In the previous article, I was sharing with you how to make a round 3D detail for your plushies. In that article, I told you to keep the leftover thread so you can attach the tail later to the body. And at the same time, with that very same thread, you can make a belly button as well.
So if you haven’t read it yet, go and have a peek at How to Make a Round Tail for Your Felt Plushies. But now, let’s first introduce myself 😉.
If you’re new to my blog, hi 👋, my name is Alyona. I’ve been sewing as long as I can remember myself. When I came to the UK, I became really, really into sewing felt plushes. And through all these years of my experience in this blog, I’m sharing it with you.
Now let’s get into the juicy part. And the juicy part is the process itself 🪡.
And before we move on, if you are really into felt crafting, here is my little thank you for reading this article – my Free Sewing Pattern. Grab it, use it, test it, enjoy it.
With a Tail or Without – Same Technique
If you are attaching the tail and making a belly button at the same time, you can follow this method exactly. But even if you don’t want to have a tail and you just want to make a belly button because your animal doesn’t require one, you can still use the same technique.
For example, when I’m doing a hedgehog, obviously his back is completely covered with the felt. So basically you can’t even see, even if you want to attach a tail there. On creatures like this, when the back is covered, you follow the same process – with the tail or without. That’s what I’m trying to say to you. If my toy doesn’t have a tail, I’m still using the same technique.
And If you use your tail, imagine that it’s already the big knot in the back. If you don’t use the tail, then make a knot on your thread and make sure that your thread is folded multiple times ☝️.
If you are using simple, unbranded Polyester Sewing Thread, I recommend folding your thread four times. So you don’t have one thread or two – it needs to be four threads in your needle. If you are using Gutermann Thread because it’s stronger, then you can get away with a double layer of the thread 🧵.
Bringing the Needle Through
Take your Sewing Needles and find the place where you want your belly button to be. Push your needle from the back through and come up in the front exactly in the place where you want the belly button.
If you don’t use a tail, you just pass straight through the felt. If you have a tail, then you need to punch the needle in the place where you want the tail and go slightly up. It’s going to be like a diagonal trajectory. If you look at it geometrically, without a tail you pass your needle horizontally. With a tail, you enter where you want the tail to be and then go a little bit up to where you want the belly button.
That’s the only difference when you are attaching with or without the tail.
Shaping the Belly Button
Then you need to return your needle back to exactly the same place where you punched it. When returning it back, squeeze – not too much to the point that your thread can snap – but it still needs to be firm.
Go a few times back and forth, back and forth, until your toy has this nice round shape with the belly button going down inside of his stomach.
Blocking the Thread (Very Important)
Now we need to block the thread. Otherwise, if you don’t block it, with time everything will loosen and your toy will become round again, without this little hole for the belly button.
Here’s how to do it. When your needle is on the back of your creature, hold your thread with one hand and push the needle again to the belly button. Take it out from the belly in the front, but don’t squeeze it tight in the back element yet. Hold the thread in your hands – it will create a loop in the back.
Then return your needle back again and wrap it twice around that loop in the back. Stretch it, pull it, and this way you block the thread in the back element. Cut the leftover thread – and voilà, your belly button is ready. The thread is blocked and it will stay. This technique is bulletproof. I use it all the time and I never had a problem.
If you are still not sure, you can repeat this blocking step and double it, just to make absolutely sure.
Important: Use the Right Felt
This technique will work only with plushies made from Soft Felt. If you are using stiff or hard felt, it won’t work. The felt will create big wrinkles and the toy will not look professional. It will look poorly done.
In the beginning, I didn’t know what felt to select. I just wanted to create some plushes and grabbed whatever felt I could find. When I used this technique, the toy didn’t come out as I expected (you can see it on the image above 🙈😂).
That’s why I want to save your supplies and your nerves – use only soft felt!
Also, the toy must be stuffed. You can’t use this technique on a flat felt creation. Sometimes you can create a stuffed plushie from a pattern, or you can just stitch felt together and keep it flat. For this belly button technique, it has to be stuffed inside with Stuffing/Filling.
If You Love Bears… 🐻
That’s it for now. I hope you enjoyed this article. And if you are really into felt making and wondering how to make the 3D round tail so your toy looks cute from the back as well as from the front, go back to the round tail article I mentioned earlier.
I use that technique all the time on my bears and bunnies. But honestly I love to make bears 🧸. If you want to try one, you can check my Bear Felt Toy Sewing Pattern.
And if you are interested in seeing all my craft sewing patterns, you are very welcome to explore my Sewing Patterns Collection 🧵✂️.
See you in my next article. Thanks for reading. Bye 👋.
