moda mini charm series: part three

For this next post in my mini-charm series I went back to the idea of making a fun toy for A or a gift for someone who's having a baby. 

Recently, I came across a ton of cute little handmade stuffed animals on Pinterest. I thought back to when I was pregnant with A and remembered how much I loved a handmade bear I was given by a lovely friend from church at my baby shower. I thought it would be so wonderful to be able to make something like that to give as gifts. 

So, I decided to take that idea and try to work it into this series by making a patchwork animal. I decided on this cute elephant because I found a pattern that worked with the amount of materials that I had. 

The pattern is this free pattern from Birch Fabrics. You can find the pattern and step by step instructions there! 

After I picked out the pattern, I went back to my stash of mini-charms and found two more collections that I thought were perfect for a baby project. I chose:

 Just a Speck by Jen Kingwell Designs

and Spectrum by Vanessa Christenson of V & Co.

I love the way these two collections look together. 

Each charm pack has 42 squares. I used a total of 54 squares to make my fabric piece that I cut my pattern from. I chose colors from each collection that coordinated together.

I laid out all my pieces in 6 squares that each had 9 mini charms. 

I sewed each small square together &then I sewed them all into one rectangle. 

At this point, I almost scrapped the elephant idea to make this into a mini quilt because I love this! I think these colors and prints are gorgeous! You can bet I'll be ordering more of these to make the quilt!

Next, I folded the fabric in half and traced the pattern pieces in order to get a front and a back at the same time. For me, this ensures the most accuracy and helps to make sure the front and the back match.

When I was sewing it up, I did make a mistake on the tail and had to take it apart and redo it, but once I finished it and got it stuffed, I just loved how it turned out. 

I had so much fun with this project! I really want to try and create more patterns of my own for different animals and maybe even some larger versions! You could easily re-create this using other sized pre-cut fabrics or by cutting your own. There are so many fun options. I already have another fabric collection in mind to make some more!

If you were sewing or choosing a stuffie for your kids, what animal would you choose?