How to Make An Elephant Doorstop (that's too cute for the floor!)

Can I show you how to make an elephant doorstop that's bursting with so much cuteness you won't want to put it on the floor?

The plan for this sweet thing was to have her hold my little girl Laney's door open, but the thought of kicking it out of the way every time I wanted to close the door made me change my mind... Miss. Elephant is now safely perched on top of Shel Silverstein on the bookshelf and far away from our feet.  Are you relieved?  I am.

Wanna make one?
You'll need:

• This pattern for the elephant
• This pattern for the bow
• Gray felt
• Pink felt
• Decorative scrap fabric
• Needle, embroidery thread and scissors
• Straight pins
• Plastic can gripper (that's my secret weapon!)
• Pebbles
• Stuffing

First, you'll want to print this pattern (landscape-style at 250%) and piece it together.   I always like to give credit where credit is due, but it was super hard to find out who originally created this pattern.  One source said it was from an old Family Fun magazine, so we'll go with that.

Use the pattern to cut each of your pieces out of felt.  For the ear pieces, I cut two pieces out of fabric a little larger than the pattern so that I could turn it under before stitching, and two pieces out of felt (for the backs of the ears).**

Now the fun part!  Piece the gray felt pieces together and pin them in place. Start whip stitching the elephant together (I started at the back of the elephant's heel and went up towards the butt.)  If you don't know what whip stitching is, check out this youtube video.  (You're going to thank me for the awesome music!)

One quirky thing about the elephant pattern is that it didn't include a tail pattern piece so I made up my own.  I just cut a rectangle piece of felt about an inch or so wide and about 2.5-3 inches long.  I snipped the ends of one of the short sides of the rectangle and then rolled the felt up, whip stitching the roll closed.  The picture above should help you.

The picture below is how I pieced the tail in.  You're looking at the inside of the elephant's butt.

Keep whip stitching around the rest of the elephant.  When you get to the trunk be sure to put in some stuffing WHILE you stitch it closed.  It will be super hard to get the stuffing in there if you don't do it this way.

Now for my secret weapon... pull out that freebie can gripper that you got at the fair (the flexible plastic one) and use it to grip your needle when it gets really hard to pull it through two layers of felt and the fabric on the ears.  Works perfectly doesn't it?!

**Be sure to follow my above instructions about the ear fabric.  If you cut the fabric a little larger than the felt then you'll have space to turn the fabric under before you stitch it to the ear backs (made out of felt).

One more important note... TRUST THE PATTERN!  While you're stitching, line up the pattern pieces you cut perfectly, don't start making adjustments to the pattern while you're stitching because you think it's not lining up correctly.

When you're all done stitching the elephant the underneath will have an open flap for stuffing.  Put the stuffing in first (just a bit in the bottom of the feet too) then fill in the rest of the legs and the underneath belly with pebbles for weight.  

If you're not planning on using your elephant for a door stop or a book end, just omit the pebbles and use only stuffing.

 As a finishing touch, I embellished with a pink bow using this pattern.

 Can't wait to show you the rest of Laney's room!  We're aaaaallmost done.