FISHOSAURUS DEX a PDF sewing pattern

Colorful Art Girl 2012

Project Time: 1.5-3 hours, depending on skill level

Materials Needed:
Printed pattern pages (pages 13-15)
Sewing machine (or needle and thread if sewing by hand)
Scissors
Pins
Quilting fabric (or another kind of fabric if youre being extra-adventurous, such as faux fur or dupioni silk)
Stuffing (I use a premium polyester stuffing)
Thread (for sewing and for finishing the fishosaurus after stuffing)
Thread, buttons, beads or felt (to make the eyes) I used dark maroon thread for Fishosaurus Dex
Needle (for closing the stuffing hole)
Iron + ironing board
Seam ripper (just in case)
Fine point Sharpie or other fabric marker
Optional: Quick Turn by Dritz (or other handy fabric turning tool for turning the foot/tail/spine pieces right
side out after sewing)
PRINTING INSTRUCTIONS: Ive included sewing instructions and pattern pieces. The pattern pieces are on the last three
pages. I suggest you only print those pages so you dont waste your printer ink by printing all the photos on the other
pages. When you print, be sure to select File>Print>Page Scaling>None, since the pattern includes 1/4 seam allowance
marks and is sized to be printed without scaling. If you want to enlarge the pattern, use the solid lines for your guide and
add a new seam allowance (dashed line) to your enlarged pattern.
READING THE PATTERN: The solid lines in the pattern represent the sewn lines. The black dashed lines represent a 1/4
seam allowance around the solid lines. Cut out your pattern pieces on the dashed lines. There are several marks on the
pattern where you need to snip/clip the fabric a scant 1/8 at the mark (just enough to see the clip when you put the
pieces together later). Those marks will be made on the body pieces and the face pieces, where the body and face
pieces meet. The marks will guide you in lining up the pieces since they are mild curves. There are other marks on the
pattern including a dotted green line on the feet/tail/spine pieces, which represent where the piece will be inserted into
the seam. There are blue dashed lines which represent where you can stitch the piece shut before inserting it into the
seam. It is not necessary to stitch the feet/tail/spine pieces shut, but can be helpful, especially if you add a lot of stuffing
to those pieces. It will be easier to sew those pieces into the body seams if they are not over-stuffed. Otherwise the
bottom piece of fabric will tend to bunch toward the needle possibly resulting in puckered seams.
INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Print out the pages with the pattern pieces (the last three pages
of this document).

2. Cut out the pattern pieces along the black dashed lines.

3. Select the fabrics you want to use for each part of the
fishosaurus. This is the fun part. I like to use a solid color for the
face, or a light batik.

4. Iron the fabric and pin the pattern piece to the fabric. Pin on top
of the wrong side (for the face, body, foot, tail, and spine pieces,
you can fold the fabric in half, right sides together, and pin the
pattern piece on top, so when you cut the fabric, you know the
pieces are cut properly so they will go together when you sew
them. (In case you dont know, right sides are the sides of the
fabric that you want to be able to see on the finished animal with
most fabrics the right side is obvious (its the one with the print or
color on it), but with batiks it can be harder to tell sometimes
you just have to pick a side and move on!)
The photo shows the tail pieces with right sides folded together
with the pattern piece pinned on top of it. Its true that doing it
this way generates a lot of scraps, but I find it easier to make sure
Im cutting two pieces that will go together properly, rather than
trying to cut each piece separately.

5. Clip the face pieces at the mark on the pattern. Clip a scant 1/8
(that means just a little bit) this will help you line the face piece
up with the body piece when sewing them together.

6. Clip the body pieces at the marks as well, also a scant 1/8. You
can also clip the body gusset and face gusset if you want (the
marks are provided) but it is not necessary.

7. Line up all your cut pieces, including five sets of the spine and
four sets of the foot, to make sure you have all your pieces.
A summary of the total number of pieces you need to cut out:
2 body pieces
2 face pieces
1 body gusset
1 face gusset
2 tail pieces
10 spine pieces
8 foot pieces

8. Stitch the body gusset piece and face gusset piece together
(right sides together). The pattern allows for a 1/4 seam so stitch
with a 1/4" seam (unless you have modified the pattern and added
your own seam allowance).
I use a 1/4 foot. If your foot is not 1/4"
(i.e. its 3/8), you can measure 1/4
away from where the needle enters the
fabric using a ruler and some masking
tape. Lay the masking tape parallel to
the foot, 1/4" away from the needle and
sew with the fabric edges lined up with
the tape edge. Ive included a sketch to
illustrate this.

9. Press the gusset seam (I generally press away from the lighter
fabric, towards the darker fabric).
In this photo you can see how the gusset piece is shaped. The
gusset piece is the underbody that adds dimension to the
fishosaurus.

10. Lay out the body and face pieces right sides up. Doing this
ensures you have matched the correct face piece to body piece (in
terms of the direction/side). This is especially important if you
have a true right side and wrong side of your fabric. The blue solid
fabric I used (shown in photo) is the same on both sides.

11. Select one set of the body/face pieces to sew. Lay the pieces
out on your sewing surface.

12. Flip the face piece so the pieces are right sides together, and
look for the clipped sections of fabric to line up for sewing the
curve.
If you have never sewn a curve before, this part can feel
counterintuitive. It might not look right to you, because you are
used to sewing two straight pieces of fabric together. However,
with a little patience and a lot of pins, you can sew this curve
together without a problem. But keep your seam ripper handy in
case you need to fix a mistake. Just remember that you can ease
the fabric together and it really doesnt need to be perfect.
13. Pin the pieces together near the seam at both clips. Line up the
first clipped part on the edge of the face with its corresponding
clipped part on the edge of the body. Pin there and then line up
and pin the second set of clipped parts.
To explain what I mean by line up
the clipped parts, Ive drawn a
little sketch. I exaggerated the
curve the dark piece represents
the face, and the dotted piece
shows the body. The arrow points
to the clipped parts and the little
dot shows where to insert the pin.
14. After pinning at the clipped parts first, pin at the ends of the
pieces, then work your way to the middle of the curve, easing the
fabric together. I push and pull gently on the fabric to line up the
edges until the edges meet and the fabric lays flat between the
last pin and where Im going to put another pin to ensure there are
no unsightly pleats or gathers of fabric in the finished seam.

15. Stitch along the edge with a 1/4 seam. Be sure to backstitch a
little at the beginning and end of the seam. As I sew curves, I move
forward a few stitches, then stop stitching, leave the needle in a
down position, lift the foot and push down on the fabric with my
finger in between the pins while gently pulling on the bottom
fabric in a direction perpendicular to the sewing direction. This is
to adjust the fabric to ensure the bottom piece is laying flat so no
fabric gets pinched and sewn into the seam, resulting in puckered
seams. Then I move forward a few more stitches. Be patient and
take a little extra time when sewing curves.
16. Press the curve seam. I generally press away from the lighter
fabric, towards the darker fabric. Press the back side and the front
side.
Repeat the pinning, sewing and pressing with the other body/face
pieces.

17. Stitch the eye on the right side of one of the faces. You can put
stabilizer behind the stitching area. (If you havent used stabilizer
before, its a paper/fabric-like material sold at fabric stores that is
placed behind embroidery work so the fabric doesnt get sucked
down into the throat plate during the stitching process.)
If you dont have stabilizer, use a piece of paper (printer paper or a
letter or receipt will also work). I stitched * for Fishosaurus Dexs
eyes and used a thread color (dark maroon) that I thought was
complementary to the overall color/design of the animal. You
could also use buttons, beads, or felt pieces to make eyes.
18. Clip the threads and remove the paper or stabilizer if its tearaway. If you used stabilizer that cant be torn away, simply clip
around the stitches and leave the piece thats stitched in. This
might only be a problem if you are using a light-colored fabric for
the face and you can see the stabilizer through the fabric. If thats
the case, dont use that kind of stabilizer for this project. Just use a
piece of paper.

19. Repeat with the other side of your fishosaurus. You can eyeball
the placement of the eyes, or you can line up the pieces right sides
together and place a pin or a pencil mark at your desired location
if you want to ensure exact placement on both pieces.

20. Stitch the tail, feet and spine pieces. It doesnt matter what
order you stitch them in. Im only going to show the tail pieces for
reference. The pattern shows the solid line that represents the
part you will stitch. It also has a blue dashed line that Ill explain in
step 24. The green dots represent where the piece will be inserted
into the finished body seam.

21. This shows the stitched tail pieces. The pieces are stitched right
sides together (just like they were cut). They are stitched with a
1/4" seam allowance like all the other stitching in this pattern. You
can clip a little bit of the fabric off the end of the tail if you want to
reduce bulk when turning the piece right side out, but dont get
too close to the stitches.

22. Turn the tail right side out.

There are several ways to do this. I like to use
the Quick Turn tool by Dritz (available at craft
or fabric stores). I think its worth buying
because it can save you a lot of time. You can
also stuff the piece as you turn by pushing
some stuffing in front of the stick through the
tube (see sketch).

23. Stuff the tail. Before stuffing, be sure youve pushed gently
against all the seams with a stick or the end of a paintbrush to get
all the parts of the seam turned right side out. If you dont stuff as
you go, stuff it after youve turned it right side out. I like to use a
paint brush to work the stuffing into the piece, especially if its a
small opening.

24. After stuffing, stitch the piece closed to keep the stuffing in.
This is optional but is helpful if you put a lot of stuffing in the
piece. Otherwise you can leave it open and it will be stitched
closed when you insert the piece into the body seam. If you do
want to stitch at this point, stitch where the pattern shows a blue
dashed line, about 1/4 away from the edge.

25. Repeat (stitch, turn, stuff) with the spine pieces and the foot
pieces.

26. By this point, you should have finished sewing all your
component pieces together. You will have the two body/head
pieces; a gusset piece; five spines; four feet; and one tail.
Put the two body pieces right sides together, and decide where
you want to put your feet. Make sure there is at least a 2 space
between the feet because that is where you will turn the
fishosaurus right side out. Once youve decided on foot placement,
make small marks (1mm) with a marker in the same place on the
wrong side of both body pieces.

27. Pin the gusset to the bottom side of one of the body pieces,
right sides together, with the first pin matching up the body/face
seams. Then work you way toward the tail end of the fishosaurus,
pinning in the first foot at the location of the marks made earlier
on the body piece.

28. In this photo you can see how to insert the foot piece. Line up
the foot piece with the seams so a bit of the foot piece is sticking
out (up to the seam you sewed if you chose to do that, but no
more than that). Then carefully pin so the fabric on the underside
lays flat. You dont want that to get pinched up into the seam.
Remember to insert the foot in such a way that when you turn the
body right side out, the foot will be on the outside of the seam. In
the photo, you can see the foot on the left already pinned into the
seam.

29. Pin all the way to the tail end of the gusset piece.
Note: When you stitch the seam, stop stitching 1/4" from the end
because you are going to sew a Y-seam and will need the fabric
to be free at that location to turn in another direction. Ill explain
this more in step 33.

30. After stitching from the body/face seam down to the tail end
using 1/4" seam allowance, take a look at the seam to make sure
you sewed it correctly and none of the fabric on the bottom piece
got caught in the seam, especially by the feet. Also, I usually
backstitch a few times when Im sewing over the feet just to make
sure theyre secure in the seam.

31. Stitch the other body piece to the gusset piece, making sure to
keep the feet from the other side of the gusset out of the way of
the needle. Again, pin from the body/face seams down to the tail
end, inserting and pinning the feet into place at the marks made
earlier.

32. Stitch from the body/face seam past the first foot and back
stitch a few stitches just after the first foot. Then raise the needle
and begin stitching again close to the other foot, leaving a gap in
the stitches of at least 2. The fishosaurus will be turned right side
out through that gap and it will be stitched up later. Stitch past the
second foot and down toward the tail end. Stop stitching 1/4"
from the end.
33. Now you can turn the fabric over and check your other seam
for any puckers. Look at the seam at the tail end. If you stitched to
1/4" from the end on both sides, your stitches will intersect in the
same stitch/point. If youre off a little bit you may need to use a
seam ripper to remove some stitches so they come together at the
same stitch. The sketch shows A: both seams stitched down to the
same point 1/4" from the end; and B: when you stitch the body
pieces together (step 34), avoid stitching into the gusset piece and
begin stitching at the same stitch/point where the two
body/gusset seams ended.
34. Pin the two body pieces right sides together and insert the tail
into the seam close to the bottom of the fishosaurus. The tail is
curved so you can insert it to either curve up (as I did) or curve
down after the body is turned right side out.

35. Continue pinning from the tail around toward the face. Insert
the spine pieces right next to each other or space them out if you
prefer. If you overstuffed the spine pieces, pinning and stitching
through them while ensuring the bottom piece of fabric stays flat
can be difficult. You can end up with puckered seams if youre not
careful. Stitch the seam from the tail end to the face end, making
sure to start the tail end stitch at the same point as the
gusset/body seam end point, as described in step 33. Dont stitch
into the gusset fabric. After stitching, you can look at your seam on
the other side to check your tail end Y-seam. Also check to make
sure you didnt create any puckered seams under the spines.
36. Pin one of the face pieces to the gusset piece, starting at the
bottom of the fishosaurus and working your way up towards the
eye and the top of the head.

37. Backstitch over the body/gusset seam to begin your stitch,

then stitch forward around the curve toward the top of the head.
Work slowly to ensure the top and bottom pieces of fabric are flat
at the point of the needle and in front of the foot so you dont
create a puckered seam. I stop occasionally with the needle down,
lift the foot and push down on the fabric with my finger while
pulling gently (perpendicular to the sewing direction) on the
bottom piece of fabric to make sure it lays flat. Stop 1/4" from the
end of the gusset piece you will be creating another Y-seam
between the two face pieces and the gusset piece.

38. Pin the other face piece right sides together to the other side
of the gusset piece, starting at the top of the gusset piece (where
the Y-seam will be formed) and working your way down around to
the bottom of the fishosaurus to the body/gusset seam you
stitched in steps 29/30. It can be tricky to stitch this part because
you have the narrow gusset piece and the other face piece close to
the seam you will be stitching. Work slowly to keep both pieces of
fabric flat and lined up, under and in front of the needle.
39. After stitching the face/gusset seams, finish stitching from the
face Y-seam up to the top of the head, matching up the face/body
seams at the top from both pieces. Stitch the Y-seam just like you
did with the tail end, making sure not to stitch the gusset piece.
Youre almost done and ready to turn your fishosaurus right side
out. Look over all your seams one more time to make sure you
dont have any puckers and you sewed all the pieces correctly.

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40. Turn the body right side out. Start by pulling the feet through
the hole along the bottom body/gusset seam. Then pull out the
tail, spines and face. Insert the rounded end of a paintbrush or
other object and push gently against all the seams to make sure
everything is turned right side out.

41. Stuff your fishosaurus. Begin by pushing some stuffing through

the open hole and placing it in the tail area, then push some
stuffing into the head area. Fill the body with as much stuffing as
you want until you are satisfied with the shape and size of your
fishosaurus.

42. Use a needle and thread to stitch the hole closed.

43. Now that your fishosaurus is done, use some masking tape or a
lint roller to remove any stray stuffing strands.

44. Name your fishosaurus. He (or she) will be very eager to show
off how cool he is! His natural position will be on his belly, but you
can pose him in a standing position for photographs.

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45. Send me a photo of your finished fishosaurus! I would love to

see what fabrics you used. I hope you enjoyed using this pattern.
Please email me if you have any problems following the pattern.
Thank you for taking time to create a fishosaurus.
My email address: Colorfulartgirl@hotmail.com
My blog: www.colorfulartgirl.blogspot.com

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