Making a felt stuffie for a Miles Morales (Spider-Man) fan!

 

I am a big fan of many Marvel characters, as are some of my friends. One friend's favorite characters is Miles Morales. My friend loved that Spider-Man was a young kid of Latin descent that he could see some pieces of his experience in. It makes me so happy that he has this character to identify with. So when I saw that Cricut Design Space had some adorable Spider-Man images for purchase, I knew I had to make him something. (In full disclosure, I loved the images so much - I am going to eventually make something for myself too.) It is a pretty easy project to complete, check out how made it and some tips to your make own below.

From all the images available on Design Space, I liked the posture on this one and that it would work as a paper cut out as well as for a felt stuffed toy. I sized the image to a size that would be big enough to comfortably work with (weeding very little things hurts my eyes and my patience) but small enough to be displayed alongside some of his collectibles.  The finished plush is a little over 7 inches tall and almost 8 inches wide. 

The primary color of Miles' costume is black and the accents are red with white on his eyes. For a piece about this size, it only requires two pieces of black felt (or 1/3 yard if you are purchasing it by the yard), red iron-on material (at least one 10 x 12 piece if you squeeze them in together, otherwise a larger piece), and a small piece of white iron-on (about 4 x 5 inches).

Since I was working with two different materials, I cut the images in two separate passes. First, I cut the black felt so I hid (deselected) the red and white images (see image below) and then only cut the two outlines using the rotary blade. After cutting the felt layer, I went back and hid the two black pieces, selected the red and white pieces and cut them on iron-on vinyl using the standard blade. (For those of you that don't have a Maker and don't like cutting felt on your Cricut, since the background is fairly simple, another option is to have the black layer cut out on paper and use that as a pattern to cut the felt by hand.)

After cutting the iron-on, weed the images. 

 

Because the white of the eyes goes above the red piece, I started with the red iron-on first. Note that when layering multiple layers of iron-on, it is better to not heat the first layer the full recommended time as if you are applying multiple layers the initial layers may start to pucker and get messed up.

I used Cricut Everyday which a cool peel material, so after letting it cool I removed the backing and applied the white layer over the red. When you are ironing on the additional layer, be sure to cover the entire image with a pressing cloth or silicone sheet as you do not want the heat source to directly touch the iron-on material without any sort of protection.

 

Voila, the front side is done. The back side is only has one layer of red, so iron-on using the full recommended time. Wait for the material to cool, peel and your Miles is ready to be put together.

I used black thread, a generous amount of stuffing, and hand sewed him together. He was ready for adventures!

This was a fairly easy craft to complete with the proper materials and made a very cute gift for a friend. A few other friends have commented that they would like a small superhero of their own, so I am looking for images to use in making some for them too. 

Hope that this inspires you to try this easy but adorable craft. Happy crafting!