Plush You: Lovable Misfit Toys to Sew & Stuff: Lovable Misfit Toys to Sew and Stuff [Paperback]

Although I now do like the book, I was disappointed when I first opened it. The projects with patterns, well more diagrams you have to enlarge yourself, are of very basic, not all very original softies. Though I like them more after having looked at them a couple of times.

It is more a gallery of ideas, as the description of the book already states. It does have a great variety of original artists and a great variety of style. Though there were many softies I personally did not like, each had something that gave me ideas: it could be the original combination of fabrics, the weird shape, the finishing, the colours..... the author has done a really good job of assembling a lot of very idiosyncratic, original, creative softie-makers. There is hardly any overlap in style in the 'more than 100' (I did not feel like counting them, so I take the publisher's word for that) artists she collected in this book.

Whether it is a book for you really depends on what you are looking for. If you are looking for a pattern book, there are better books to find (I particularly liked the Softies Kit, though these are mainly felt-fabric projects).

The projects with diagrams are:
* Toast, bacon and eggs made out of felt (I thought this a really stupid one, but I do not like food softies)
* Stuffed birds, pictured on the cover - really nice: simple silhouette, so not much sewing skills needed, and using a felt base with fabric and felt applique
* Blind Patagonian Penguin, pictured on the cover - oddly shaped, rather awkward looking Penguin, but very funny. It made me smile.
* Piggy Pouch - rather boring round, flat piggy head shaped little girl's pouch, in pink of course.
* Sir Sulks a lot - the weird purple blob shown on the cover. Rather ugly, useless little thing, but with a good description of how to use gesso to prepare your fabric for painting on.
* Mr Snarley Pants - a four legged monster vaguely resembling a spider. Made out of leopard print fabric with bright red fake fur. It has three big eyes and mean teeth. Makes a nice toy perhaps for a brave child.
* Foxley Bagle - ah, it is a fox, I now understand. Though it looks more like a red cat. Simple and rather funny, though I would change him a bit.
* Wiggly the sweater-wearing tooth - why do a lot of these books have tooth softies, I wonder. I hate them.
* Sasha the Whale pins, pictured on the cover - a pin, or a badge, whatever you want to call it. Made out of felt fabric. Not something I would want to make, but they are colourful and easy to make. Perhaps a nice project to do with or for children
* Woolly hoodwinks, pictured on the cover - rabbit like things made out of woollen fabric. Easy to make, rather cute and you could easily vary the shape to your own taste.
* Speck the fuzzy monster - a crocheted ball with arms, made out of wool. Rather useless, unattractive thing.
* Cock eyed sock monkeys, pictured on the cover. Ah well, you like them or you don't. I don't.
* little owl and her mommy, crochet project. Similar, and prettier, owl projects are easy to find in other books. And there is a nice one in this book too, made out of fabric and without description.
* candy corn doll - I don't know what this is, some sort of halloween candy I guess. Looks like one of these kids ice popsicles, without a stick. Rather dull and useless thing I would think. But, again, I do not like food softies.
* Felt snails - now these I really like. Three of them, all the same shape, but different in colour and decoration. You can see them on the cover. Simple shape, but easy to change their character by varying their decoration.
* Cannibal bunnies: embellish your plush with blood and other bodily fluids (tears, snot, drool or vomit) - made of shiny plastic fabric. With tips on how to use puff paint to simulate the effect of blood and the other fluids. You must be a sadistic bunny hater to be inspired by this project. Rather sickening I think, and I wish they had left this project out.

Well, that's it. I hope I may have helped you make up your mind if you are thinking of buying this book.

First of all let me say I was a beginner when I bought this book.

The conclusion I've come to after buying some more books is that this particular one is more of an averagely experienced sewer's book. It has lots of pictures of very inspirational toys but few projects with proper instructions and patterns.

It's a great book to get ideas to make your own toys, it's really funny and has a lot of info about the artists featured on it that's really cool.

The projects are nicely explained (could be better, some diagrams aren't as clear as they could) but the most interesting toys I saw in this book didn't come with an explanation or a pattern.

So if you're a beginner I would suggest you to compliment this particular book with one with more patterns so you can have a general idea on how patterns work (I suggest Softies: Simple Instructions for 25 Plush Pals by Therese Laskey ).

I bought this for my daughter's 15th birthday in spite of the fairly negative review. I wanted for her to see what was possible and then go off and make something, and this book is perfect for that. Softies are reasonably easy to make anyway, and this book gives permission, if you like, to make something a little quirky and imaginative, without thinking you must follow instructions to the letter. So far, 3 of us have been fired up by the photographs and inspiration, and made our own unique projects. And that's the point of this book - to have your own ideas rather than slavishly copying another girl's work. (Incidentally, we also bought a book with 25 full patterns tucked in the back, and we haven't made a single thing from that, so patterns aren't everything!)