Well, here it is, folks! There long promised Airplane Softie Pattern! Just in time for “Celebrate the Boy” month, too. This project is a good one for overcoming your fears of curved seams and pins. I love sewing for children, because they don’t care about the little imperfections. They will love it and you will feel awesome for having made it! 
Click to see more great Celebrate the Boy projects!
Do you have a little boy who is in need of some sewing attention? Bust out your pins and dive on in!
Materials Needed
This pattern is for quilting weight fabric, and the pieces required are quite small. Dig in your scrap bag to see what you can find. If not, I give the measurements required for a new cut of fabric below.
For this project you will need:
- An 11 inch cut quilting cotton (at least 42 inches wide). This will be the body of the airplane.
- A 6 inch cut quilting cotton (at least 42 inches wide). This will be the wings and the wheels of the airplane.
- A 6 1/2 inch cut of heavy weight interfacing (at least 22″ wide). I like Pellon’s CraftFuse. It will help give the wings shape and strength.
- Stuffing - I used stuffing for an old ripped pillow, or just grabbed the cheapest bag I could find at my fabric store. It happened to be a 12 oz bag of Poly-Fill Polyester Fiberfill.
- Thread - You can use matching or contrasting thread all-purpose sewing thread.
- PINS – The more pins the merrier. (See my ode to pins here.)
- Hand Sewing Needle – We will use it for sewing on the wings and the wheels. I know very little about hand sewing, and that doesn’t stop me. If you need more information, Miss Sews It All has started a series on hand sewing. Also, check out this video to learn “the ladder stitch” referred to in the directions.
- Sewing Machine, and the usual sewing implements (scissors, needles, etc…)
Download the Pattern and Directions
sample page
You will need to download and print three PDF files.
- Airplane Softie Pattern – Page 1 (1 page – 2 MB) Be sure to select “no scaling” when printing this pages.
- Airplane Softie Pattern – Page 2 (1 page – 1 MB) Be sure to select “no scaling” when printing this pages.
- Airplane Softie Directions (14 pages – 39 MB))
As of now, I am giving away this pattern for FREE. In return, would you do a few things for me?
- Please let me know if you have any suggestions for this project or any others! My email is sewfearless [at] gmail [dot] com or @sewfearless on twitter.
- Could send me a picture of your finished project? I would love to see how yours turns out, and I may even post your pictures to my blog.
- I am asking that this pattern not be used for commercial purposes (do not make items for sale). If you would like to ask me more about this, send me an email.
A Word about Wheels
My directions have you attaching the wheels with quadrupled up all-purpose sewing thread. You could also a fatter embroidery thread if you have it available to you. It could be really fun to attach them in a way that allows the wheels to turn – either by using snaps, or a button-hole/button combination. I made my airplanes for babies and decided to avoid detachable and small parts. Please use common sense when making toys for young children.
Good luck on your sewing adventure!
Pingback: “A Soft Landing” Airplane Softie | Sew Fearless
These are so adorable, and I was very excited to see them posted on One Pretty Thing!
SOOO super cute!
Thanks! Not as cute as the kids that received them though.
I couldn’t download page 3 of the pattern as my computer said it couldn’t scan this page for viruses. I used Firefox and Internet Explorer and got the same response. Is there a way that you can make this page available? It’s hard to find patterns suitable for a boy and this one is and I think my grandson might like this airplane. Thanks.
Rose, I’m sorry you are having trouble with it. I imagine the problem has to do with the size of the PDF file. It is a 14 page image heavy document and therefore difficult to virus guards to scan. I’ve uploaded a lower resolution file, which won’t print off as nicely, but may be easier for you to download and use. Find it here.
This is such a cute airplane! I’ve got it saved, hopefully I’ll be able to get to it soon. Thanks so much for sharing the pattern and instructions. My great-nephew will love it (3 months old right now)!
XoXoXo
Joy
You are very welcome! I hope he enjoys it as much as my nephews enjoy theirs.
Thanks for sharing this! Wish I had this pattern this time last year. We welcomed twin boys in April 2010 and their room is ‘airplane’ themed. I couldn’t find any airplane mobiles, so I just did without. These would have been cute (smaller, of course) attached to a mobile! I am actually making them a couple anyway just to play with!
Fun! My sister has been talking about making an airplane mobile too. It would be super adorable!
Love this! I featured it in my weekly Sew boy feature!
seemesew.blogspot.com
Thanks, Shantel! I’m glad you like it!
Pingback: Tutorials your kids will love
This would make a wonderful mobile for a boy – the girls have such a variety of mobiles it’s time for boys to get a chance. Thank you for sharing this with the less artistic souls like myself.
My BIL is a pilot and they have the cutest baby girl. I am making several of these scaled down as christmas ornaments! Thank you so much for the pattern.
You are welcome! I would recommend elimination the middle strip from the pattern for a scaled down version. It will be too fussy to deal with.