YOU WILL NEED

■ Light green fabric: one (1)

fat quarter

■ Mid green fabric: 5in square

■ Fifteen (15) floral or plain fabrics:

approx 2yds total

■ Brown wool felt: 4in square

■ Stranded embroidery thread:

white and brown

■ Toy stuffing

■ One (1) copy each of the Side Body, Side Head, Underhead, Base, Front Foot, Back Foot, Ear, Nose, Eye, Small Spike, Medium Spike and Large Spike templates

FINISHED SIZE

■ 14in x 9Ωin

inner centre and hand stitch in place to form a cup (Fig A).

6

Pin two Front Foot pieces RST and sew, leaving the straight edge open. Clip notches in the curve and turn RS out. Press, then stuff, leaving approx Ωin unstuffed at the end. Baste the opening to keep the stuffing contained. Repeat this process for the other Front Foot and to make both back feet.

7

Pin a Side Head piece to a Side Body piece, RST, from point C to point B. Insert an ear where marked, pushing it in from the RS to the WS. Baste first, which will make sewing the slightly opposing curves of the two pieces easier and more accurate (Fig B). Sew, then clip notches in the curve and trim the seam. Press flat. Repeat for the opposite side of the body. 8

Pin and sew the wide straight ends of the Underhead piece and the Base piece, RST. Trim the seam and press it flat. Pin this new long piece RS together with one side of the body from point A at the nose to point D at the back. Insert the Front Foot at B, behind the head and Back Foot at D, facing into the body. The Front Foot should be inserted so it is facing forwards when turned RS out (Fig C).

9

Baste along the curve, so that the feet remain properly in position. Make sure you have matched the seams at point B. Sew the seam. Repeat for the other side.

This second seam needs to meet the seam sewn previously on the first side, in order to form neat points.

10

Pin and sew up the remainder of the body across the top, from point A to point D, leaving a gap for turning. Turn the hedgehog RS out and press. Stuff firmly, using your fingers and a wooden stick to poke right into the nose. Be careful not to burst through the seams or fabric. Ladder stitch the opening closed.

11

Fold a Large Spike piece in half. Fasten on thread near to the top seam of the

hedgehog’s body, in the middle of the back. Fasten on the Large Spike and make a gathering stitch close to the edge of the fold. Pull to gather, then make a stitch into the body to secure the Large Spike in position (Fig D).

12

Repeat step 11 with the next Large Spike and continue vertically down the hedgehog’s body, finishing at the bottom seam (Fig E). Repeat this process with another row of spikes running down the other side of the body.

13

Sew a second row of spikes, 3/8in in front of the first (Fig F). Start this row crossing with the spike centred on the top seam, so the row is offset. Then make a third and fourth row of large spikes behind the first.

14

Continue this process, making a further six rows of Medium Spikes, either side of the Large Spikes. Continue in the same way, adding the Small Spikes. The number of spikes in each row may vary, depending on how tightly you gather them. End with the front row of spikes positioned just behind the ears.

MAKING THE FACE

15

Run a gathering stitch close to the edge of the felt nose circle. Gently pull the thread and gather, adding a small amount of stuffing (Fig G). Continue to pull the gather tighter to form a ball, adding more stuffing. Once a nice round shape has formed, close up the hole. Use extra long pins to position the nose on the end of the hedgehog’s head, then ladder stitch on, using doubled co-ordinating thread.

16

Using three strands of the white stranded cotton, make a very small satin stitch dot in the centre of each Eye piece, to create a highlight. Then, refer to the photos as a guide to position and pin the eye pieces onto both sides of the head. Make sure they are level with one another by viewing from all sides. Lightly mark the positions with a pencil, then use small overstitches in black thread along the outer edges to sew on.

17

Using the images as a guide, backstitch a smiling mouth to finish, using four strands of the brown stranded cotton. Fasten on and off within the front seams of the head (Fig H).

Mark out the top and bottom of each row with a pencil before beginning to keep on track with spacing.

Ear

ENLARGE 200%

Underhead

ENLARGE 200%