Sloths are the New Owl

Over the last few months my oldest has been begging me to make him a sloth.  Yes, you read that right, a sloth.  Where he got that idea, nobody knows.  I put him off for a while because I had so much else going on but finally I knew it was time to sit down and make one for him.  What’s funny is that during the same time my Etsy Finds emails were showing that sloths were currently trending.  So, I guess my son is a trendsetter and he doesn’t even know it.

Whenever designing any type of stuffed animal I like to look online to see what the real animal looks like and then also at other stuffed animals to see what others have done to translate the real thing into a huggable form.  From this I get my own ideas and draw my design and make a pattern.  I used fleece that I had leftover from last year’s owl ornaments.  It is the perfect sloth color and very nubby.  I wanted it to be something I could hang by it’s arms like a real sloth – although it didn’t turn out right in the end.  I considered putting Velcro on the hands so it can hang from things.  I hesitated because that would mean one of the sides would be scratchy from the Velcro.  I can always add some later one though.  I had safety eyes and noses and had fun using them.  I also used black wool felt for the claws and face.  As you’ll see it is a three-toed sloth.

I knew little sister would want something as soon as she saw her brothers but I didn’t know what she’d want so I waited to make something for her.  She is definitely in a phase of life right now where she wants to do everything like her brother so another sloth it was.  This time I wanted to put the arms closer to the head to help it be more balanced to hang correctly.  I also wanted to add a little tummy to make it a bit girlish while still just looking like a simple sloth.  It took me a few tries to get that stomach right.  Finally I realized I could make it the same as the face and it would lay correctly.  I also made it a two-toed sloth with brown wool felt just to change things up and make it easy to differentiate between the two.

Both kids love their sloths and play and sleep with them.  Audrey has really been into playing with the things I have made her lately.  She asks about each toy to see if it is one I have made.  I’m sure it won’t be long until the baby wants one for himself as well.

While taking pictures of the two big kids today the little one was dying to come outside too.  I hesitated at first but finally let him crawl around while taking pictures of Josiah.  Of course the whole time he was trying to eat rocks and leaves.  I can’t believe he’s going to be 1 in less than a month and a half.