Make an upcycled monster plushie: Coronavirus craft time

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Coronavirus isolation may offer time for new hobbies and crafting projects for many people stuck at home.

Some local artists are providing projects that make use of materials you may have lying around home.

Today’s craft: Monster plushies, by Linda Zolten Wood.

Zolten Wood is known for her jewelry, painting and fabric works -- including her inventive monster plushie dolls that she sells on her social media pages. Her dolls sell for $40 each, and can be ordered by emailing zoltenwooddesign@aol.com. Zolten Wodo also creates other products like greeting cards, paintings and knitted items; view more of her work on her Facebook page.

Zolten Wood regularly hosts Upcycled Arts Workshops, practicing conservation-based artwork. The artist, who graduated from the Cleveland Institute of Art in 1987, has worked as a theater set painter at Cain Park and as a prop artist at the Cleveland Play House. She is also behind the Collinwood Painted Rain Barrel Project, a neighborhood project focused on water sustainability. Zolten Wood received the Sustainable Hero Champion award at Cleveland’s 2014 Sustainability Summit.

Zolten Wood combines her passion for conservation and art by making monster plushies.

“This is a perfect way to use favorite outfits that are outgrown but too worn or stained to give away, or loveys that you can’t bring yourself to toss,” Zolten Wood said.

Below, find Zolten Wood’s instructions on how to create your own monster plushie.

Materials:

• Cloth (old t-shirts, pajamas and other clothing work)
• Sewing needle
• Thread
• Scissors
• Buttons
• Polyfill stuffing
• Yarn, pom-poms or other accents for monster hair

Instructions:

1. Cut single layers of two complementary kinds of fabric, and flatten the pretty sides in toward each other. Lightly draw a simple form with or without ears, two to four legs -- arms are optional.

2. Cut both smoothed out layers with sharp scissors a bit outside the line.

3. Choose a pretty color of thread that will be easy to see against the fabrics, sewing a running stitch three to five small, close stitches at a time about 1/4 inch from the edge, then pull through. Backspace a stitch to lock the strength and repeat.

4. Leave a four-inch section on the top of the head unstitched then turn the monster inside out.

5. Choose two buttons for eyes that will be easy to see - sew where they look cute. Belly buttons optional.

6. Easy mouth embroidery -- just back and forth with a mouthy color about five times, then secure the ends and wrap thread around the mouth to make it a bit more sturdy. Secure knots in the inner head flap.

7. Hair optional -- pompons or yarn or even silk flowers sewn close to the open head flap, knots inside.

8. Stuff poly fill into the legs first and try to keep the thickness consistent (not too dense in areas and loose in others). Remember that as the monster gets hugged over time, it will compress, so overstuff if possible.

9. Finish the head opening by pinching the two sides closed with small stitches, then hide the knot near the hair or behind the head on the back by the seam.