sew your own octopus

Sew Your Own Octopus!

Designed by Ian Kenworthy, author of The Whispering Sand. www.iankenworthy.com

Fresh from his adventures in the Whispering Sand by Ian Kenworthy comes Annabeth’s faithful

sidekick, Glob! Yes, you too can own a Biscuit-Snitching Octopus!

Using this new improved pattern you should1 be able to create a soft toy version of everyone’s2

favourite waterborne biscuit botherer! It’s not really ideal for beginners but if you can use a needle

and thread I’m sure you’ll have at least some degree of success! Within a week3 he’ll be and making

the blancmange in the toilet!

I made this pattern from scratch so any

comments and suggestions would be greatly

welcomed. You could also send me your

pictures, details of how to do so can be

found at www.iankenworthy.com

So, what do I need?

Along with this pattern you’ll need a piece

of material (approximately 40 cm square),

two buttons, pins, a needle, thread and

something to stuff him with. Whilst Glob

usually stuffs himself with chocolate cakes

this will make your toy a little slimy. For

increased longevity try something more

suitable, like foam available from any good

craft shop.

I’d also like to point out that making Glob on a sewing machine is preferable. Eight legs is a lot of

stitching by hand! But I managed it, so I’m sure you can!

Doing this on the cheap?

For the more frugal of you why not try these suggestions. Bearing in mind that the results will vary

accordingly.

Stuffing: Shredded paper, old tights, spare material not used in the body, rice or other dried foods.

Material: Old t-shirt, old bed sheet, t-towels, raid the charity shops.

So how do I make my own Glob?

Well, simply follow the instructions below and cross your fingers!

1 Yes, should, I’m not promising anything.

2 Except Grandpa. You try having an octopus eat you out of house and home and see how long he’s your

favourite for. 3 Again, I’m not promising anything.



Method

This makes far more sense if you cut out the patterns on the following pages so that you can see

what I’m on about.

Okay, first thing’s first. Make sure your material is laid out flat and if possible iron it. Or get a parent

to help if you think you might have a flat fingers accident.

Once you have nice flat material, then we can move onto step 2. Cut out the patterns on the

following pages. Don’t worry about cutting off the letters and arrows. Those are only there as a

guide. You can always look at this file if you can’t remember where you went. So you’ve cut out the

three outlines. You should have a head, a bottom and a tentacle. They are labelled to keep it simple.

And before you start complaining one of each paper pattern will suffice!

Okay we’ll start with the bottom. We only need one of those. So as close to the edge of you material

as you can put the bottom template down. Then pin it in place. All pinned? Good, cut out the

bottom using sharp scissors. Watch your fingers of course. There’s lots more cutting to do and we

don’t want to call the ambulance just yet.

Right, now for the head. We need two of these. So, same as before, pin the head template in place,

then cut around it. Then repeat. See, we only needed one template. And if you fold the material in

half you only have to do it once. I wouldn’t recommend it unless you’re an expert. Somehow the

material always gets wrinkly and goes wrong.

Now for the legs. The template is for one complete tentacle. We need eight. So pin it in place, again

near the edge, and cut out.

All done? Big job wasn’t it? So now we should have one bottom, two heads and eight tentacles. So

onto the tacking.

Tacking? I’ve never heard of that.

Basically it means pinning the pieces of the octopus together (using pins, just so we’re clear) so that

when we sew them the material doesn’t go all squiffy4. So, each tentacle is made up of one piece of

material. What you need to do is lay it flat. Then fold it in half, lengthways so that you have one long

folded piece with a point at one end. With this done lay a line of pins along its length. Repeat on all

seven other legs. Sewing the legs is easy. Just start at point A and continue until you reach B. Behind

this point (Between C and A) there is just a big enough gap for you to put some stuffing in. It doesn’t

matter how neat your stitching is because when the octopus is finished you won’t see it. Why not?

Read on.

BUT FIRST! Turn the tentacle inside out. It’s a little tricky, a bit like turning a sock inside out. But

there you have it. All your stitching is hidden and you should have a lovely neat seam. So then fill the

tentacle with your chosen stuffing material. When you’ve done that, possibly poking it into place

with a pencil, you can stitch up from C to A! I’d recommend sewing that bit by hand, even if you’ve

4 A technical term which here means ‘so wonky you have to throw the whole thing in the bin.



been using a sewing machine so far. And that’s a tentacle done. When you’ve finished them all it’s

probably tea break time!

Now for the head. Two head pieces. Now this is a little trickier as there are a few bits

you need to leave unsewn. So tacking first. Put the two head pieces together like the

bread in an unusual shaped sandwich. Remember you will be sewing this inside out.

Then tack from D to E. Now from F to G. And now you can sew it!

A bit more fiddly wasn’t it? Well you’ve not seen anything yet. Because now it’s time for

the bottom! Yes, the fun bit. And what’s fun about it? Well the bottom is the fiddly bit

because this is where you attach the legs. So, now for the hard part.

You need to sew the legs so that they will be on the outside when you turn the body

inside out. So the legs need to be sewn inside.

Get the bottom and tack four legs on either side. At this point they should cross the bottom and

meet in the middle like a collapsed tepee. Then you need to tack the bottom onto the head. Attach

parts E-F to the bottom. Now this is a great opportunity to turn him inside out to see if you’re on the

right lines. If you are then sew away!

Okay, done that? Confusing wasn’t it. Sorry about that. But that hard part is over and any moment

now, dun-dun-dun... Turn the octopus inside out!

Now this is the moment of truth. You should have a head shape, with a bottom and eight dangling

legs. If you’ve made a little bit of a miscalculation then unfortunately it’s time to unpick it. If not

hurrah! We can carry on.

Now it’s time to finish off! So firstly we need some stuffing. Fill your octopus with your stuffing of

choice! There should be a nice gap, between D and G. So now Glob should be starting to look like an

octopus. But there is a hole in the back of his head! To sew him up you need to do a posh stitch like

this:

What you do is sew either side of the gap. Like the picture above, then get another piece of thread.

Loop it through the first stitches then pull it tight. Shown below:



And finally, we need some eyes on our octopus. Buttons to be precise. Where to put them? That’s

up to you. Test it out. Move them up and down until your octopus looks suitable cute. Then attach

using small stitches. And there you have it! One cute, extra cuddly biscuit-snitcher octopus. All ready

for adventures.

Thank you for trying this. I hope you enjoyed it and that the results were pretty good. Please share

this with your friends and maybe steer them in the direction of my website.



A

B

D

E F

C

G

Sew this way

Sew this way

Tentacle

Bottom

Head

Fold along dotted line

C

sew your own octopus

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