I'm pretty proud of this one ^_^ I used this pattern by WolfDreamer:
http://wolfdreamer-oth.blogspot.com/2010/08/umbreon-plushie.html ...and modified it to make my hubby an Espeon plushie for his birthday. It's finally finished -- ten days late, but hey, at least it's done.
I really don't think my execution does her justice, but the Umbreon pattern is absolutely fantastic, with beautiful face and body shaping. I always mess up the legs somehow, so she looks a little bowlegged. And of course a TRUE Espeon is sitting, not standing. But who cares?? Here she is!
Here's a close-up on her face. The eyes and "jewel" are just bits of felt. I couldn't find a deep purple felt for her eyes, so I improvised by embroidering around the eye-shines in purple. My embroidery skills are somewhat less than stellar. *lol*
Would you like to make an Espeon plushie, too? Wolfdreamer has given me permission to post my modifications here so you can make one for yourself!
ESPEON DIRECTIONS:
For Head, Body, and Legs, follow Umbreon pattern. You can find it here:
http://wolfdreamer-oth.blogspot.com/2010/08/umbreon-plushie.htmlEARS:
Make magic ring and join yarn into it as usual (preparing to sc). [Ch3 and then sl.st into first ch] forming sl.st picot. Work 3 sc in magic ring. Skip over sl.st picot to begin Rnd 2 in first sc, pushing picot to outside.
Rnds 2-10: Work from Umbreon pattern, ignoring directions to change colors.
Rnd 11: sc in next 2 sc, dec, around (9)
Rnd 12: sc around
Rnd 13: sc in next sc, dec around (6)
Rnd 14: sc around
Flatten ears with your sl.st picot pointing up (it will naturally curl in one direction or another) and sew to head.
**NOTE: I realized after the fact that my Espeon's ears taper a bit more than they should to be true to character. If you feel this is so, go ahead and just sc around for rounds 12-14, skipping the last round of decreases.***
EAR/WHISKER TUFTS:
Ch 8.
Sl.st in second ch from hook. Sc, hdc, dc, hdc, sc, sl.st in last 2 sts.
Ch 5.
sl.st in second ch from hook and in each ch back to beginning. FO.
TAIL:
(You'll make two separate tips, then join them together. Sorry if it's confusing!)
R1: 5 sc in ring
R2-5: 5 sc,
FO. Leave a long tail for later.
Repeat R1-5 again. Do not FO.
R6: SC into first stitch of R5 on first tail tip. sc around. When you run out of stitches, pick up the first st in R5 of second tip and continue around. (10)
R7: [sc into next 3 sts, sc2tog] two times.(
R8: sc, dec, sc, sc, dec (6)
With a yarn needle, use yarn tail from tip #1 to close the small hole between the two tips. Weave in tail. Stuff joined area lightly.
R9-?: remove stitch marker and continue to sc around until tail is desired length. If desired, insert a blunted pipecleaner or wire to make the tail poseable. (I recommend this if you're not making this for a little child. Since Espeon is standing, her tail gets pretty floppy without a wire.)
FINISHING:
Follow most steps as in the Umbreon instructions. Sew the tail on nice and high, sew the ears on (a little further back than I did, and be careful, they're hard to fix if they're in the wrong spot!) and sew the tufts just in front of the ears, overlapping just a little bit. They should not have any space between the ears and tufts. Embroider a little tiny nose and use felt shapes to form the eyes and forehead jewel. I recommend googling "espeon" under Images to get a good idea of how she looks before putting the head together.
I hope that helps!!
And I hope you like her!
