How to sew a sweet puppy dog photo tutorial

I’ve put together a photo tutorial so you can see how to sew your own soft toy dog ~> scroll down for step-by-step photos!

I was so excited about this cute little Puppy Dog Soft Toy Pattern that I put out a teaser photo of him WAY before I even put the sewing pattern onto the computer. I couldn’t resist, I LOVE him to bits!!!!

Puppy Dog Sewing Pattern - Pauline McArthur

*** PLEASE NOTE – this in ONLY a PHOTO TUTORIAL ***
The FULL PATTERN IS NOT included here. It is NOT A FREE PATTERN.

I have made this photo tutorial so people who have purchased the pattern can SEE how to sew this stuffed toy dog! (I wanted to explain this so you are not disappointed if you have found this page via a search engine and not from the link in my Puppy Dog Pete toy sewing pattern!)

Right, let’s sew

some doggy stuffed animals!

We start with the dog ears:

STEP 1

Sew the EAR PIECES together, leaving the straight edge open and turn them right sides out.

TIP: Press the ears flat with a cool iron or ‘finger-press’ the ears flat like I do – no need to bother getting the iron out!

TAIL:

STEP 2a

Sew the TAIL PIECES together, leaving the straight edge open. Remember to leave a gap for stuffing. It helps to make the tail stand up straight if it is stuffed AFTER the puppy is sewn and turned right sides out.

STEP 2b

Turn the TAIL PIECES right sides out and pin them together at the base.

TIP: I like to use a wooden chopstick to help turn the seams nicely. Run the end of the stick back and forth along the stitching inside the tail til the seam is nice and smooth

STEP 3a

Pin the TAIL to one of the BODY PIECES.

STEP 3b

Pin and sew the BODY PIECES together (from A – B) with the TAIL pinned in position between them.

STEP 3c

Turn the BODY PIECES right sides out and check that the TAIL is caught in the seam.

ARMS and LEGS:

STEP 4

Sew the LEG PIECES together in pairs, leaving the straight edge open. Remember to leave a gap for stuffing and turn right sides out.

STEP 5

Sew the ARM PIECES together in pairs, leaving the straight edge open. Leave a gap for stuffing and turn right sides out.

STEP 6a

I created this Pinning Diagram to show you how to pin the arms and legs to the body with the right sides of the fabric pinned together.

Pin one ARM and one LEG to one of the BODY PIECES.

STEP 6b

Pin the other ARM and LEG to other BODY PIECE.

STEP 6c

Turn the BODY PIECES wrong sides out now and fold the LEGS in on top of the BODY PIECES, with the ARMS sticking out the front – like you see in the photo.

TIP: Pin the arms at the front to keep them together and out of the way.

TUMMY:

STEP 7

Sew the TUMMY PIECES together from B – C.

STEP 8a

Pin the TUMMY PIECES to the BODY PIECES with the ARMS and LEGS sandwiched in between.

STEP 8b

Tuck the ARMS inside again then sew the TUMMY PIECES to the BODY PIECES from D – B – D on the other side (with the ARMS and LEGS in between them!)

FACE & EYES:

STEP 9

Sew the FACE PIECES together from F – E.

STEP 10

If you are using buttons or craft eyes, attach them now.

NOSE:

STEP 11

Sew the side darts on the NOSE PIECE next. Do NOT sew the dart at J now!

STEP 12a

Pin the NOSE PIECE to the FACE PIECES, on ONE SIDE FIRST. Pin between J on one side to the top of the NOSE PIECE at E (where the FACE PIECES seam is).

STEP 12b

Hand sew the NOSE to the FACE PIECES. Use a double strand of sewing machine thread and a tight back stitch. Pin and sew the other side of the NOSE PIECE to the FACE PIECES.

TIP: If you want to sew it on the sewing machine, use lots of pins and sew with the FACE PIECE upwards so that you can ‘smooth’ out the ‘wrinkles’ that form in the FACE PIECE as you try to sew these 2 different shaped curves together.

STEP 12c

Your puppy’s nose should look like this now. Do your best BUT don’t worry if he has a few wrinkles, sometimes they cannot be avoided!

EARS:

STEP 13

Pin the EARS in place on the FACE PIECES making sure that you match the dots of the pattern markings.

HEAD:

STEP 14

Sew the BACK HEAD PIECES together from A-F.

STEP 15

Pin and sew the BACK HEAD PIECES to the FACE PIECES matching F and K. (with the ears in between!).

STEP 16

Sew the NOSE and HEAD PIECES together from N on the NOSE to L on the BACK HEAD PIECES. Don’t sew right up to the neck seam, you need to leave the neck open at G, so it’s easy to sew the head to the body!

STEP 17a

Position the HEAD PIECES to the BODY PIECES at the neck seam matching points A, D and G.

TIP: I find the easiest way to do this is to turn the HEAD right sides out and position it ‘inside’ the body (facing the back).

STEP 17b

Pin and sew this neck seam from G – D – A – D to G on the other side.

STEP 18

Pull the HEAD PIECES back out of the body. Pin and sew the puppy closed from L on the BACK HEAD PIECE to M on the TUMMY PIECE, leaving a gap for stuffing.