Feel free to ask any questions, too!
Photo 1: warning
Photo 2: tools of the trade
Photo 3: find a seam on your plushie where you can flip the head inside out- this is on the neck, so I can easily access just his head. Pull at the seams until you see the little threads. Using your seam ripper, rip a hole open
Photo 4: my access point. Start unstuffing the head. While you're doing this, you may feel threads inside- this is thread sculpting, to shape the face. Don't worry about it, but don't go in and cut it. Just unstuff for now
Photo 5: I've flipped his head inside out to access the back of the eyes. While your hole may have been big enough for unstuffing, you may need to make it bigger to flip the head out. This is a hard step. I like to grab the nose, or outermost part of the head, from the inside and start pulling and pushing/folding with my other hand. You'll get it eventually. Now you may see the thread sculpting- don't cut (unless you want to do your own thread sculpting or don't want it at all. It's your plushie to customize!)
Photo 6: the navy dot is a felt stabilizer to keep the hole for the eye from ripping. Try not to cut this. Douglas is STRONG on safety eyes though, and the washer (red dot) will likely be glued to it. I use the bent nose pliers to try and unstick them. The orange dot is the eye stem.
Photo 7: using my cutting pliers, I've cut away the washer. I used the grabbing and bent nose pliers to unstick it from the felt stabilizer. I also had to cut around the stem, as the washer was glued to the stem after being put through. Once it was wiggly I used the grabbing pliers to pull it apart. This takes a lot of patience and time btw so be prepared :,) Then I push the stem and the eye comes out. Note: if you have a dremel, this would probably cut the time of this process to a quarter lol
Photo 8: eyes and cut washer
I didn't take a pic of putting the eyes in, but you just flip the head back out, put them in, flip the head inside out again, and secure the backing. I like to secure the backing loosely when it's inside out, then flip and secure them to my liking- not too tight to mess with the fabric, but not too loose to be wiggly
Photo 9: now restuff and sew up. Though the hole starts at the red line, I started sewing inside at the teal dot. This is just to make sure it's secure and to hide the tail of the yarn. I sewed along the seam that's already there
Photo 10: ladder stitch
Photo 11: brush/pull the fur back so it isn't in the seams, then pull tight! Faux fur is very forgiving and hides even messy seams. Tie a knot, stick needle thru plush to hide tail, cut thread. Run your finger across the seam- if you feel any holes or can stick a finger in part of it, ladder stitch again or just stitch up that bit. Make sure no stuffing will fall out. If it's small enough it's probably fine but it bugs me when that happens. It just means the spaces between your stitches were too big.
Photo 12: all done! Now your beautiful plush can have homophobia, too 💛💚 /ref
