Duchy: An easy hand sewn dachshund softie

Meet Duchy my little dachshund softie who is a free stuffed dog softie tutorial.

Welcome to Sew a Softie in July, 2019.

Every day for the rest of the month we will have one or more softie tutorials posted daily. If you want to follow along you can go to my instagram account where I’ll be linking to the tutorials. Please join in. And don’t forget to hashtag #sewasoftie for your chance to win some great prizes generously donated by Aurifil threads, National Nonwovens, Art Gallery Fabrics and Scissorman.

Duchy is my little dachshund softie. Sewing a dachshund wasn’t on my list of ‘must sew’ softies. As things often turn out, however, what you plan and what you end up doing, are often quite different.

Back in April my daughter Shira, got married. She decided she wanted to go to the ceremony in one of those little black London cabs which we are lucky enough to have in Sydney…perhaps something to do with our British convict background. Anyway, I was chatting to the owner, James, who happened to mention his love of dachshunds and that he was a volunteer with Dachshund Rescue Australia. He had lots of cute pictures on his website. Duchy, my little dachshund softie, didn’t take long to appear. Now he is very excited and proud to be the very first softie, the very first cab off the rank, as they say, for Sew a Softie in July this year.

What you need

12 x 9in dark brown felt

10 x 4in red-brown felt

white and black felt for facial features

thread

What you do

Download the templates and cut out the felt shapes.

Glue eyes and nose onto the red-brown felt. Sew on mouth using a single stitch. Glue tail in place on the dark brown felt or sew into place using a single stitch.

Pin and sew the front and back of Duchy together using a running stitch as shown above. I’ve used Aurifil mako 28 thread. Remember to leave an opening for stuffing.