BATS! The Basics...

Fun Fact: I based my bat pattern off of my red dragon pattern!  The general shape of the dragon head comprises the body for the bat.

 

COMPONENTS

The basic components for a bat, not counting miscellaneous spines, eyes, feet, etc.:

 

ASSEMBLY

The ear panels are assembled into cones and stitched to the forehead panel in the same way as in the red dragon's assembly (please see the red dragon tutorial for detailed instructions for both ear and wing construction).  Next, the two side panels, forehead, and belly panels are all stitched together, starting from the tip of the nose, to create a pouch.

 

Here, you can see the prototype pattern beside the prototype bat body (decorative spines have been sandwiched into the rear seam):

 

I then add a base panel and two wings.  These are exactly the same as the wings I use in my dragon pattern--two quilted layers of wing with a skeletal accent stitched into the inner side.

When all components are roughly assembled, the bat prototype looks like this:

For this prototype, I've sewn the wings together into one continuous piece (I've since decided that this is an unnecessary and complicating step, and no longer bother to do it, so feel free to skip doing this).

With the wings assembled, I now have three pieces: The body, the base, and the wings:

I lay the inside-out bat against the base panel, sandwiching the wings between the back seam (the one with the spines) and the top of the base panel, and stitch them together 3/4ths of the way around.  Then I sew the eyes onto the bat face.  With this prototype, I have also sewn two stuffed cones to the face, to create a beak.

 

Finally, I simply stuff the bat and stitch the final edge closed (You may review how to close your plushie using whip stitch and blind stitch here).

 

And there you have it!

That's how I made my first bat!

 

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial.

Next time, I'll show you how to make the "Microbat," which is much simpler, and I'll show you some more pictures of my completed bats.

See you then!