A Tag-Along Lion Named Phil

My oldest boy, Finn, loves lions. Well he's obsessed with lions, really. If he sees a lion and he can't have it then he gets so depressed that he will sit in front of the TV watching soap operas and finish off an entire quart of double fudge cookie dough ice cream and, wait, that's someone else that I'm thinking of. Anyway, he really loves lions. The other day he had an encounter with a lion that he couldn't have and after I bribed had a clear discussion with him about how a snow cone is so much better than crying, I told him that I would make him his own lion, so I did. My inspiration came from the lion that I put on my magnetic busy boards.

To start I bought a yard of lion colored fleece. Ok that wasn't the actual name of it, but it should have been. I used a large sized Tupperware bowl to trace and cut out 2 circles from the fleece. You can really use any size you want.

I then cut out shapes of the pieces for the face from felt and ironed on some Heat n Bond.

I placed them how I wanted them on one of the fleece circles and then ironed them on.

I then used my sewing machine and did a zig-zag stitch around each piece on the face to make sure they held down tight, and because it looked so much dang-cuter that way. (Is dang-cuter a word?)

I then took the second circle and sewed it around the edge to the first, right sides together, leaving the neck space open.

And flipped it right side out.

For the body I used a smaller bowl, traced most of the way around it and then at the top of the circle I drew two lines going up. (Look at the pic below, you'll understand.) Cut this piece out of 2 layers of fleece and sew around the edges, right sides together, leaving the neck open. Flip right-side out.

Now sew the front of the body and the front of the head together at the opening, making sure the seam goes into the inside.

Stuff him full of Fiber Fill and hand sew the back of the neck closed.

Now for the hair. If you have ever tied a quilt, that is basically how I did the hair. If you haven't, here's how.

Take your needle and yarn and poke it in and then out of the fleece in a small spot.

On your first make sure you leave about 3 inches of yarn sticking out the end. If you're on to the next piece make a loop 3 inches on each side.

Then take your needle and go back through the same holes that you did the first time and pull all of the way through creating a knot. Start the next piece right where you ended the last one.

I left all of the loops until I was done and then cut each loop right at the top to make the hair.

I did 2 rows of hair to give it some thickness.

Next step is to cut 2 ear shapes out of some felt. Cut a tiny slit in the middle of the bottom. This will make the ears curve forward when sewn on.

Hand stitch onto the head between the two rows of hair. Cross the slit over itself and sew it down like that.

And once the 2 ears are on your lion is done!

I added a little scrap bow tie (it's basically just a knot) to hide the seam around the neck.

And then go hide him in the bushes for your little lamb to come find, cuz that's how lions roll.

And he will love him, and possibly name him Phil, like my little guy did :D

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