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It's never too early to start planning for the Christmas season, and this is also true when it comes to business. In this workbook, you will learn how to make stuffed angels, a popular Christmas giveaway. To add a little dash to it, you can even personalize the baby angels by embroidering names on them. Ronald Barangan, a lecturer at Ultima Entrepinoy in Quezon City, helped us create this guide.

Materials needed:

• Open weave polyester fiber
• Batting fiber
• Ivory color satin
• Peach color velboa
• Hershey brown color hi-file moda
• White or cream thread
• Black yarn
• Eye pieces
• Set of needles
• Japanese brush
• Scissors or cutter

PROCEDURE:

1. To start with, prepare the patterns for the stuffed baby angel. You can get them from Bears Magazine and Dolls and Bears Magazine. To copy or make your own patterns, you need a cardboard or folder, a pen or any marker, and a pair of scissors. Make sure that you put legends and marks on your patterns to guide you as to where to attach particular parts and which part to attach there. You could label “Cut 2” patterns that need to be traced twice, such as the baby angel’s nape, side bodies, legs, thighs, arms, and feet. The ears, which will have two sides each, should be labeled “Cut 4.” Each pattern already has a 1/4-inch allowance for stitching.

2. After making your patterns, start tracing them on the cloths. Get the hi-file moda cloth and then trace the back head and forehead patterns on its reverse side. Before tracing your patterns, however, make sure that the direction of the fur is aligned with your pattern. For instance, to ensure that the hair of your stuffed baby angel is oriented properly, the fur should be oriented towards the curved line or the lower part of the back head.

Trace the other patterns. In the case of the wings, they should be traced on the satin cloth. The other parts should be traced on the velboa cloth.

3. Once you have traced everything on the cloths, cut the patterns with the pair of scissors or with a cutter. You should come up with the following cloth pieces after this process: face, back head, forehead, nape (two pieces), ears (four cuts), front body, side bodies (two sides), arms (two sides), legs (two sides), bottom, thighs (two sides), feet (two sides), and wings.

When all the pieces are ready, sew them together by hand using white or cream-colored thread. Barangan advises that you start with the appendices— the ears, arms, and wings—before going to the main body parts. This way, you will have an easier time attaching them to the other pieces. To do the arms, sew the “V” shape cut first using backstitch, then fold it at the center. After folding it, sew the knuckle or the lower part while leaving the upper part open. Using a stick, turn the cloth inside out. Then set it aside.

4. When you sew the wings, leave the upper part—the straight line—open because you will need it to turn the cloth inside out and to insert the batting fiber. Once you finish sewing, turn over the cloth and place the batting fiber inside; the batting fiber must be cut in the same way as the wing pattern. After placing the batting fiber, you can now close the wings by using a ladder stitch. This type of stitch will allow you to shape up the wings better while hiding the stitches.

Do the same with other appendices—you should leave unfastened a part of each of them to allow you to reverse the cloth. After finishing all the appendices, set them aside, then get the head parts as well as the yarn and the eyepieces. You should have on hand the following parts: the back of the head, the face, the nape, and the forehead.

5. Now start working with the head. Attach the forehead to the face and then the nape to the back head. Interlock the slits on the face part after joining it to the forehead. (Those are the five “V” shape cuts.) Afterwards, join the back head to the face and forehead, then insert the ears between them. The forehead should be at the concave part of the back head. The ears should be placed right below the back head.

Once you have attached all the head parts, turn the head over. Check where you would want to place the eyes and the mouth. The technique is to hold the plastic eye in place, then use the pair of scissors or the cutter to make a slit in the reverse side where you would insert the eye. Fasten the eye by putting its lock inside the cloth. Now get the yarn and make a single running stitch to the spot where you will put the mouth.

After placing the eyes and the mouth, stuff the head with the open weave fiber. The softness of your baby angel will depend on how much fiber you put into it. According to Barangan, 25 g of stuffing is usually needed for the head. After stuffing the baby angel’s head, sew its hemline using a running stitch to close it a bit. Before putting it aside, brush the fur with the Japanese brush.

6. Now, get the body parts and start joining the side bodies to the front body. Attach the side bodies to the ends of the front body. Concaves and convexes are formed when you attach these three body parts.

You will then attach the legs to the concaves and the arms to the convexes. After placing the arms and the legs, sew the diagonal sides that can be found in the uppermost part of the front body and of the side bodies. Then, get the wings, fold the material at the center and then insert it between the side bodies. The side bodies will then form the back of the stuffed baby angel.

Estimate where you would want to place your wings (Barangan says it is usually placed at the upper part). About half a centimeter of the wing (the wings are in a single pattern) be inserted. Sew the rest of the cloth to close the body of your stuffed baby angel.

Now get the bottom part and fasten it to the left leg running through the back and then to the right leg. Then interlock the concave part of the bottom to the remaining side of the front body and to the end sides of the legs. This way, round openings will be formed on both sides. This is where you will attach the rectangular cloths to form the thighs. These rectangular pieces of cloth must be sewed to form a circular opening, to close which you now must attach the feet (the circular pieces of cloth) into it.

7. Now, using a stick, turn the whole body over. Once the cloth is completely reversed, your baby angel is now ready to be stuffed. Get about 75 g of open-weave fiber and stuff it into the baby angel’s body. Using a stick, fill in the arm and leg parts with the fiber.

After you have already assembled and filled up everything, connect the head to the body by manual stitching. Use four strands of thread to join the two. You can use ladder stitch to make sure that the interlock is good enough so the head won’t fall. Again, to make the baby angel more distinctive, brush the fur and put stitches on the feet, the hands and knuckles, and the wings.

Other Tips:

• To make your stuffed baby angel more innovative and distinctive, you can use plastic spangles instead of eyepieces.

• If you want your stuffed baby angel to serve as a décor, insert a string near its wings.

Dos and Don’ts

• Always keep your materials out of children’s reach, particularly sharp objects and the fiber.

• Always trace the patterns correctly and cut them correctly.

• Never leave the needle inserted in the cloth especially when you have already stuffed it. This is to avoid forgetting the needle inside
the stuffed baby angel.