Sometimes it CAN take ages, even YEARS to design a pattern<\/strong><\/a> – like it did with my Kitty Kate CAT Pattern Design<\/strong>! Over the years I kept trying to design a cat and every time I didn’t think it was cute enough. On the other extreme, it can sometimes be like a light-bulb moment – you mull over a pattern design for ages then suddenly it all falls into place and you feel like the pattern design happened OVERNIGHT<\/strong><\/a> like it did with my Artie Aardvark Pattern Design<\/strong>!<\/p>\n I wonder sometimes if I have upset a few people over the years when I didn’t just create the pattern they asked for right away! I guess most people just don’t know what goes into the process of designing a stuffed toy so I thought I’d write a blog post to give people a little peek into how I go about designing my Funky Friends<\/strong>. I took some photos while I was designing my latest stuffed toy pattern, Sandy the Seagull<\/strong>, so now you can see what I do in my Funky Friends Factory! \ud83d\ude00<\/p>\n OKAY, where to begin?<\/p>\n This is one of my favourite parts of designing stuffed animals! <\/strong><\/p>\n First of all I go to my favourite resource for softie inspiration ~> Google! <\/strong>I want to make my soft toys unique so it’s really important to me to know what’s already out there. So when I started to design my seagull softie I did a Google search for ‘seagull soft toy’<\/strong>. In a way, it was nice to see that there weren’t too many seagull toys available because it makes it easier to come up with something unique… Unfortunately it could also mean that a seagull\u00a0 is NOT very popular?\u00a0 Ooooh, decision time! Mmmmmmm, I love seagulls myself so I decided to bank on the fact that other people might too!<\/p>\n Searching on Google has other advantages too! <\/strong><\/p>\n Naming my Funky Friends Softies is an important part of the pattern design too and I like to try and choose something unique. In my soft toy search I found this cute soft toy seagull named Seymour<\/strong><\/a>. I had been thinking of calling MY seagull Seymour the Seagull…<\/p>\n Another advantage is that you learn some cool stuff! <\/strong><\/p>\n This Seymour Seagull is in the Alcatraz Excursions Gift Shop<\/strong><\/a> where you can buy souvenirs of Alcatraz Prison!\u00a0 WOW! Did you know they had a 70th Anniversary for the prison and ALL the ex-inmates and their\u00a0guards were invited to the reunion on the Rock! It’s true there’s a whole DVD about it! Haha!<\/p>\n You have just witnessed the main DISADVANTAGE of google research<\/strong>!<\/p>\n You have to be very careful because it is so easy to get distracted looking at all sorts of other things! I keep having to remind myself to stay\u00a0 F-O-C-U-S-E-D !!! \ud83d\ude42<\/strong><\/p>\n Real-life research is awesome if you have the opportunity?<\/strong><\/p>\n Try and get to see a real animal if you can. <\/strong>This will give you an idea of the shapes you need to recreate for your stuffed toy design. I love to visit zoos, aquariums and wild life parks whenever I can. When I was designing my Charlie Cockatoo Pattern<\/strong><\/a>, I was lucky enough to have a live ‘specimen’ to observe up close. A really cheeky cockatoo came and helped himself to the birdseed right outside my sewing room window!!!<\/p>\n ALL the research helps me with the next part of the pattern design…<\/p>\n This is when I decide which features to highlight in the toy design.<\/strong><\/p>\n To me, toy pattern design is a little bit like creating a caricature<\/strong>. I tend to exaggerate certain parts of an animal, like the duck’s BILL for my Dilby Duck toy pattern<\/strong><\/a>, or the peacock’s TAIL for my Punju Peacock toy pattern<\/strong><\/a>, or the cute droopy little wombat bottom for Wodger Wombat Toy Pattern… I think you get the idea!<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/manage.funkyfriendsfactory.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/Aardvark-soft-toy-design-1.jpg\")
<\/p>\n<\/h1>\n
Researching the pattern concept.<\/strong><\/h1>\n
D@mn! ^#@^&*!!!<\/h1>\n
![\"Seymour](\"https:\/\/manage.funkyfriendsfactory.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/seymour_seagull.jpg\" "\\"seymour_seagull\\"")
<\/p>\nUH OH!<\/h1>\n
![\"REAL](\"https:\/\/manage.funkyfriendsfactory.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/REAL-cockatoo.jpg\" "\\"REAL-cockatoo\\"")
<\/strong><\/p>\nDeveloping the Pattern Design. <\/strong><\/h1>\n
![\"Wombat](\"https:\/\/manage.funkyfriendsfactory.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/Wombat-Australian-toy-sewing-pattern-design.jpg\" "\\"Wombat-Australian-toy-sewing-pattern-design\\"")
<\/p>\n
![\"my](\"https:\/\/manage.funkyfriendsfactory.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/my-seagull-pattern-drawing1.jpg\" "\\"my-seagull-pattern-drawing\\"")
<\/p>\n![\"How](\"https:\/\/manage.funkyfriendsfactory.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/How-to-design-a-stuffed-toy-prototype.jpg\" "\\"How-to-design-a-stuffed-toy---prototype\\"")
<\/p>\n![\"designing](\"https:\/\/manage.funkyfriendsfactory.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/designing-a-stuffed-toy.jpg\" "\\"designing-a-stuffed-toy\\"")
<\/p>\n![\"Pauline](\"https:\/\/manage.funkyfriendsfactory.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/01\/Teddy-bear-rings.png\" "\\"Teddy-bear-rings\\"")
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/manage.funkyfriendsfactory.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/White-Spacer.jpg\" "\\"White-Spacer\\""){kind=spacer}
<\/strong> <\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"