Toddler/Baby Plush dice Part 1
Good afternoon!
This funky weather has got my system so confused! Yesterday here in Central New Jersey it was 60, today they are calling for snow sometime, and next week there are going to be a few days where it gets up to 70!!! I'm not complaining, but it would be nice for each season to stay as it should be for the most part.
Anyway, I don't know how many of you follow us on Instagram, or the other social medias, but I have been posting a lot this week about my most recent project which was working on sometime last year, and only just got back around to... Baby/Toddler plush dice!!
I started this week off with reviewing the patterns I had figured out and made previously, those for the numbers and the 4, 6, and 8 sided dice. I began with crocheting the dice sides then progressed to the numbers. When it's all said and done, I plan on making a few YouTube tutorials for the numbers. I had to create my own patterns for Half-Double crochet numbers. I could not for the life of me find any tutorials anywhere on how to make Half-Double crochet numbers; all I could find were ones for Double crochet and single crochet. So, as soon as my husband and I find the time we will hopefully be doing some tutorials for those. The tutorials will be free to watch and the patterns for the numbers will be included with the videos.
After I had all the dice sides and numbers crocheted, I had to weave in all those ends, ugh. I hate weaving in ends, but it seems to be a necessary evil to this art form. Once all the ends were weaved in, I plugged in my trusty hot glue gun, waited for it to heat up, then glued all the numbers on their respective dice sides (burning quite a few fingers in the process). Word of warning, hot glue is HOT!! But of course, you probably already knew that... I'm just a rather clumsy and accident prone person.
When all the numbers were glued on and cooled, I broke out my handy dandy yarn needle again and embroidered around the numbers, to give them a more finished look and to make sure they are extra secure and will survive your children(s) rough play. I can tell you from what I've experienced with the test ones I made for my son a few months ago, that these dice WILL survive multiple washings in clothes washer. Just be sure to air dry them.
Once the numbers were embroidered, then came the task of sewing each side together. Now here is where I should have sewn on my product brand label, but didn't. I will try to remember that for future dice. I just did a quick whip-stitch to connect the sides and, leaving one line open to stuff the dice! I made sure to not over stuff the dice, if you do that you'll lose the shape of them. In other words, your cube will no longer be cube shaped, but round. After stuffing, I sewed the finally line of the dice closed and then sewed my brand label on, which as I mentioned before was a mistake. This would have been far easier to do earlier on in the project.
So now, I have finished a 4, 6, and 8 sided dice. I am currently working on a pattern for a 10 sided die.
My plans are to have each dice available for purchase individually, and there will be an option to buy the whole set of 6, which will include one of each dice, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, and 20. So that your toddler and baby will be able to join you in your table top game adventures without having to risk swallowing or losing your precious normal sized dice. (I know in my family this was almost a problem early on when my son was younger. He no longer puts everything in his mouth!)
Part 2 for this post will be coming soon! Follow Frodo's Fancies on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Tumblr to be kept up to date on projects and appearances at craft fairs!
