Bee Plushies with Heatnbond Fusible Fleece

Today I am sharing the cutest little baby bee pattern and tutorial with you. I hope you find it as sweet as I do. It’s small so it can fit in your little one’s hands perfectly. This project is a great scrap buster. You just need small amounts of each fabric. I’ve used safety eyes in this tutorial but you can always applique some eyes or use buttons instead. Let’s get started!

SUPPLIES:

• Pattern pieces (DOWNLOAD HERE)
• Black cotton fabric
• Yellow cotton fabric
• White cotton fabric
• (2) 6”X6.5” HeatnBond Fusible Fleece
• (2) safety eyes
• ¼” black grosgrain ribbon
• Fray check
• Poly-fil

CUTTING (WxH):

From your yellow fabric, cut:

• One: 6.5”x2.5”
• Two: 6.5”x1”
• One: 6.5”x1.75”
• One: 6”x6.5”

From your black fabric, cut:

• Three: 6.5”x1”

From your white fabric, cut:

• Two: 5”x2.5”

**Use a ¼” seam allowance unless stated otherwise.

For the antenna, take your ribbon and tie a knot at one end. Apply some Fray Check to the end to make sure it doesn’t unravel on you. Cut the ribbon (including the knot) to a 2” length. Repeat and make a second.

Now that everything’s cut out, we can start sewing.

Let’s start with the wings. Take your two white fabric rectangles and place them right sides together. Trace your wing pattern on the back of the top fabric. Pin the two fabrics together and cut out the wings, cutting through both layers.

Take to your sewing machine. Start close to the middle on one side. You will be leaving a small opening for turning. Sew remembering to backstitch, using a ⅛” seam allowance. Sew around the perimeter leaving a small opening in the center on one end.

Turn the wings right side out. Since you used a small seam allowance, the wings will lay flat without cutting notches. Iron your wings flat and carefully hand-sew the opening closed. Set aside.

Before you sew your fabric strips together we need to add the antennas. Take your 2.5” yellow rectangle which will be the bee’s face. Fold your fabric in half to find the middle. From the middle measure ½” on one side and pin an antenna overlapping the raw end (the end without the knot) approximately ¼” over the fabric edge with the knotted side on the fabric. Repeat with the second antenna, measuring a half-inch the opposite direction from the center for its placement.

Grab your yellow and black strips and lay them out. The top is your 2.5” strip, with the 1” alternating colors, then the bottom is your 1.75” wide yellow strip.

Take all your strips in the order you’ve laid them out and sew them together using a ¼” seam allowance. Your face strip should be on the inside by your first black strip. When all strips are sewn together, take to your iron and press.

Grab your fusible fleece pieces. Take your sewn strips piece (your main bee piece) and your 6”x6.5” remaining yellow fabric rectangle and fuse them to the fusible fleece. Move the antennas out of the way as you do so.

Take your main bee piece and topstitch. When you topstitch the seam where the antennas are enclosed, push them back toward the first black strip and topstitch over the antenna. Then push the antennas back towards the face to get them to stand up.

Now take your main bee pattern piece and center it on top of your bee. Center the pattern between the antennas and line up the face line with your seam of the face and the first black stripe. Trace your pattern including marking the eye placement. Cut it out.

Punch holes and insert your safety eyes.

Next, grab your wings. We will be folding the wings and placing them in the pleat as we line it up to sew it together. Fold your bee in half, right sides together, and line up the two ends. (inside view).

Pin along the pleat (the inside edge of the bee). Carefully place the wings right at the inner part of your pleat. (outside view). Before sewing, make sure your antennas are out of the way. Sew the pleat using a ¼” seam allowance.

Open the bee back up. Trace the bottom pattern piece onto your yellow fabric attached to the fusible fleece and cut it out.

Pin your main bee to the base. Line up the center top and bottom first and then work your way around. Along one edge close to the bottom, leave an opening for turning. Sew.

Turn right side out and stuff with poly-fil.

Hand sew your opening closed.

Isn’t he the cutest little bee!? I hope you loved this fun quick sew. Thanks for sewing along!