We're getting closer and closer to having a finished felt monkey. Today we're going to work on getting the monkey's body close to finished and ready for stuffing.
To finish the body, we actually need to start by placing the back of the monkey's head.
You want to center the back of the head on to the front of the body with the edge of the head overlapping the body at least a half inch.
Remember how we attached the ribbon? We're going to do the same thing to tack the head in place to the body. Just a few stitches to hold it in place.
Once the head is tacked in place, you're going to want to start sewing the body by placing the needle between the 2 body layers, so you can hide the knot. We're going to be using the double running stitch again.
We want to sew the back of the head in place, but we don't want to sew it down too close to the edge of the body. We're going to treat it just like we did the tail. You're going to want to make you first stitch into the head when you are at least 1/4 of an inch past the edge of the body and head shape.
You're going to make your last stitch in the head about 1/4 inch from the edge of the head and body. See how I'm at the very edge of the body and head, but not sewing through the head?
Then just continue with the double running stitch as usual.
Remember how we didn't sew the edge of the feet when we attached them? Now we're going to finish sewing the feet down.
I find it helps to use the toes as guidelines for where to place my foot stitches.
Be careful when you get near the tail. You don't want to be sewing through the tail at all. You also want to stop at least an 1/2 inch or so before you get back to your first stitch to leave a hole. This is where you'll insert your stuffing.
Now we are going to fill in the gaps we made. Since we are stopping before we get to where we started to leave a hole for stuffing, we just reverse direction. Remember you want your stitches to line up on both the front ...
..and the back side of the monkey. Be sure to avoid sewing through the tail as you go back around.
Keeping doing the double running stitch until you get back to your first stitch. When you get back to the head and body overlap, just like the first pass of stitches, you don't want to sew the head down too close to the edge of the body. Leave the long tail of thread hanging without tying a knot. You will use it to close up the hole once everything is stuffed.
Next we'll be talking about finishing the head of our monkey and stuffing the 2 pieces.
The Golden Lion Tamarin pattern is available for purchase here.