How to make a toy elephant

Sew this sweet elephant toy for your little ones to cuddle. We’ve made ours in natural colours, but you can use colourful felts, too.

Learning to make a toy elephant like this one will no doubt bring a smile to your face and bring a bit of calm to your day, but it's bound to go down wonderfully with whoever you give it to. Making your own toys, whether it's an elephant or a toy rabbit, having some time to relax and craft by yourself always does wonders for your mind.

If you enjoy this craft, why not check out some of the home decorating crafts out there? We particularly love this cute cat-themed draught excluder and this pretty photo frame craft.

How to make a toy elephant

You will need:

• Tracing paper and pencil
• 2 x 30cm squares of grey heathered felt
• 23cm square of light-grey felt
• 10cm square of white felt
• Scrap of black felt
• White, black and grey stranded cotton embroidery thread
• Grey sewing thread
• Fabric glue
• Toy filling

Note: Join pieces, matching notches and alphabetical points.

Making toy elephant paper patterns:

Print out the elephant toy template and then trace the patterns onto tracing paper, placing the under head, upper head and back gusset on folded tracing paper, matching the broken lines to the fold. Mark the notches, dots and crosses. Next cut out the patterns and open out flat.

Cutting out the toy elephant pattern pieces:

Start by cutting out one pair of elephants and under bodies, one under head, one upper head, one back gusset, four soles and one pair of ears from grey heathered felt. Cut one pair of ears from light grey felt. Cut two pairs of tusks and two pairs of rows of toes from white felt. Snip the notches. Mark the position of the dots with a pin.

Making the elephant toy eyes:

1. First smear fabric glue sparingly on the wrong side of the remaining white felt and the black felt scrap. Leave to dry. Cut one pair of outer eyes from white felt and one pair of inner eyes from black felt.

2. Refer to the pattern to pin the outer eyes to the right side of the elephant, pin the inner eyes on top. Oversew in place with one strand of matching embroidery thread. Embroider a French knot at the dot on each inner eye using two strands of white embroidery thread. Then sew the eyelashes with straight stitches using two strands of black embroidery thread.

Making the toy elephant:

1. With right sides facing and taking 6mm seam allowance, start by stitching the under bodies together A-B, leaving a gap between the notches, snip the curves. Stitch the under head to the upper head C-C, stitch the back gusset to the upper head D-D. Press the seams open. Note that the remaining seams are sewn with blanket stitch with wrong sides facing using two strands of embroidery thread to match the felt.

2. Next match the under body to one elephant, blanket stitch together A-E-E-E-E-B, continue blanket stitching to the other elephant B-E-E-E-E-A. Blanket stitch a sole to the base of each leg E-E-E.

3. Pin one edge of the under head, upper head and back gusset to one elephant A-C-D-B, continue blanket stitching to the other elephant B-D-C-A.

4. Stuff the elephant firmly and evenly with toy filling. Slipstitch the gap closed.

5. To make the tail, cut 18 x 25cm-long strands of grey embroidery thread. Bunch the strands together and fold in half. Sew the centre of the bunch to point B. Next, divide the strands into three equal bunches and plait together. Knot the plait 5cm from the start. Trim the ends level.

6. Then pin a row of toes to each leg facing forward just above the soles. Oversew in place with one strand of white embroidery thread.

7. Pin the tusks together in pairs and each grey heathered ear to a light-grey ear. Blanket stitch the layers together. Refer to the pattern to pin a tusk and an ear to each side of the elephant with the light-grey side of the ear outside. Sew discreetly and securely in place.

And there you are! You've made an adorable elephant toy.