Sewing Pattern
Doris the Donkey
Blindfold ready! Pin the tail on Doris the Donkey Ready for a wave of nostalgia? Meet our ‘pin the tail on the donkey’ tribute! Perfect for conjuring up memories of everyone’s favourite party game, and allowing you to share the tradition with your own little ones, this cute character is surprisingly easy to bring to life. A brilliant introduction to working with fibre filling, creating button joints, and stitching friendly features, this is the ultimate option for any stitchers looking to hone their toy-making skills.
Essentials
- Fabric, cotton: printed, plain
- Quilt wadding
- Fibre filling
- Buttons
Download the templates, print and cut out. Snip the pattern pieces as instructed, adding a 5mm seam allowance to all outlines. Pair up the leg pieces, right sides together, and sew around leaving 3cm along the bottom edge. Turn the legs right sides out, stuff firmly, fold in the raw edges and slip-stitch closed.
Pair up the straight edge of one nose piece to the end of one body piece, right sides together and stitch. Repeat for the other pieces and press the seam. Match up the two head and body halves right sides facing, sew together leaving a 5cm gap along the belly. Clip curves, turn out and stuff firmly. Turn in the raw edges of the gap and slip-stitch closed.
Line up the ears right sides together and place a wadding piece underneath each pair. Sew through all layers leaving the straight edge unsewn. Clip curves and turn out through the gap. Fold in the raw edges before oversewing the ears to either side of the head. Pin a pair of navy buttons to the face as eyes, then stitch in place.
Pin the legs to the body of the donkey and join securely with button joints, using a double thickness of strong thread. Cut cotton, 2.5cm x 15cm, fold in half right sides together, then sew down the long edge and across one end. Turn out and knot the piping 2cm from the closed end. Double hem the raw edge of the other end and slip-stitch to leave a loop large enough to thread a small safety pin through.