A lot of the smaller seams (eyes, nose) are best sewn by hand.
Most of the seams will benefit from being basted before being sewn.
Step 1: The darts
There are six darts that need to be closed first. One on each, forehead (2), head2 (4), and head3 (5) parts. Pin and sew them closed, then remove the bulk by trimming the darts and give them a good press. Repeat for all six darts.
Step 2: The eyes
Sew together the sides of the eye (9), so you will make a cone. Trim away any bulk. Repeat for the other eye.
Step 3: The nose
Like the eyes, the nose (12) too has parts that need to be sewn together. There are two of these sides that need to be sewn together. This creates two connected cones. This is very finicky, so take your time.
Step 4: The head
The Skully pattern is set up to be sewn-by-numbers. Every seam is numbered. Please start at ‘1’, and keep going until you reach ‘21’. This is the seam through which you will fill Skully, so only close it partly.
Seam 3 is the seam on the eye (9) part that is marked to be sewn together. Seam 10 is the same on the nose (12) part. These are the only seams not marked with a number on the pattern parts. You have already sewn these now.
When you are sewing together the individual parts, you will be making two halves of the skull.
Sewing the eyes and nose to the cheek and forehead parts is best done by hand. You will have to align the different notches to their corresponding ones on the other part.
The back of the upperMouth is not sewn to anything. It is just there to provide stability.
All seams are sewn right sides together except where noted. Most of the instructions below are to be done first with one matching pair of pieces and then repeated with mirrored pieces so that you build up both sides of the skull gradually.
Seams 1 and 2: Sew cheek (1) to forehead (2), matching the dot notch to the dot, and the cross notch to the other cross.
Seam 4: Sew eye (9) to eyeTop on forehead (2) and to eyeBottom on cheek (1).
Seam 5: Sew top of cheek (1) to cheekbone (6)
Seam 6: Sew the other side of the cheekbone (6) to the bottom of the forehead (2) – this is the side that has the dart on it.
Seams 7 and 8: You now have the cheek (1), cheekbone (6), eye (4), and forehead (2) all sewn into one piece on each side of the face. Sew the two sides of the face together at the front, from the top of the forehead to the top of the nose, forming seam 7. And then from the bottom of the nose to the bottom of the cheek, sew the two cheek halves together as well. The top of the face is now complete, leaving a hole for the nose.
Seam 10: Take the nose (12) and sew the openings of the two cones (nostrils) into the space mentioned above. One cone (nostril) will go on one side of the face, and the other on the other side.
Seam 11: Sew the backOfMouth (10) to the underside of the upperMouth (7). The backOfMouth (10) in particular will be visible in the finished Skully, so you should sew the right side of lowerMouth (10) to the wrong side of upperMouth (7).
Seam 12: Join the two halves of the lowerJaw (11) with this short straight seam.
Seam 13: Sew the curve of the lowerMouth (10) to the lowerJaw (11), taking care to sew on the line marked ‘mouthBottom’
Sewing the next seam is challenging. You will first be sewing a normal seam between the lowerJaw (11) parts and the lowerMouth (10) part. You will then have to continue this seam along the dashed line (14) on the upperMouth (7) part. Basting or lots of pins are your friend. And make sure you first visualize how this will get together before doing the final sewing.
Seam 14: Sew the top of the lowerJaw (11) to the bottom of the upperMouth (7). This seam starts from the line marked ‘not sewn’ on the upperMouth. First you sew across the piece rather than sewing at the edge – see the dotted line on the pattern piece. Then the remaining part of the upperMouth is sewn onto the down-curved part of the lowerJaw (11).
Seam 15: Sew the lower edge of the lowerJaw (11) to the jawfloor (8) to form the base of the whole skull.
Seam 16: The cheek (1) has edges marked upperJaw and mouthTop. The upperJaw needs sewing to the corresponding markings on the upperMouth (7). The mouthTop needs sewing to the front (narrower) part of the upperMouth piece. At the end of this you have a complete face with open mouth and the jaw beneath it.
Seam 17: We are now starting to put the back of the head together. The head1 and head2 pieces are sewn together to start to create a curve.
Seam 18: Join head2 (4) and head3 (5) – these are the two sides with darts. You will now have a strongly curved half of a head (head1, head2, head3) – seam 19 is at the top of the composite piece and seam 21 runs along the bottom. Repeat to create the second half of the head.
Seam 19: Join the left and right halves of the head along the top of the head and all the way down the back of the head to the base. Make sure to leave seam 21 for last – but you are nearly there.
Seam 20: Now you are joining the front half of Skully (the face and front of the head) to the back of the head. You do this inside out, matching the two notches that are at the bottom of head1 (3) with the corresponding notches at the back of the cheek (1). Seam 20 is mostly on the forehead (2) but the very end of it is on the cheek piece as mentioned.
Turn it right sides out.
Step 5: Hair
Now is the time to add hair to Skully. When putting the embroidery floss in, make sure you add knots on the inside, or else it is very easy to pull Skully’s hair out later.
Step 6: Stuffing
- Fill the plush toy with stuffing through the opening you left, making sure to fill all the parts well. The areas in the front are the hardest to get to.
- or whipstitch the opening closed.
Step 7: Tweaks
You can use the long upholstery needle to add some tweaks to Skully. Adding some stitches to attach the back of the eyes to corner of seams 14 and 21 right through the skull will help to keep the eyes from popping out, and can help with giving the head more form. The same applies to the nose.
It is also a good idea to add stitches between seams 5 and 14, along the length of both seams. This will make the cheek bones more pronounced and adds to the overall shape of the skull.
Step 7: Enjoy!
That’s it, you are all done. Start planning what pirate sewing ship you’ll be joining!