"Make your own Little Big Planet Sack People" by Phoenix
What you will need
1. A piece of cardboard to use for a work space (optional)
2. Large pieces of pink cloth
3. Small piece of white cloth
4. Small piece of black cloth or denim
5. A marker or tailor's chalk (for outlining)
6. Scissors
7. Sewing needle
8. Thread (Pink, Black, White and Red)
9. A bag of cotton balls
10. Zippers (optional)
2. Large pieces of pink cloth
3. Small piece of white cloth
4. Small piece of black cloth or denim
5. A marker or tailor's chalk (for outlining)
6. Scissors
7. Sewing needle
8. Thread (Pink, Black, White and Red)
9. A bag of cotton balls
10. Zippers (optional)
The Initial Sketch
![Picture](/uploads/9/9/0/0/9900378/8320798.jpg?236)
If you're a fan of Little Big Planet you will love this project. One day after playing LBP with my little cousins they mentioned that they wanted stuffed animals like the game characters. We looked online, but they thought the ones that we saw were ugly. I decided I wanted to surprise them and began to sketch one of the characters from my Tv screen. This is what I ended up with.
My Pattern
![Picture](/uploads/9/9/0/0/9900378/8848875.jpg)
After the sketch was done it was a matter of making a paper pattern for all the necessary pieces.
Tracing the pieces onto cloth
![Picture](/uploads/9/9/0/0/9900378/7015456.jpg)
Next thing to do was outline all the pieces in the material. I used light pink cloth from most of an old shirt, a small piece of white cloth from another old shirt, and black denim from an old pair of jeans. It truly does pay to recycle guys :D
Get your scissors ready
![Picture](/uploads/9/9/0/0/9900378/5301239.jpg)
After everything is outlined, it's time to cut out all the pieces and arrange them on a piece of cardboard.
Time to sew and stuff our sack people
Now that we have all of our pieces, lets put them together!
I started by sewing around the arms and legs. When working on the the legs; sew the front and back pieces together leaving the part at it's hip open. When working on the arms; sew the front and back pieces together leaving the part at the underarm open. For your sack people's bodies; sew front and back pieces together leaving the part at the neck open. For their heads; sew front and back of pieces together leaving the neck and top of head open. Attach the crown piece to the top of their heads. Place the eye and mouth pieces to the side for now. Grab your bag of cotton balls and start pulling them apart. Stuff the cotton into the legs, arms, bodies, and heads of your sack people. Next attach the legs to the bodies at the hip, attach the arms to the bodies at the underarm, and attach the heads to the bodies at the neck.
Grab the eye and mouth pieces that we put to the side. Before attaching the eyes and mouths you'll want to sew around the pieces with black thread to keep them from fraying. The easiest way to do this, is to start from the middle of the pieces and sew outward. After you're done, use white thread to attach the triangular pieces "gleam" in their eyes. (Optional: to give the mouths more detail, sew a half crescent shape in with red thread. This will give their mouths more character.) Now go ahead and sew the eye and mouth pieces onto their faces.
I started by sewing around the arms and legs. When working on the the legs; sew the front and back pieces together leaving the part at it's hip open. When working on the arms; sew the front and back pieces together leaving the part at the underarm open. For your sack people's bodies; sew front and back pieces together leaving the part at the neck open. For their heads; sew front and back of pieces together leaving the neck and top of head open. Attach the crown piece to the top of their heads. Place the eye and mouth pieces to the side for now. Grab your bag of cotton balls and start pulling them apart. Stuff the cotton into the legs, arms, bodies, and heads of your sack people. Next attach the legs to the bodies at the hip, attach the arms to the bodies at the underarm, and attach the heads to the bodies at the neck.
Grab the eye and mouth pieces that we put to the side. Before attaching the eyes and mouths you'll want to sew around the pieces with black thread to keep them from fraying. The easiest way to do this, is to start from the middle of the pieces and sew outward. After you're done, use white thread to attach the triangular pieces "gleam" in their eyes. (Optional: to give the mouths more detail, sew a half crescent shape in with red thread. This will give their mouths more character.) Now go ahead and sew the eye and mouth pieces onto their faces.
DIY LBP Sack People
![Picture](/uploads/9/9/0/0/9900378/8386975.jpg)
Final Touches.
I bought zippers from my local sewing supply store. If the zippers are too long, you can cut the bottoms off of them. I used metal zippers for the sack people, so cutting the zippers to fit involved using wire cutters and scissors. I cut the strips around the metal down just enough that I had enough to sew around. Once you have them attached you're all done.
To keep the girls from mixing them up, I sewed each of their initials in the bottom of the right foot. If you're making more than one for children and are worried about future arguments over who's sack person is who's, I strongly recommend doing so. I made these from scratch in quite a rush to have them done in time for Christmas. If I ever did this project again there are quite a few things I would do differently to make them better.
I bought zippers from my local sewing supply store. If the zippers are too long, you can cut the bottoms off of them. I used metal zippers for the sack people, so cutting the zippers to fit involved using wire cutters and scissors. I cut the strips around the metal down just enough that I had enough to sew around. Once you have them attached you're all done.
To keep the girls from mixing them up, I sewed each of their initials in the bottom of the right foot. If you're making more than one for children and are worried about future arguments over who's sack person is who's, I strongly recommend doing so. I made these from scratch in quite a rush to have them done in time for Christmas. If I ever did this project again there are quite a few things I would do differently to make them better.
Tips & Tricks (What I would do differently next time)
I was quite satisfied with the outcome considering the limited time and materials I had to work with. I hope you guys can learn from my mistakes so you can get it right the first time, or at least have a better outcome than you would have.
1. Since I was using scraps of cloth from around the house and making two of them, I had to make them relatively small. While they look cute at this size, sewing the smaller details like the fingers on the hands is quite a challenge. If you are able to do so, get a good amount of material so you can make good sized sack people.
2. When attaching the heads you may find that they are a bit top-heavy. This can be solved by either putting more cotton into the pieces that make up their bodies or by sewing the head closer to the neck. (P.s. In the interest of time, I had to do the latter)
3. If you choose to add zippers and need to cut then at the bottom to make them fit, tell the recipient not to play with it. The zippers I added were more for show than function so one of them did end up getting pulled off the track before I could warn not to play with it. In my case I was able to get it back on the track and re-attach the side that had been severed.
4. If you want the zippers to be functional:
* Make sure you get an appropriate sized zipper for the size of your sack person so you don't need to cut off the excess at the bottom. (Having to cut the bottom means there is no longer a stopper to keep the zipper from coming off the track.)
*Cut a slit in the sack person's chest and sew the folds of the zipper on the inside before attaching the front and back of the body pieces together.
All in all, the most important part to me was seeing the smiles on the girl's faces when I gave them their "Christmas surprise". Hope you enjoy this tutorial :D
1. Since I was using scraps of cloth from around the house and making two of them, I had to make them relatively small. While they look cute at this size, sewing the smaller details like the fingers on the hands is quite a challenge. If you are able to do so, get a good amount of material so you can make good sized sack people.
2. When attaching the heads you may find that they are a bit top-heavy. This can be solved by either putting more cotton into the pieces that make up their bodies or by sewing the head closer to the neck. (P.s. In the interest of time, I had to do the latter)
3. If you choose to add zippers and need to cut then at the bottom to make them fit, tell the recipient not to play with it. The zippers I added were more for show than function so one of them did end up getting pulled off the track before I could warn not to play with it. In my case I was able to get it back on the track and re-attach the side that had been severed.
4. If you want the zippers to be functional:
* Make sure you get an appropriate sized zipper for the size of your sack person so you don't need to cut off the excess at the bottom. (Having to cut the bottom means there is no longer a stopper to keep the zipper from coming off the track.)
*Cut a slit in the sack person's chest and sew the folds of the zipper on the inside before attaching the front and back of the body pieces together.
All in all, the most important part to me was seeing the smiles on the girl's faces when I gave them their "Christmas surprise". Hope you enjoy this tutorial :D