Holiday wishes from Chewie and me.

If you want to go right to my shop news about Black Friday or Cyber Monday, just scroll right to the end of this post!

When I first saw the pattern to make this little guy on pinterest, I knew exactly who it'd be perfect for—our friends just had a little boy three weeks ago and we wanted to do some small special thing for them to welcome him, although I would have made it even if they'd had a girl because we are all equal opportunity nerds around here! We were lucky to spend a relaxing and delicious Thanksgiving with these friends yesterday and I think he was a hit, despite perhaps that the little guy will appreciate him a whole lot more after he discovers where his own hands are. Phht, small detail you know.

He was pretty easy to make which was a relief since I'd never made a plush doll before and the PDF was well put together and easy to follow. There's just a few things I'll mention as a quick review of it in case you've stumbled across this post in search of pattern errata:

1. Most people who've made plushie dolls would get it, but since it was my first time, I did not realize that the wholes for stuffing the limbs could not be along the straight edge at the end of each one. You will need to leave those open AND another 5cm space along the length of the limb so you can stuff each one individually at the end.
2. This guy is kinda big. He measures something like 50cm tall which seems appropriate for a toddler but in hindsight, I would have printed the pattern to fit the page (US page that is, the PDF is a slightly larger standard UK paper size).
3. I skipped the flocked nose and glass eyes and went with the suggested felt for the face instead to make this Chewie more baby friend. In addition, I found some heavyweight nylon webbing to substitute for the ammunition belt as I didn't think the duct tape on grosgrain ribbon idea was going to hold up or be safe for a child. The webbing trim I found had the great little silver lines along the edge so we still got the desired effect I think and now, pre-washed and all, it can get slobbered on and carried around without worry.
4. To make the face a bit easier, I put each piece of felt down with a little Fabric-Tac glue and then hand-stitched each one with a backstitch using regular old mercerized cotton thread. SO much easier!


I hope you all also had a delicious and relaxing Thanksgiving! Here's a little thank you from me to you:

**Black Friday–Cyber Monday Etsy Shop Offer**
And before I go, I just want to let you know that there is FREE SHIPPING on domestic orders (not applicable to embroidered shoes or any other custom order) in my shops from today through Monday. Just enter the coupon code (FREESHIP11) upon checkout in any of my three stores:
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