff until it feels firm, though soft, all over, and sew up the hole. When adding the legs, wings, ears, and so on, which must be made separately, try them first in different positions; then pin and sew them on firmly, remembering that these soft, toys are apt to be so vigorously “ loved " by their little owners that they must be substantially made. Eyes can be put in with buttons—which have a pleasantly quaint effect—or with the eyes procurable at toy shops. Two or three colours may be used in maknig the toys, with very good results; but at first it is nest to keep to one materia] Ui order in simplify cutting out. *