Editor's Note: This series of posts became a book!
Stuffed Animals: From Concept to Construction was published by Lark Crafts in 2013.
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When I first started this series I asked what topics in soft toy design you would like to explore. The most common answer? Gussets! So let's get started.
First, what is a gusset and what does it do? A gusset is a piece of fabric that is inserted into a seam to add breadth. It takes a form from two-dimensions (simply a front and a back like the outline toy in the previous post) to three-dimensions.
In soft toy design, gussets are most commonly added at the head and on the underside of the animal. The head gusset gives the animal's head a rounded, more life-like shape. We will look at head gussets in a coming post. The underbody gusset allows the animal to stand on four legs. Today we will focus on underbody gussets.
Drawing an underbody is one of those parts of sewing construction that can be hard to wrap your head around. You might find yourself saying, "How is this possibly going to come together? I just can't envision it." If you have never drawn an original pattern with an underbody, try this method once on blind faith that it just might work. Then, take a look at your finished toy and see what happened. You can always go back and edit your underbody pattern pieces if you need to. Almost every pattern needs to be edited in some way before it is satisfactory. As with anything, the more you practice the more intuitive the design process becomes.
Okay, here I go. I'm going to turn the elephant outline toy I made in the previous post into a three-dimensional toy by adding an underbody to it.
I begin with the body pattern piece. About 1/3 of the way up from the bottom of the belly I'm going to draw a curved horizontal line. The line is higher on each side and dips down a bit in the middle. Everything below this line will be my underbody.
Now I will retrace the pattern piece so that I have two separate pieces: a side body and an underbody.
Mark an opening in the middle of the underbody for turning and stuffing later. And mark that you will need to cut 2 of this piece from your chosen fabric.
Okay, this next step is perhaps the most important aspect of underbody design. Don't skip it! You need to add darts. Darts are really crucial! They are the difference between a four-legged animal that stands up and a four-legged animal that nearly rests on its belly with all four legs splayed out. If you want to design an animal that will stand on its legs, you want to add darts.
At the top of each leg, where the leg meets the belly, draw a dotted horizontal line. This is the fold line. Now draw an oval around this line. The oval is the dart. It seems counterintuitive to sew an oval right there, I know, but stay with me.
On the right side of the fabric, fold the leg up toward the belly and pin. Now go to the sewing machine and stitch the half oval dart on each leg. Repeat for the second underbody.
Super! Now pin the underbodies together along the top and stitch across. Be sure to leave an opening at the center for turning and stuffing.
Here are the two underbodies stitched together along the top:
And another view of the same thing, just splayed out.
Pin one underbody to one side body, right sides together, and stitch around the underbody. Repeat with the other underbody and the other side body.
Continue stitching around the side bodies.
Use the opening between the underbodies to turn the body right side out and stuff firmly. Glue or stitch the eyes and mouth into place.
And there you have it! A four-legged elephant that stands up!
Let's see what two elephants look like side by side – one with darts in the underbody and one without. Can you see the difference? Look at the legs on the elephant on the right. He looks like he's been squashed, huh?
Here is a shot of their underbodies. The darts appear as seams at the top inside of each leg.
The difference between the two is especially obvious from the back. The darts are pulling the inner part of each leg inward so that the elephant can stand up straight.
Okay, go out there and give it a try if you haven't already. And report back to us.
And if you have a good tip to share, or a different way of designing an underbody, I hope you will add your method to the comments on this post. The best way for all of us to improve our skills is to learn from eachother. Thank you!
darts! I had no idea!
Fabulous. Brilliantly well explained. Thank you, I needed this.
Abby that is one of the most straightforward and understandable explanations of underbody gussets I have ever seen.
This series could have been your second book !
Oh the irony… Best web series ever! I LOVE plushies, probably more than a two-year-old. They’re just so cute! And now I can make them AND they look professional! Thanks so much! I will definitely put your book at the top of my wishlist.
That’s great to hear! Thank you.
The darts are the part I’ve been missing! Awesome tutorial.
Thanks!
PS I tried ironing the freezer paper and it worked perfectly. Another great tip!
Pretty cool! Glad that new baby isn’t taking up too much of your time. 🙂
Gussets have alluded me forever. Thank you for this explanation! I can’t wait for the one about head gussets!
These tutorials are fantastic. Thank you so much. Feeling really inspired to design some soft toys of my own now.
wow. just, wow. so clear and helpful! thank you!
I love it! I’ve blocked off some time this weekend to give this a start with your simple outline method first. Time for a new craft!
These are awesome! I’ve been wanting to get into making plushies but was so intimidated by the gussets, now not so much. I can’t wait for future items.
Groovy. The ovals do indeed seem counter intuitive but they work! My trouble is always with the freakin’ head gusset. Seems to take me an extraordinary amount of trial and error to get it right. I have no drawing background whatsoever so I’m thinking I’m not approaching the design from enough of a shapes perspective. Look forward to your thoughts on the subject.
I’ve enjoy this entire series of articles 🙂
I was wondering why you choose to do the underside as 2 pieces instead of just one? I have made several stuffed animals recently and every pattern is a bit different in how they do the underbelly. Curious what the disadvantage would be to mirroring the pattern to make it a single underbelly without the seam (leaving an opening for stuffing on one of the other seams? I was so excited to hear about this series on Craftgossip today!
Shannon – You certainly could draw the underbelly as one piece and then leave an opening between a seam somewhere else. I tend to hid the opening on the underbelly, but there are some animals in which hiding it somewhere else would make it more invisible. Either way would work just fine!
No grass grows under your feet! The black ears and tail are inspired. Can’t wait to try gussets w darts. Thanks once again.
of course, the splatted out look (Bambi on the ice pond!) can be very cute, too, but very frustrating if you wanted a stand up animal.To ma This series you are writing is incredibly generous of you- I feel like I’m taking a master class. Thank you so much for doing this!
thanks for the clear explaination of the darts, I use them myself but its very easy to get mixed up at this part of the process.
Hi Abby. I’m curious how you deal with making the underbody gusset and darts so that the animal predictably comes out balancing equally on all four legs. Also, how do you choose to make the gusset pointed or rounded on the end, and does that alter the shape you make the side body? These are the main areas I struggle with, and have not been able to find much help in books. Is there a particular book that has helped you the most with these issues? Thanks so much.
PS. I received your book from my pre-order to Amazon today. It is so well done and beautiful. Congratulations. I look forward to having a longer stretch of time to read through it later this evening! XO Maribeth
Hi Maribeth- These are certainly some of the trickiest aspects of pattern design! Don’t get me wrong and think that every pattern I design works out perfectly the first time. That is not the case!
I think drawing the legs of equal length and the darts of equal size will help the animal stand up on all four legs equally once it is stuffed.
The underbody gussets that I design are pointed so that they blend right into the side bodies at each end. I think if they were rounded it would make a bulge where they meet the side body. When it comes to head gussets, that bulge can make the animal look like a baby animal and that can be a desirable design element.
I mention a few books that are helpful in the first post in this series. I also like Soft Animals A to Z by Carolyn Vosburg Hall.
Thanks for the great questions!
-Abby
Great explanation, thanks!
Oh, this really sheds a light on things. Thanks so much!
How on earth do you sew the side body onto that part of the underbody that’s bunched up at the corners of the darts? Going crazy!
Jay- It is tricky because the parts you are sewing together are small. I sew the oval darts so that they are on the wrong side of the fabric, then place the two underbodies right sides facing and sew along the top edge, leaving a gap for turning.
Pin one underbody to one side body all the way around. Lots of pins is helpful to hold it all in place. Begin sewing at one end of the underbody, pushing the fold of the dart down. Sew around both legs and end at the other end of the underbody. Repeat for the other side body and underbody.
I hope that is clear. It can be fiddly, I know. If you still are having trouble, ask again!
Thank you for your help!
Are you saying that I should fold over the material at the corner of the darts? Or should I try to flatten it out? If I flatten it, I lose some height on the underbody.
Maybe I need to post some pictures somewhere? It’s hard to describe what’s going on in words!
Thanks again!
Sorry! I meant to say if I fold it over, I lose some height on the underbody. Yikes!
Okay, I think I might see your problem. The dart should be a pointed oval that extends horizontally from one edge of the upper thigh to the other, tapering down to zero at each edge. In doing so, it does not take away any of the height of the underbody, it only nips in the center of each upper thigh. When it comes time to sew the darted area to the side body, push the whole dart downward (no need to flatten it) and sew along. Does that help? Maybe email me some photos?
Thank you!
I think I was slightly rounding the darts at the edges instead of tapering to zero. So confusing! I think I’ve got it now.
I really REALLY appreciate your help, and this entire series of posts for that matter.
Thanks again!
I love your posts about this topic! You make the whole process seem very clear to me, I’m looking forward to try and design a softie, now!
Thank you so much!
Hi again,
Sorry to be such a pest. I STILL can’t get this to come out right. Is there any chance you could post a picture of how you pin the underbody to one of the side bodies? The dart makes it impossible for me to line anything up correctly.
Sigh.
Do you want to email me sone photos of the problem area? That might be best.
Brilliant tip – I have just found your blog!
I make soft giraffes and could never work out how to fix the legs!! So a huge thanks for sharing your tips!
wow…just found you…my son is always asking me to make him some sort of stuffed animal…they are always pathetic…maybe now not so much so 🙂
wow. i just found your site, and i have to say. I’m in love hehe.
Darts! I never thougth something like that.
Thank you!
Dani
That is so stinkin’ cool. I’ve never gotten past the 2-D animal like in your last post before. My husband has been asking me to try to figure out how to re-create a childhood softie that is out of production from a photograph. I could sketch it but had not idea how to add a gusset. Thanks for the instructions. He is going to be very happy!!
Recreating a childhood softie from a photo is an ambitious project! I hope my post helps some. Keep in touch because I would love to see how it’s coming!
Holy Cow this is a great tutorial, I have been doing things incorrectly for some time and just being generally frustrated! I had given up on making “good” softies. THIS lesson in particular has given me new confidence to get back on the horse, or elephant!
Thank you so much for these posts! This really helped me understand how the darts in the armpits of a plushie are supposed to work, which was confusing me quite a bit.
I linked back to you here:
http://wulfae.livejournal.com/402150.html
If you’d like to see what I made!
Thanks again! Good luck with the book.
You’re welcome. I love your pony! That was quite a learning process!
THANK YOU! you need to know that i was searching for a post just like this! i am so glad i found one. i googled “stuffed animal how to design legs” and yours was one of the first results. i had no idea that these things were called gussets but this is just what i needed because a giraffe i made recently sits on his belly. now i’m going to make a zebra and i’m going to follow your directions so i dont have a belly-zebra. thank you for taking time to post such thorough instructions!!
I just made an elephant, following your tutorial. Thank you so much! It was so well done and I was able to get through the entire thing with only a few hitches, despite being a very, very novice sewer.
I made it for my son for his first birthday and he’s already carrying it around everywhere.
I’m not sure if you’re interested in seeing a picture, but there are a few about halfway through this blog post:
http://www.sweetseattlelife.com/2012/01/birthday-party-details.html
Thanks again, Sonja
I just found these blog posts and they are fab!
Thank you so much for sharing this information.
I would like to make a Noah’s Ark for my 2 little boys, this tutorial makes it seem possible!
Hubby said I wont be able to, but you have definitely made me more confident to give it a go.
And best of all, I can add more animals whenever I want.
Thanks so much, Toni
Hello there.
I would like to let you know that, for the past two weeks, I have been looking up tutorials and patterns and how-tosfor making plushies/softies. I tried my own patterns, used a mixture of ideas form other people and sewn several plushies together with less-than-satisfactory results. Of course, I’m not surprised at myself because everything I’ve learned is from what I’ve gathered from tutorials and guesswork.
Lots and lots of guesswork.
Of course, all of these are just for my own entertainment and gifts for friends as I practice and learn sewing softies. But after spending several days searching for the perfect pattern for what I want to make, I had lost a lot of hope of ever being able to. Certainly I don’t know how to make my own pattern, and with the little progress I’ve made in trying to make my own 3-dementional plushie, I would run out of patience and fabric by then. Woe is me.
THEN I found your blog. And started reading from the beginning. I am just.. OMG this is a friggen godsend, yo.
I’m gonna use waxpaper from now on and practice using a sewing machine to help me develop my skills, for sure.
But the way you “talk” is so easy to understand, especially with the several photos you include in your tutorial. You explain the techniques (or cover them later, which you thankfully let us know) so a novice like me can understand without feeling overwhelmed and confused. Ah, and I’m really excited you made the pattern for the 3D softie fromt he 2D one. AND you showed a picture difference between the darted elephant and non-darted elephant in the end. <: THIS IS AMAZING AND YOU SHOULD KNOW IT. Working from that other pattern which I was familiarized with from the last tutorial helped refresh my memory as well as add to is. Am I rambling? I'm sorry. But, really, thank you so much for taing the time to make this blog of yours. I'm so excited reading it and all giddy with barely restrained glee that I keep grinning. Ah, I'm such a dork. I can't wait to put these lessons you've taught me to use right away. Now I have a better idea of what is written on the patterns I've seen before, have kick-ass advice for making patterns and cutting them out and jesus this is an amazing blog I'm gonna wrap this up so I can go to the next lesson~ Thank you like 50 different kinds of "very much" because after several weeks this is, by a landslide, the best advice I have gotten in a loooong time and I'm very very happy. <: SO GREAT.
I'm glad this post, and the posts in this series, have been helpful to you!
Toni will be an experienced seamstress in a week or two with her enthusiasm. wtg.
I knew about underbelly gussets from free patterns I found on the internet and figured I should be able to draw them. Your explanation was just what I thought might work. Since I tend not to have enough self confidence to try, I was tickled pink by your explanation. I’m brave enough to do it now.
I thought I had seen a pattern with darts, but didn’t know where they should be and why they were needed. Your explanations gave me that info and were expressed in understandable sentences. You are an amazing writer as well as an amazing designer and seamstress.
I’ve decided to design an animal and take him thru all the steps to watch him evolve. It will be so interesting. It will be great to have the series to look back at when I try to design more animals.
Thank you so much.
Thank you so much, Laura Lee. That is so great to hear!
Today I made a little rabbit with a head gusset and an under gusset. And I’m thrilled. The head gusset is really pretty good and every thing worked out well. The under gusset is OK but not great but that is because I know know that darts would have made it better. It only has very short stumpy legs but he could still have been a little better with darts.
Also, the under gusset was in one piece; I like your two pieces better as I think that underneath is a good place to stuff from. I’m going to do that and put the darts in next time.
Having done a rabbit which is relatively basic I really want to do a deer as I just can’t find a pattern that I like or is available to me. From having no confidence at all that I might be able to do it, I really am starting to think I just might.
A final question, someone gave a link to an elephant they made which was gorgeous. I noticed though that it was made in fabric which frays rather than in felt. Yet the ears were still done the same way. Would you recommend cutting slits in fabric that frays or would you ideally do them a different way if not using felt?
Thanks for all your help – the only place online which gives it, it seems. I’m really grateful for all your hard work putting this stuff together for us.
Hi Sara, I love fleece for softies, too, and it doesn't fray. If you're using a tightly woven quilting cotton, for example, you shouldn't have too much of an issue with fraying if you are cutting a slit and sewing it closed. If you are leaving raw edges exposed, try fray check or fuse two layers of fabric together with fusible web for added stability. I hope that's helpful!
Thank you for your helpful answer, at the moment I have been using felt but was wondering about other fabrics. Now I know 🙂
What a wonderful tutorial, thank you!
how wonderful to have your supreme help! I have just made a little pony and she stands up! I made her woth head and inner leg gussets and she is great, thank you so much, Ali
Oh thank you so much! I’ve been trying to design an elephant and none of my testers would stand! Love your website and thank you for sharing!
Awesome, Grace!
This is wonderful, mind-blowing and spot-on…and you’re simply amazing. I can’t say enough good things and I feel like a fog has been lifted! And I have to tell you that your book was also extremely helpful. Thank you so very much!
Well that’s pretty awesome! Thank you, Jewels.
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This is exactly the information I have been looking for! Gussets really had me confused, and your writing style combined with the clear photographs have been so, so helpful!
I am so glad i found this page! i have your book and was having a hard time getting my head around this dart. Trying to help my daughter modify the dinosaur into Cerberus. The extra heads are going to be challenging!
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Hi, Abby,
I’m currently in the process of designing a unicorn plushie that’s giving me fits. I want the legs separate from the body to help it stand, and the gusset to be a separate piece in the belly that’s sewn to the inner legs and bottom of the body. The trouble I’m having seems to do with seam allowance. Every time I’ve drawn the gusset out and then added seam allowance it comes out way too long in the butt and neck and way too thick for the seams to properly close the gap, leaving a sort of hole. Do you have any suggestions of what I can do to solve this problem? I just can’t seem to figure it out.
Thanks.
Hi Sara, I’m having trouble visualizing your issue. Maybe you can send me some photos? I’m abbyglassenberg at comcast dot net
Hi Abby! Thank you for being so generous with your time and expertise!
I have a quick question: I have made my darts, and it looks as though they have shortened the length of the leg pieces on the belly gusset, which is resulting in the leg pieces of the top and bottom portions of my toy not lining up. Does this make sense? The leg pieces of the bottom gusset are roughly 1/4″ shorter than the top leg pieces. I’m working with my own design, and am happy to keep experimenting, just thought I’d see if you had any pointers!
Do the darts close completely?
They don’t close completely :/ and in reading through other posted questions, I think I realize they additionally do not end at complete zero. I’ll try again! Thank you!