Soft Toy Awards
by Kathreen Ricketson, Canberra, Australia 
on 02.17.07
Image: paper bag writer on flickr
When coming across the softie awards, we were blown away by some the original handmade soft toys out there. Wow. What is going on? Could it be that people are sick of the crappy made-in-China plastic toys that break apart within five minutes, or the cute polyester everyone-has-the-same-one Disney Land stuffed toys? I really hope so.
When thinking of hand made toys, Raggedy Anne dolls or corduroy teddy bears might come to mind, when thinking of beautifully made, unique and eco friendly toys, boutique stores might be considered. But what about handmade toys, handcrafted by loving hands in the home by hobbyists or artists? We have seen handmade soft toys on TreeHugger before like the knit octopus and Andreas Linzner's terry cloth stuffed animals, but how does one find such items or better still make them?
Maybe these hand made toys are not all organic or made from recycled materials, but we can rejoice in their originality, the fact that they are locally produced, fill a real need (kids need toys!) and most probably will not be produced by the millions and shipped all over the world.
Image: Mr Autumn at Etsy
To make your own wonderful soft toy all you need are some materials and a pattern, glue, knitting needles or needle and thread. To make an eco friendly 'green' soft toy then you might want to try using organic or recycled materials sourced from local producers.
::softie awards, ::softie awards pool on flickr, tutorial for making soft toy monster at ::flickr, and a knit pattern for an unusual soft nautical toy at ::Knitty.
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If you make your own softie, you can stuff it with past-their-prime plastic bags, packing peanuts, buckwheat hulls, or just small scraps of fabric. And you can use scraps of fabric to make the cute little beasties, or use old holey clothes or sheets.
I make these things a lot, and I give them as gifts. I usually sew a pocket on them for putting notes in.
This is one of those crafts that pretty much anyone can do, since there are no rules about what your critter is supposed to look like. You can really experiment and get some amazingly funky results with not much effort. Though, obviously, you can go all out, and make more amazing things, like these softie winners did.
Thanks for your post about The Softie Awards! Actually, many softie-makers used recycled fabric to make their creatures - they're into shopping at thrift stores and using previously loved garments - either as-is or washed and felted. And as mentioned in the previous comment, old fabric scraps are used for stuffing too.
nice tip you have given to make a softtoy but i am not getting it so i have visited a site where i found many softtoys with different variaties like human,birds,creatures and dogs etc.,
How cute these soft toys are! Apparently they are made of talent and creativity! And I agree with that it will be much better to make these things using organic or recycled materials,as it's more friendly to our enviroment.
Sometimes I also make some staff by myself. Although I'm not good at the cutting and sewing things,it will make me feel very happy when I finished !