Hi everyone!
It’s difficult to gauge just what animal to tackle next sometimes, but in a poll I did on my DeviantArt last year, Axolotl won hands down 😀 I guess I shouldn’t be surprised! They’re very neat animals and their external gills are just the cutest <3 I had a lot of fun figuring out what kind of shape to make for the body, but I settled on this laying belly down style (called kuttari I believe for Japanese toys).
It’s great because it puts the cute gills and tail on full display to see. My favorite part is that in the end I couldn’t decide on what kind of gills to do so the pattern includes both! There are short stubby gills (that remind me of flower petals, so that’s what I called them), and the longer curved ones are more animal accurate but still very cute 😀 It’s fun to mix up the colors on the gills.
It only has a few pattern pieces so it sews up very quickly, though attaching the head is a bit tricky. I ended up giving it a 3/10, though if you’re not used to attaching heads it might feel more like a 4.
This comes with embroidery files for the face, which is small enough for 4” x 4” embroidery machines! So with any luck nobody is excluded 🙂
And if you’d like to buy the fabric already pre-printed and ready to sew, 4 different designs are available on my Spoonflower page! No embroidery or applique (or even fabric hunting for that matter) needed <3. And for you frequent Spoonflower shoppers out there, I heard they now offer free US shipping for all orders over $75 😀 So that’s pretty great!
30 thoughts on “Free Pattern Friday! Axolotl Plush”
Is so cute >.< i'll try this pattern
This is SO CUTE! Thanks!
Muchas gracias eres una persona muy linda y me enorgullece la manera en que compartes tus diseños por esa razón siempre serás feliz en tu vida y Trabajo…
This is just too cute for words!! 😀
OMG!!!! I’ve been wanting a pattern for these cute lil things for ages! Thank you! They look so out of this world and mystical.
Super cute! Thank you.
This is adorable and just perfect for my best friend’s daughter. Thank you so much for making it available for free!
Thank’s!!!
It’s very cute 😍
Aw, these are so wonderful! And the cut and sew Spoonflower option is such a great idea and a lifesaver <3 Would you ever put any of your older designs up as cut and sew kits?
Thank you so much! I’m glad you like them 😀 I have a few of my older designs already on Spoonflower, but I’m definitely working on other past ones that were popular. I’m always open to suggestions though!
How can I get this pattern??
The .pdf link can be found attached to the button at the bottom of the page or from the main photo 🙂 But here’s a direct link as well (https://cholyknight.files.wordpress.com/2018/04/axolotl-plush-sewing-pattern.pdf)
I love this so much. super easy and sooooooooo cute. ive made 3 so far
Es demaciado hermoso *—-* agradecería si me pudieras compartir el molde
Yes , i AM mexican
Hi, the .pes file isn’t transferring to my embroidery machine. Any help?
Oh no! I’m sorry you’re having trouble! I’m hearing from others that the files might be just a few millimeters over the threshold to fit some people’s machines. So I’m guessing that might be your issue? Regardless, I’ve adjusted the size so hopefully this works better for you. Here’s a link to the new file from my Dropbox: https://www.dropbox.com/s/iacxb2a3ozthhrg/Axolotl%20Face.PES?dl=0
Yay! it worked. Thank you
You are amazing. I make these plushies for my sister’s birthdays and they are in love with them.
Thank you so much! I’m really glad you’re enjoying them ♥
I made this today after wanting to for a while and I love how it turned out!! The little plush is adorable and I was surprised at how quickly it came together. I can’t wait to give this to my friend for their birthday!! Thank you for sharing the pattern!!<3
You’re very welcome! I’m so glad you enjoyed using it ♥
Hey, thanks so much for everything you do! I’m a relative beginner working by hand and I’ve been having some trouble with steps 5-7….. the gills stay on the inside of the ball. at first i thought it’s because i didn’t connect the two head sides right- I really did get it wrong on the first try- but after unthreading it entirely and sewing the whole perimeter together by hand again, i think the problem is with how i basted the gills. Do you know what might have gone wrong, or can you prevent clearer instructions for the gill palcement so i can figure it out myself? and do you think there might be a way to fix i without undoing the entire perimeter of the head (unstuffed as of yet…)
Sorry and thanks ahead of time!
If your gills don’t flip outward after turning the head, my guess is that maybe your basting stitches are too far inside. When you sew the head front to the head back, you want to make sure the seam is past the basting stitches. You shouldn’t need to redo the stitching 🙂 you can just sew a little further in than your previous stitching.
This is just a guess based on what you described though 🙂 Hopefully it works for you!
Omg my boyfriend is obsessed with axolotls!! Im gonna make him so many of these!!!
this pattern is great!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
These are adorable. I have a niece who loves these little salamanders and bought a plush that her mom says looks more like a slug. I sent her pictures of these that I made up and loves them.
Do you have any advice on how to make the head more boomerang-shaped so it could be made into a diplocaulus?
Hello! It might be easier to redraw the head to get that distinctive boomerang shape, since it looks like you’d probably need a seam going across the front of the face.
Even a flat boomerang shape looks like it would work. But if you want to give it some depth, you’ll want to split it in half widthwise, lengthen the corners along those edges, then draw convex curves on those edges. I hope that makes sense in just writing 😅
An alternative detail addition— instead of embroidery I found out that needle felting details such as eyes, mouths, etc is a great way to add them!
I made one of these for my 3-month old cousin and he absolutely loved it!!! The tabs on the head are perfect for him to grab and chew, and the large squishy rest of it is perfect for him to cuddle, roll on, and many more. Thanks Choly!!!! Your patterns are amazing!!!