How to: Apple Plushie Teacher Thank You Gift Tutorial

I know, I know... it's the end of term next week, you're racing to try and get everything done before the little darlings embark on a 6 week loooooooooong summer holiday and if you're anything like me, you've just realised you need to give half a dozen Teachers & TA's a little thank you present next week!

Well, these cute plushie Apples are just the thing... they don't take long to make, you could do 2 or 3 in an evening and they look so cute!

You will need:

- Apple coloured felts (I've used a pillarbox red, a maroon and an emerald green)
- Matching embroidery thread
- 2 brads per Apple (or you could use sequins, black beads or even small felt circles)
- Black embroidery thread for the mouth
- Brown felt & embroidery thread for the stalk
- Green (if possibly a different shade to the green of your apple) felt and a contrasting green embroidery thread
- Sparkly material (I got mine from Paper-and-String who do all sorts of lovely felts too)
- Scissors, pins and the paper pattern (available at the end of the tutorial)
- Toy stuffing or felt scraps for stuffing.

Instructions:

1. Cut out 2 felt apple shapes & 2 sparkly cheeks. Position your cheeks, smile and eyes. Mark in the eyes and the smile with a pencil or a disappearing ink pen.

2. Sew on the sparkly cheeks using a corresponding thread colour (I used a silver sparkly thread, but you could just use a single strand of a pale coloured cotton thread) then insert the brads for eyes, covering up your pencil marks and stitch a smiling back stitch mouth using 2 strands of black embroidery thread.

3. Cut out 2 brown felt stalks and 2 green felt leaves. Back stitch around the stalks, using 2 strands of matching embroidery thread. For the leaves, I used a running stitch up the stem and then filled in the gaps coming back down and branching out for the leaves. It doesn't really matter how the back ends up looking as you won't see it.

4. Pin the leaf and the stalk in between the 2 apple pieces, making sure enough of both the stem and the leaf are going to be caught in the stitching.

5. Using 2 strands of a matching embroidery thread, back stitch around the apple, starting from the right hand side, so you get the stalk and leaf caught in early on. stop stitching when you have about an inch gap left.

6. Stuff your apple with toy stuffing or if you don't have any you could use felt scraps and when it's reasonably plump (don't give into temptation and over stuff!) back stitch up the hole closed and you are done!

Well done! You have an Apple Plushie!

For my kids teachers I think I'll attach a ribbon to the back of the stalk so they can be hung up, but you could sew a safety pin or a brooch back onto your Apple so it could be worn on clothes, hat or a bag.

I hope you enjoyed the tutorial and as always I'd love to see any that you make. I would like to ask that you respect the copyright and only make these as gifts, not to sell for profit. Please do not reproduce this tutorial in it's entirety and please link back to this page if you reference it elsewhere.