The Zoo of Stuffed Fluff

When our $5 Ikea stuffed animal hanging toy tower bit the dust due to weight, I started brainstorming what could work better in the corner space.

I looked into these hanging hammock things, but they seemed way too big for our small space. Plus, at $10 a piece, I didn't want to make an investment in something that wasn't what I really wanted.

Other storage ideas were cute, but bulky. And quite honestly, I thought they still looked messy.

In efforts to limit the stuffed toy explosion - seriously they can NEVER play with all of those toys and it just gets too crowded, I have been known to pick off a forgotten stuffed toy here or there to reuse the stuffing for other projects. ;) Shhhh, don't tell the girls.

But since they still have the beloved ones, I wanted to find a way to display them, keep them out of reach (therefore allowing special ones to be picked for play and not the whole stinkin' zoo needing to be cleaned up), and still allow for easy clean-up as needed.

So I checked out my space and modified this tutorial to make my own stuffed animal hammocks from my sewing/material supplies here. 

First off, I thought the hammock this lady made was WAY too big for our space. So I measured the corner walls and decided on how far I wanted it to hang out.

I came upon a general idea of a 19" by 19" by 29" sketch of a triangle, used the general explanation of making a stuffed animal hammock from the aforementioned website, and started my cutting part of the project.

I cut two by two (layering the fabric) to cut down on the amount of time to cut. I had some brightly colored fabric, nice addition to our cheery playroom, but not really "my style" when it comes to "non-kid" sewing projects. Since I had a good deal of it and it was a little stretchy, I thought it a nice choice.

 Marking the middle for the triangle. 

 Folding to make the triangular shape 

Instead of wasting some of the fabric, as suggested in the cutting out of the triangle in the tutorial, I decided to sew my fabric down as a reinforced hammock since some animals have beans in them (making them a little heavy in bulk, and also the material itself was a little thin and not what I'd consider "industrial strength home decorating fabric." But I wanted to use what I have and not add any additional cost to the project beyond time.

After sewing the one side down, I folded and sewed the other side down and hemmed each side excluding the front of the triangle (since I planned on using bias tape to reinforce that).

Pinning before hemming. 

Instead of using bias tape all around the project, I decided to reserve the bias tape for only the hooks at each triangle point and the front of the hammock. This not only saved the bias tape for other projects, but seemed smart since the animals would be filling the other sides of the triangle. So I got a nice clean finish on the front and a frugal cheat on the other sides. ;)

Make sure to have an extra 4-5 inches 

of hemming on each side for the hoops. 

Pinned 1/2 the bias to one side of the material.

When putting on the bias tape I found it important to hold out the one side, fold over the other side while sewing it on (just for added support due to the stretchy material). [I also chose to fold over the material (since it was a raveling, stretchy material) and then sew the fold to the 1/2 bias tape side. I cut off the extra material after the bias tape was completely sewn on.].

And then pinch the fabric when 

sewing down the other side.

Then I sewed the hoops (this one shown 1/2 sewn on the right side) and stitched horizontally across the base of the hoop for extra support.

With all hoops sewn on each triangle edge, my project was complete. =)

Plus it came with a free cat!!!

It hung nicely and easily with three nails (I didn't use special wall hooks) and serves the job quite well.

 Looks like a flying carpet with no animals in it. ;)

[See my zoo of stuffed animals on the floor beneath the hammock - they were just DYING to be in their new home.]

It took me about an hour to complete hammock one, 40 minutes for hammock two and 35 minutes for hammock three. I like to go at a nice slow and not stressful pace so as to enjoy the project with no real "time limitations" and nap time provided just that environment. But I did increase in speed as I learned the tricks of the trade for this project.

Three hammocks total should get the job done and still limit our stuffed toy space so as not to overrun and not add an addictive hoarding behavior. ;)

 And Project Done!

(See that there are no more animals on the floor... SEE?!?!?!?!)

Cost: Total of 2 hours and 15 minutes of time (over 3 days) from scraps to hanging.

=D 

P.S. I'm sure there's some other way to sew these a lot more simply and quickly, but for my amateur skill level this method worked great!