T-shirt Buddy - MADE EVERYDAY

Owen is big on textures. He’s always been a cuddly/snuggly kid, he sleeps with this random knit fabric pillowcase that I got at Ikea (which gets snugglier with every wash), and he loves to wear t-shirts that are super soft. I can’t blame him. I love giving him hugs in his super soft Tees. He’s my Owen bear.

And this t-shirt from the Austin Children’s museum is his absolute fave. Whenever I ask him to go pick out some clothes, he grabs the “Texas shirt”. What’s not to love? Yellow, orange, geography, and super soft fabric. But seriously. It’s way too small now. And a while back some of you mentioned that I should make him a toy out of the t-shirt. Yes!

So I chopped it up, gave it some boots, and Owen’s got a new Buddy.

He was so confused that his shirt could become something new and resusable (he still hasn’t caught on to the whole thing I’m doing in my sewing room). But he was super excited about his new toy! He even helped pick out the colors and accessories.

You can make this project with any scraps of fabric you have lying around. I’ve got a few more t-shirts to tackle after this:
• Simply cut out two layers of your shape (give it a 1/2 inch seam allowance and add another 1/2 inch to account for puffiness when the toy is stuffed).
• Use scraps of knit fabrics to cut out a face. Sew it to the Front piece of fabric.
• For arms and legs I love to cut 1 1/2 inch wide strips of knit, then tug on both ends and the knit curls up at the edges forming a small tube of fabric. No sewing needed! Just use it as-is. Sew some felt boots or circles for shoes. Add hands. Do whatever!
• When sewing the limbs on, they need to be facing IN on the body. I recommend baste stitching them first with a 1/4 inch seam allowance to the front layer of fabric before sewing both body pieces together. Gives you more control. Also, if you’re going to angle the legs or arms, first lay them how you’d like the finished legs to be, then flip them into the body so you can see which direction they need to be angled for sewing (since it can be opposite of what you think). Sounds confusing. Try it and see.

• With right sides of fabric together, sandwich the two body layers together, tucking all the limbs and hat into the middle, pin it around, and sew around the outside of the body, leaving an opening somewhere so you can turn it right side out. I left my opening at the top, because the hat will cover it.
• Clip all the curved seam areas, especially right angles and turn him right-side out.
• Stuff him with whatever you have on-hand. I pulled stuffing out of a bed pillow my husband discarded.
• Pin the opening closed and sew it closed by machine or by hand. It will take some strength to do it with the machine, so use both hands, pulling the stuffing as far over as you can.

And there you go!
Welcome new buddy.

With or without his stuffing (pre-stuffing above), he’s right at home in our Austin neighborhood.
And I have a feeling he might become the “Elf on the Shelf” of our family.

You might see him hanging from his bootstrap….or stuck in a bootstrap.

Spending the day behind bars and skipping town for the border (might be related to his bootstrap situation).

Rolling with his homies.

Scaling a wall….and being tortured by Big Baby.

Playing social Mixer games with the other bedroom groupies.

And just today Owen thought Mr. Texas would make the perfect Rancor for Jabba’s palace…..which if you even know who/what that is, you’re in a special group of Star Wars lovers.

He’s making the rounds.

And just this week in school Owen has been learning about Texas. They made this little Texas bean picture below which is so simple and so brilliant. So I was thinking….wouldn’t it be fun to take Mr. Texas around Texas with us??

Show him the Alamo, the Austin capitol, the beach, some longhorns. Might make for a fun photo adventure.

Yeehaw!
We’re doing it.

The only thing we need to settle….is his name.
Owen wants Mace. I thought of Texas Tim (in honor of Tim Riggins. Love me some FNL).
And we both agreed on Austin, for obvious reasons.
But that’s pretty boring.
Any thoughts for Buddy?

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