Sew yourself a cuddly unicorn friend

Unicorns are everywhere at the moment – for good reason.  They are magical, colourful, cute and poop rainbows!  So I decided to create a cuddly Unicorn for my daughter.  Her full name is Princess Unicorn Yasmin the Third.  Follow the instructions below to make your own pet Unicorn to play with and enjoy.  Just don’t complain when you have to scoop rainbow poop from the floor (they don’t come house trained)!

WHAT YOU NEED:

• Pale pink jersey fabric (I used Swiss Tricot Body – a really nice quality jersey fabric for doll making from Little Oke Dolls).
• Silver faux leather
• Cotton fabric scraps for dress (main colour and plain for bodice lining)
• 1 ball sparkly rainbow coloured wool (I used Stylecraft Caberet Double Knitting wool -Rainbow)
• Toy stuffing
• 1 pair small black safety eyes
• Embroidery thread (black for features, silver for horn, rainbow colours if embroidering rainbow)
• Bow (or small button) for embellishing the dress
• Unicorn pattern – Unicorn Pattern final

To make the unicorn – What to Do:

Print out the pattern and cut out the pieces along the dotted lines.

Using the pattern cut the following:

• Pink jersey fabric = 1 x head, 1 head (underneath), 2 x body, 2 x neck, 4 x ear, 4 x legs
• Silver faux leather = 4 x ankle, 4 x foot
• Cotton dress main fabric = 1 bodice front, 2 x bodice back (make sure you reverse the pattern for one of them).  1 rectangle measuring 15cm h x 25cm w.
• Cotton lining fabric = 1 bodice front, 2 x bodice back (make sure you reverse the pattern for one of them).

Sew the ankle pieces to the wider part of the leg pieces, right sides together.  Repeat for all 4 legs.

Fold out the ankle pieces, as shown above, the fold the leg in half lengthways and sew along the long edge, right sides together. Repeat for each leg.

Hand sew the foot piece to the base of each leg as shown below:

Turn right side out and lightly stuff each leg:

Sew ears -right sides together then turn right side out.

To make the top of the head, fold the head piece in half lengthways and sew along the ‘darts’ as shown below:

Mark the location of the eyes and gently push the post of the each eye through the fabric and secure at the back.

Place the underneath head piece on top of the main head piece (right sides together) and sew around as shown below:

Place the two neck pieces together (right sides together) and sew up the long and short edges as shown below:

Sew along the dart on the side of the body pieces as shown below:

Sew body pieces together up each side (right sides together) – leaving an opening at the neck and at the dart at the bottom (the legs will go in here).

Stuff the neck, body and head pieces.

Using a ladder stitch, hand sew the neck to the head (narrowest part of the neck will join the body), adding the ears as you reach the top. Pinch the ears to shape them slightly.

Using ladder stitch, sew 2 legs in the openings at the bottom of the body (with the leg seams to the back of the body).

Using ladder stitch sew the arms and neck to the body at the same time, working round each arm so that the top of the arm joins to the neck and the bottom of the arm to the body.

To make the horn cut a strip of faux leather 15cm by 1.5cm and roll tightly into a horn shape. Stitch from the bottom of the horn to the top

Cut the base of the horn so it is straight and sew onto the top of the head, in between the ears.

To make the tail and mane, wrap lots of wool around a book (about 14cm wide) or a piece of cardboard.

Tie a strand of wool around the middle of the bundle to secure and then cut the opposite side.

Sew the tail to the bottom.  Repeat for the mane and sew to the top of the head behind the horn.

Using 2 strands of black embroidery thread, sew a nose and mouth as shown on the pattern.

If you want to you can embroider some details onto the body as well.  My daughter designed a rainbow which you can see below:

to make the dress

See the American Girl / Our Generation Girl mini doll dress tutorial – but use the pattern above.  Dress tutorial