Alf on The Shelf!

I'm about to let you in on a little secret. Most of the stuffed animals we have for the boys were either mine or were gifted from my mother. That would be all but one, actually. 

Alf. 

That funny looking Alien Life Form belongs to Mike. And he protects Alf like a third son, too. So Alf actually doesn't get played with a lot and spends a lot of time up on a shelf (and if he should make it down, Blue demands he goes back up).

So since Christmas is right around the corner, and since Mike and I haven't gotten into Elf on the Shelf, I thought it would be fun to dress Alf up for Christmas. And thus have our very own Alf on the shelf!

(And depending on how this goes Alf may be getting dressed up for all holidays from now on)

The Project

Dress Alf as Santa

pattern from Feahter's Flight

Results

I think I searched pinterest for every version of Stuffed Animal Santa Pattern and I came up with nothing. So I decided to just rework the pattern from the t-shirt baby romper project. 

Obviously the pattern is made for a 6-12 month old kid and Alf is smaller a new born, so I decided to just use part a (I used a solid piece for the back and made it two pieces in the front to keep the coat effect) and the sleeves (trimmed down about an inch) to make my Santa coat.

I used some leftover red minky fabric to make the base of my coat. And I sewed the sleeves to the top.

Blue was there to help. 

(Or play with the sewing machine while I was trying to work)

And then I tried it on Alf, to make sure the fit was all right. Everything looked fine, so I went ahead and started putting on the trim. (For the trim I used a fluffy felt fabric, that I found when I took Lion to Joann Fabric's a couple weeks ago.)

To make the trim, I just measured an inch in along the outer rim of my pattern. And then stitch the trim on using a blanket stitch. (I tried using the machine, but I just found it easier this way).

Naturally before I finished putting on the collar, I had to see how it was looking. (Mike was more than pleased with the jacket, except he wanted to know what happened to his pants. And I was going to make Alf pants, but I just couldn't figure out how to work around his tail. So no pants this time, but maybe for Easter I'll figure it out!)

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To finish up the the jacket I simply sewed up the sides. And then added some buttons, down the front of the coat. (This way I can keep it closed without needing to make a belt).

All right once the coat was finished, I (after a long debate all week) decided to make Alf a Santa hat.

(wikiHow has a great tutorial to make a proper Santa hat)

I apparently thought I knew how to make a Santa hat, so I didn't look for any tutorials and just went ahead with my plan.

The width around Alf's head is about six inches, so I found a bowl that was about six inches wide and traced around it. (I tried using a compass, but I couldn't fit my felt pen in there)

Next I cut out the circle and then I drew a line through the center. I then cut out a piece of the circle that was slightly larger than half. I then pinned the two sides together and placed it on Alf's head.

I then added some trim around the bottom and sewed up along the seam. And when it came to the pom pom, I had my mom pick between two sizes and she decided on the bigger one because Alf was a weird guy. (I guess being an Alien and all he wouldn't be that familiar with our customs and all).

And here is how our Alf on the Shelf turned out: