Felt Sewn Watermelon Slices Toy

Hello! Welcome to my Instructable :D

I'm on winter break right now and I love to DIY, so it was the perfect opportunity to create something! I had a bunch of felt lying around and the first project that popped into my head was to make some-sort of cute fruit plushie.

In the end I decided on a berry (watermelons are berries! :P) with a twist:

The slices are able to attract to each other and connect using magnets!

Hope you enjoy! Happy Holidays :D

p.s if you enjoyed this instructable please consider voting me up in the contests I entered. Thank you!

I made a video to accompany this instructable. Hope it helps. :)

You will need:

Felt (two sheets of dark pink/red, one to two sheets of dark green, one sheet of light pink, one sheet of black)

Yarn/String (doesn't matter what kind)

Paper (any kind)

A round object (the size you want your final watermelon to be)

12 Magnets

Stuffing (Fiber-Fill)

Something to write with

Scissors

First ready your scissors, pen, paper, yarn, and round object.

Use a piece of yarn to measure around your round object.

Calculate the height of your sphere: circumference = pi times diameter

Calculate your circumference over the number of slices you want to make (I am making 6)

See images to put all these numbers together to make a 2D plan--don't forget to add some seam allowance.

Cut the plans out.

Use your plans to cut out the required number of pieces for your project.

For mine: half circles (dark pink felt) 12 and diamonds green felt: 6

For other: half circles: 2n and diamonds: n

n= the number of slices you want to make up one full watermelon

Now make a plan for the light pink felt that will line/be overlain over the dark pink face.

Cut out one of these lining pieces for every dark-pink half circle.

Sew the lining piece onto the dark pink price with the edges lined up. Make sure the stitch is close to the inside edge (see pictures).

Then, cut off some of the extra dark pink from the back, leave enough for the joint to still be strong.

Make a plan for a seed, cut out 36 of these (or 6n).

Glue 3 seeds per face of each face piece (on the "pretty" side) Put it under something heavy and let the glue dry. I used Glossy Accents glue.

You could also possibly use sticky felt for this.

Also, this is a good time to draw a darker green strip down the middle of the green pieces. I used a watercolor marker to do this.

Each slice will be two face pieces and one green piece.

Start by attaching one face piece to a green piece. flip both over till their "not pretty side" faces outward, sew together, then flip inside out so your stitches are invisible.

Flip back to not pretty state, and add the second piece (again flipped "not pretty side" faces outward) and sew the straight edges together, leaving a gap for stuffing*, then sew it to the green piece.
When done, flip inside out and admire your work.

*I left the gap in the curved area and that was a mistake and difficult to sew back up, you should probably leave the gap in the straight edge.

Add magnets to the inside on both sides, beneath the seeds.

My magnets where already sticky so I stuck them on and reinforced with a piece of duct tape. Make sure they alternate sides between slices so they can stick together (test it out before you put the magnet in).

Stuff your slices with stuffing!

I wasn't sure how to cleanly sew up the open seam on my slices. I tried some different ways but they weren't very neat. I think this is the by far best stitch to use and a very helpful video (not my video, all credits go to the original creator):

Enjoy :D

Next time I would make my hand sewing neater, get slightly stronger magnets (maybe even more of them), and put the hole for the stuffing in a different place.

Thank you for reading :D

Happy Holidays!