Reusing your towels to make soft toys/chew toys for children


Towels are great materials to utilize if you want to make homemade chew toys for toddlers. The best towels to work with are the thinner ones as they are easier to sew. However, do ensure that your towels do not tear easily as children might tend to swallow the torn pieces.

  1. Firstly, draw the template of your soft toy on to the towel. If you are not good at drawing, you can use a big cookie cutter that is the shape of a teddy bear, bunny or gingerbread man.
  2. Next, cut out two of the same templates, one for the back and one for the front. Ensure that there is about half an inch of excess around the cut-out for sewing.
  3. After that, sew the two pieces together with the insides out, leaving a small gap below to turn the whole thing over. Once you have pushed out all the edges after the casing has been turned over, stuff it with big scraps of towels that you can cut from the same piece of towel. By doing so, you will not risk having your children eat cotton or other harmful materials even if the toy tears apart. If you intend to give these soft toys to elder children, you may use other materials such as bean bag stuffing to turn them into beanies. Once you are happy that the toy is sufficiently stuffed, sew the gap up with very small stitches. You may also want to double back the stitches for durability. This will ensure that the soft toy does not tear easily.
  4. You now have a blank canvas on which you can decorate anyhow you like. If the soft toy is meant to be used as a chew toy, embroider decorations on, instead of sewing buttons and other pieces as you do not want your child to swallow them if they come off. Besides that, you can also sew little clothes for the soft toy to wear.
  5. The best thing about such toys is that you can throw it into the washing machine along with your other clothes for a quick spin if it starts to smell! Even so, you should always make new ones for your child if you notice stubborn stains that cannot be washed away on the toy. This will help avoid introducing unwanted bacteria into your child’s system.

Image Credit:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ingermaaike2/2373891520/