Godfrey, a Doberman's best friend

Meet Godfrey. 

 He's a happy little monster and a doberman's best friend!

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The Making of a Monster!

The 10yr old and I had our last day off today and so we decided to set ourselves a challenge: we would make a dobe-proof toy for Megs.  I have some coutil left over from the corset, a stash of felt and the remainder of Dolly's stuffing.  Teddies and puppies and "lambikins" (!) were all discussed, but in the spirit of the day, a Halloween monster was decided upon.

We sketched a Godfrey onto the wrong side of a piece of coutil with tailor's chalk.

I may draw up a pattern for him later, but this morning was all about keeping it simple.

A felt mouth, teeth, eyes, pupils and nose were cut out based roughly on our chalk sketch.

And Godfrey was mocked together.

I pinned two pieces of coutil together, right side to right side and cut out the body.  I only needed a few pins, one of the joys of working with coutil, it really behaves itself when you are cutting it out.

And started sewing.  All the shaped were zigzag stitched onto one piece of the coutil.  Each shape was stitched twice round to make sure it was secure.  As this was a one person job, the 10yr old became my photographer for the hour... it was the closest I'll become to being papped!

Eyes and pupils done, I pinned the mouth into place and first sewed the outline of each tooth twice, before then sewing around the mouth.

And Godfrey started to take shape. 

A nose followed... I rather like the reverse, it's given me some ideas for another day!

And then Godfrey got blue-spotti-itus... a good compromise following a last minute ponder/debate on the worthiness of a blue, not orange, nose!

I sewed a double seam around the outline (can't be too careful, I want him to last till November!), leaving a 4" gap to turn and stuff him through.

We turned him inside out, eventually.  I forgot that coutil is stubborn!

And the stuffing began...

even Megan joined in.

Finally, I handstitched the seam, two rows of slip stitch in a thick cotton.

And we have a Godfrey :o) and a happy dog, who can't yet quite believe that this is a toy she is actually allowed to shake and chew and fall asleep on the sofa with!

The only question... how long will he last?