This ppt is used to introduce our unit on plush wherein students sew their own creation.

1. Plush!

2. Definition
Plush : an artwork
created by joining fabric
to make a design and
then stuffing that design
with a filler such as
beans, pellets, sawdust,
paper, fabric, or polyfil.

3. Earliest Plush
Originally, anyone
and everyone
handmade small
toys for children
using scrap fabrics
and animal skins.
These are often
called “rag dolls.”
Lakota Native American doll

4. Earliest Plush
Originally, anyone
and everyone
made small toys
for children using
scrap fabrics and
animal skins.
These are often
called “rag dolls.”
Early American rag doll

5. 1st Manufactured
Plush
-Steiff Company
founded in 1880
-Founder Margaret
Steiff was
wheelchair-bound
and made them
for fun.
-1st stuffed animal
was a bear
Steiff Bear

6. 2nd Manufactured
Plush
-Steiff Company
made animals
based on Peter
Rabbit by Beatrix
Potter
- 2nd stuffed animal
was “Peter Rabbit”
Peter Rabbit

7. Raggedy Ann
and Andy
-Made during
World War I in
early 1900s
-People had less
money, and these
dolls incorporated
cheaper materials

8. Sock Monkey
-Made from cheap
materials (socks!)
-Made during the
American Great
Depression of the
1930s
-could be purchased
or handmade

9. 1940s-70s
-Advent of plastic meant less plush toys
-Plastic was heavily used to make dolls too.
-Most popular company was “Wendy Boston
Playsafe Toys”

10. Plush Art?!
-During the 1950s and 1960s Pop Artists made plush
-The most famous is Claes Oldenburg’s “Floor Cake”

11. Cabbage Patch
Dolls
-Made from fabric and
plastic
-Debuted in the 1980s
-Some of the first racially
diverse (and not racist)
dolls in America
-Huge craze to buy the
dolls; they were hard to
find!

12. Beanie Babies
-Made from synthetic
fabric and plastic
pellets
-Debuted in the 1990s
-They were highly
collectible.
-People would brag
about their huge
collections!

13. Modern Plush Movement
• In the late 1990’s/early 2000’s artists became
more interested in so-called “low-brow” arts
– Crafts
– Sewing
– Comic books
– ‘zines
– Clothing
– Plush!

14. Modern Plush
• Modern artists see plush
as an art form AND a toy.
• They make more than
“stuffed animals”
• They are influenced by
the Japanese term/art
called “kawaii” or “cute”
Kawaii guardrail in Japan

15. Heidi Kearney
• Owns a business called “My Paper Crane,” wherein
she makes handmade plush

16. Heidi Kearney
• Owns a business
called “My Paper
Crane,” wherein
she makes
handmade plush

17. Felicia of Fluffy Flowers
• Owns a business called “Fluffy Flowers”
wherein she sells handmade plush

18. Mimi Kirchner

19. Your Project
1. Brainstorm an idea for a plush creation
2. You can:
1. Make a Kawaii food
2. Make a monster
3. Come up with your own idea (check w/ Ms. Z.!)

20. Let’s Get Inspired!

52. To-Do
1. Sketch out an idea
(kawaii food, monster,
etc.)
2. Re-draw your sketch as
a pattern.
1. Draw a little bit bigger
than you want your
piece to be
2. Make a pattern for each
piece of fabric you will
need to cut

53. To-Do
1. Re-draw your sketch as
a pattern.
2. Trace your pattern on
to felt
3. Cut out your felt

54. Warm Up
1. Come in
2. Get your bag/kit
3. Sit in your assigned seat