Assembling Tubey

First a note about how these Tubeys are put together:

Tubey doesn't have any seam allowances - I don't put him together inside out, sew 5/8" or 1/2" from the edge of the fabric, and then turn him right side out. I put him together RIGHT SIDE OUT, and sew his seams 4-5mm from the fabric edges. This keeps his edges crisp, and ensures that he is nice and square, with nice sharp corners, rather than rounded and bulgy. Sometimes his edges or seams are uneven this way, but I think it makes his overall shape nicer. If you want to sew him inside out and turn him around, you need to change your pattern to include seam allowances.

So. First, pin Tubey's top, wrong sides together (if you're using felt, there really is no "wrong" side), to the top of his face. You really have to pin since the seam has to be precise. Don't let the fabric layers slip around or you'll have a lopsided Tubey! Pin his bottom to the bottom of his front:
















Now carefully sew just the top and bottom straight edges.

Next, match up the left and right sides by length (Tubey's right side, on the right when you're looking at his face, is slightly longer than his left side). Pin, and sew. Make sure to hold the top and bottom up out of the way while you sew! Don't sew the sides to the top or bottom yet, you'll match up the corners once the long seams are sewn.

Before you sew the corners together, pin Tubey's antennae to the top panel. They should be touching each other, and their ends should be about 1/2" from his front panel. Sew back and forth repeatedly over the antenna ends. If they're double thick felt, they'll stand up just fine once he's stuffed. You'll have to "pose" them, but once you do they'll stay.

Similarly, sew Tubey's tail to his right side (your right). The bottom of his tail is placed just below the bottom corner of his face. Refer to a picture or your original drawing. You can stitch over the first "corner between tail segments" beneath his pointy tail tip - placing one stitch so that when he is upright, his tail will stay at his side and not droop. You can do this carefully on the machine (I do, for speed) but if you're not an experienced sewer I recommend doing this by hand, with needle and thread, after Tubey construction is finished. Sew back and forth over the end of Tubey's tail to anchor it to his side. (sorry... you can hardly see the tail in the picture. I should've demonstrated with a different color fabric!!)