A Motivation to Make Beginner Friendly Sewing Patterns

Though we’ve been life long crafters, we have sewed out of utility rather than pleasure (i.e. lining for crochet bags). Our mother was much the same. She dutifully, if a little grudgingly, sewed costumes for our high school drama performances.

But when the spark ignites, sometimes a scarcely used skill can grow into a new passion. It began as a simple desire for Deborah; to make a few stuffed animals to hand out at Vacation Bible School. She poked around the internet a bit, searched Pinterest and Etsy. Then down the rabbit hole she plunged.

Sewing for Vacation Bible School

With a mix of free online patterns and some purchased on Etsy, Deborah began to sew. She made six koalas and found it kind of fun. She found another pattern, then another. Soon she was creating a large collection of creatures. She sewed and sewed.

And sewed some more. She made koalas, fish, dingos, kangaroos and many more animals.

This adorable little orange fish was our first sewing pattern inspired from the VBS experience. The Clown Fish Sewing Pattern is stitched entirely by hand with felt fabric. It’s super cute. As we’ll mention in a moment, this pattern also includes traceable templates.

Creating Sewing Patterns

Deborah soon found that although there are a lot of great patterns online, sometimes there’s a void; the variety may be limited or the style not quite right. So Deborah began creating her own patterns.

A well written pattern makes the sewing experience more enjoyable, as recent experience would show. So we decided that we wanted our beginner friendly sewing patterns to have 3 key components:

Step-by-Step Written Instructions
Lots of Color Progress Photos
Printable and Traceable Templates at 100% Scale

Snake Sewing Pattern

One of the first sewing patterns we put together was for a snake. This one has an exaggerated brow above the eye. It gives the snake attitude. Learn more about the Snake Sewing Pattern on our blog.

Hammerhead Shark Sewing Pattern

Another of our beginner friendly sewing patterns is the Hammerhead Shark. This time the emphasis was on the fins. Our shark stuffed animal has all the same fins that a real one has. Learn more about the Hammerhead Shark Sewing Pattern on our blog.

Bear Pillow Sewing Pattern

One last beginner friendly sewing pattern I’d like to highlight is the bear pillow. This character is 100% huggable. And with a few modifications, the bear can be a panda or a brown bear. Learn more about the Bear Pillow Sewing Pattern on our blog.

Whatever you sew, we wish you many happy stitchable moments.

Giraffe Pin Loom Pillow in Little Looms

The worlds tallest mammal is now the worlds tallest pin loom pillow. Ok, we just made that up. But it might be true. This giraffe pin loom body pillow measures approximately 16″ wide x 49″ tall. If it’s not the tallest pin loom pillow, we don’t know what is!

Kick back and relax with your very own cozy long-necked friend. This large pin loom body pillow has a quilt-like front and a fabric back, sewn together with a binding edge. There is shaping and layering on the nose portion of the giraffe, otherwise, each woven shape is sewn to the shapes next to it like a puzzle.

Giraffe Pin Loom Pillow available at Little Looms

We designed the Giraffe Pin Loom Pillow for Little Looms magazine and it made it’s debut in the Little Looms Magazine Winter 2022. To get the pattern, you can purchase a digital copy of the magazine or join their all access program. Learn more on the Little Looms website.

About the Giraffe Pin Loom Body Pillow Pattern

As we’ve said, this giraffe pillow is tall, so there are a lot of shapes to weave. It’s kind of like weaving a lapghan only more cuddly. To cut down on the weaving, we’ve attached a fabric back. But you could certainly weave squares for the back as well.

Everything is woven in plain weave.

Here’s what you’ll need to make your own Giraffe Pin Loom Pillow:

Pin Loom Squares: 1”, 2”, and 4”
Pin Loom Triangles: 2” and 4” right triangles
Pin Loom Rectangles: 2” x 4” and 2” x 6”
Needle: 7″ weaving needle; tapestry needle; sewing needle
Sewing Machine (though you could hand stitch the project)
Yarns Lion Brand Heartland (100% acrylic; 251 yd/5 oz), #173 Everglades, 370 yd; #158 Yellowstone, 160 yd; #124 Big Bend, 70 yd; #153 Black Canyon, 1 yd.
Fiber-fil
17” x 50” fabric
4 yds brown double fold ¼” bias tape,
brown thread

Enjoy!