SLEEPY SLOTH SEWING PROJECT 💛 Lucky Mary Sunshine

Do you have little sloth-lovers at home who struggle with falling asleep? Fear not! I have a brilliant and adorable solution that will make bedtime a bit easier. Introducing…the lavender-infused rice-filled sloth! Not only is this palm-sized plushie adorable, it also provides a sensory outlet for your little ones to fidget with before dozing off. And let’s not forget about the calming properties of lavender – lavender isn’t necessarily magic, but it definitely smells like it! This DIY sewing project is easy peasy for you or for your mini-me with a little guidance. But if you have no desire to become a seamstress (no judgment here!), you can adopt one of our premade sloths from the Lucky Mary Sunshine Shop. So come on, let’s get to making those slothy dreams a reality!

WHAT YOU’LL NEED:

felt (3 colors- one for main body, one for face and one for eyes)
needle and thread (black and any colors needed to match your sloth
rice
lavender essential oil
scissors
funnel (to help pour in rice)
wooden skewer or chopstick
printable template
erasable fabric marker or sharpie/marker

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LET’S CREATE!

1. Print your template and trace onto felt using a sharpie or erasable fabric marker. Use one color for the body, one for the face and one for the eyes.

2. Cut out all the pieces using sharp scissors. (This is best done by an adult or older child under adult supervision.)

3. Whipstitch eye pieces onto the face as shown below. Make sure to start and end on the back so your knots are not showing.

4. Draw eyes, a nose, and a smile on your sloth’s face with a thin marker. (This disappearing pen is my favorite!) Using a backstitch “trace” what you just drew with your black thread to make the sloth’s face.

Tips for our little crafters!

You can use felt glue to just glue the eye pieces onto to the face, and then the face onto the body. And as an alternative to sewing the face details, you can use a marker to draw the face on and skip embroidering the face details. You could also use puff paint to add the eyes, nose and mouth. Easy Peasy!

5. Whipstitch (or glue) the face onto the body.

6. Place your sloth body pieces together and begin sewing together using a whip stitch. Hide the knot by sewing through JUST the top piece first. Continue to sew around the sloth, but leave about an inch opening so we can fill it with rice. Make sure to leave your thread and needle in; we will finish sewing after we fill the sloth with rice. I find it easiest to leave the opening on the sloth’s back as shown in the picture.

7. Depending on how many sloths you are making, measure out your rice. One cup of rice is enough for about 3 sloths. Add 10-20 drops of your lavender oil to each cup of rice you are using (add more or less lavender based on how strong you’d like the scent.) I place mine in a bowl and mix it all together with a wooden skewer. Alternatively, you can place your rice and lavender oil in a jar and shake, shake, shake until it is all mixed together.

8. Pour the rice into the sloth through the opening. A funnel helps sooo much! If you don’t have a funnel, I’d recommend rolling a piece of paper into a cone shape and pouring the rice through that. It really does help with the mess!

9. Use a popsicle stick, wooden skewer or even a pencil to gently push rice into the sloths arms and legs. Continue to fill with rice until the sloth is firm, but still squishable.

10. Continue your whip stitch to close up the sloth. Tie off your thread with a double knot. Insert your needle back into the sloth right next to the knot, going through just the top layer of felt and push your needle back up before cutting the thread. This gives it a neater finish.

11. You’re done, my friend! And you’ve officially adopted your very own sloth buddy. The only thing left to do now is cozy up with your new pal and savor the soothing aroma of lavender.

Congratulations on surviving the ultimate test of patience – sewing with a kid! But I know it’s all worth it to see the adorable sloth pal you created together. And hey, if you are super stressed, you just made the perfect anxiety-relieving pal! Give your sloth buddy a little squeeze AND give yourself a pat on the back for crushing yet another craft with your kiddo! Here’s to catching some Z’s and sleeping like a sloth tonight!