How To Make A DIY Reversible Stuffed Animal For Your Kids

When it comes to buying toys, some kids can be really picky, especially when it comes to stuffed animals. If your little one can't decide whether they'd rather have an owl or a penguin, instead of buying both, you can follow these instructions for a bit of DIY at home, and you'll end up with two for the price of one.

You'll Need:

• 3 socks in different colors
• fiber fill
• 4 black beads
• felt in brown and yellow
• pastel chalk in black and pink
• aerosol fixing spray
• a drinks bottle 

Here's How:

1. Turn the first sock (in this case, the blue one) inside out and pull it over the plastic bottle.

2. With the help of a glue gun, stick the fiber fill to this sock. One drop of glue for each ball of fluff is enough. Furthermore, you don't need to cover the entire sock with the stuffing: the lower quarter to a third should be left uncovered.

3. Turn the second sock (in this case, the gray one) inside out, then pull it over the fiber fill — and the blue sock and the bottle. Then pull the bottle out of the sock.

4. At the place where the fiber fill ends, cut away first the lower section of the gray sock and then do the same for the blue one.

5. Sew the two socks together along the edges, enclosing the fiber fill between them.

6. Cut off the foremost section of the third sock (in this case, the white one) and separate the two layers. The following steps describe the composition of the gray sock side of your reversible toy.

7. Sew one of the white pieces onto the sock for the belly of your owl.

8. Cut a sort of 8 shape from the rest of the white, like two circles joined together, and sew it on above the belly.

9. For the eyes, sew one bead on in the middle of each circle.  

10. With the help of a felting needle, fashion a beak from the brown felt and sew it on, as shown in the video, in the appropriate place.

11. Use a knife to scrape off some shavings of black pastel chalk. Use a cotton swab to apply it under the eyes and draw three stripes on the belly. Spray the color with fixing spray and wait five minutes for it to dry, before you turn to the creation of the blue side.

12. The design process is similar to the one before. Like last time, sew the remaining piece of the white sock on for the belly of the penguin.

13. Above this, sew on two beads for the eyes.

14. Like before, use the felting needle to create the beak (yellow this time) and sew it on — this time horizontally — in the appropriate place.

15. With a little powder from some pink pastel chalk, give the penguin a set of rosy cheeks. Spray the color with the fixing spray. And with that you have two stuffed animals in one and can have fun playing with both.

As ever, when it comes to arts and crafts, you can change the color of the socks or the felt according to your fancy. With a pink sock and a black felt beak, you could soon create yourself a flamingo. Let your imagination run free!