Denim Whale Project

Last January I had the idea to make a bunch of denim whales, some for gifts and some to sell. I had seen some cute ones on Pinterest. I pinned them a long time ago in hopes that I would commit to making some in the future. So, a year ago, last January, as I was saying, I started drafting patterns. I studied some pictures of humpback whales. They were my models for flipper and tail shapes.

I sewed a few, did some tweaking, and settled on a design. I made a big eBay order for all the materials that I would need. I purchased 3 yards of denim, 5 pounds of polyester filling, 5 pounds of plastic beads that are made for stuffed animals, 3 spools of thread (I ended up needing 4 spools), plastic mailers to ship my whales to customers, and a digital scale to weigh the stuffing, as well as calculate shipping costs.

I was able to cut all the whales from the fabric in March. I ended up with enough material for 12 whales. Actually getting them all sewn has been a long process! I finished sewing the last one in November. And, I just finished sewing the last pair of eyes on last week!

A tutorial of sorts:

The first step of sewing a whale is sewing the flippers, turning them right side out, and topstitching. Make sure to have the right side of the fabric facing out on the top of the flipper and the wrong side of the fabric facing out on the bottom of the flipper.

Then I sew the 4 pleats along both sides of the belly of the whale. Before I sew the center belly seam, I zigzag stitch the raw edges on both pieces in the area I plan on leaving open to be able to turn the whale right side out. Then I sew the belly seam stopping and backstitching on both sides of the hole. I leave a hole about 2 1/2" long in the belly right behind where the flippers go, but before the narrow part of the tail.

I proceed to the top of the whale. I sew the center top seam all the way from the tip of the nose to the end of the tail. I finish all the raw edges with a zigzag stitch, as I go along. I baste the flippers onto the top piece. With right sides together (keep in mind that the right side of the bottom of the whale is the wrong side of the fabric) assemble the top to the bottom, tucking the flippers inside, and pinning carefully all around. Then I stitch it and finish the edges.

Now the whale has to be turned right side out and the topstitching on the tail has to be done.

I stuff my whales with a combination of poly fill and plastic beads. 3 oz. of plastic beads go in the belly and the rest gets filled up with 4 oz. of polyester fiber.

To make the eyes for my whales I cut a small circle (about the circumference of a pencil eraser) out of white, tightly woven, cotton material. I hand stitch it on to the whale with little whip stitches around the edge. Then I make the pupil. I use black thread and do a padded satin stitch in the center of the white of the eye.

Feel free to make your own whales with the ideas I have laid out here or head over to my Etsy store, QuietStandards, to purchase one from me! :)