Poodle Instructions

This project and pictures were created by my friend, Amanda. She lives in the UK.  Thanks, Amanda!

Supplies:

• 5 chenille stems (Sort of like pipe cleaners but thicker and about 11in. long) yarn in the same color as the stems
• Thin card
• black felt
• black beads
• sewing thread in the same color as the yarn
• Thin ribbon
• pins
• clear glue
• small sharp scissors
• yarn needles and beading needles

1. To start with you need to make the body out of the chenille stems.
2. Take a stem and fold it in half, fold the ends over about 2" to make the paws.
3. Repeat with a second stem. Place these on one side while you make the middle section of his body. See Figure 1.
4. Take the two sets of legs and wrap them around the body where the neck and the tail join. See Figure 2.
5. Next you have to use the fourth chenille stem to sculpt the head and make the dog¹s ears and jowls, this is different each time it's done.  Look carefully at Figure 3.
6. This is roughly it, the poodle will need two ear loops and some jowls. Any spare stem can be used to thicken up the neck.
7. The last stem should be used to wrap around the body to make it thicker.
8. Now to add the pom poms. Use the old fashioned cardboard method. You need to make three sets of pom pom rings. One set should be about 3ins. in diameter with a central hole of about 1/2 inch. the other two sets need to be about 2inches in diameter with central holes of 1/2 inch.
9. Thread the largest set of rings over the dog¹s tail and back legs until it is  just behind the front legs and neck, one of the smaller pairs needs to be just in front of the tail and hind legs.  See Figure 4.  The last one is made up and sewn on  later. Using a yarn needle, start making up the pom poms in the usual way but with the dog¹s body passing through the middle of the holes. If you use thin yarn you will wind up with a more solid pom pom at the end.
10. When the rings are as full up as they can be, snip the loops of yarn between the cardboard and tie round with a length of yarn. Now you can cut away the cardboard rings. This should  give you a large pom pom at the front and a smaller one at the back. Trim these with small scissors until you are happy.
11. Make up the last pom pom in the ordinary way, and sew it to the top loop of the dog¹s head to make a kind of topknot.
12. Wrap yarn around your fingers and cut to make two inch lengths. Place about ten of these in the loop at the top of the tail, fold over the loop and twist to hold the lengths in place. Do the same to each ear loop to make tufts on the ends of the poodle's ears.
13. Now that the basic construction is complete, you can add the dog¹s features. No two dogs come out the same. the eyes are small black beads sewn on in matching thread. The nose is a small triangle of black felt glued on to the end of the muzzle, hold this in place with a pin for a secure fix. Remove the pin once the glue has dried.Bows , collars and leads can be constructed from thin ribbon. I tend to hold bows on to the dog¹s head with a pin but if you want them to be permanent you can sew them on.
14. Your poodle should now be finished. These poodles are designed as accessories rather than toys.  It is not recommended to give them to very young children because of the wire and the beads. Older children might actually like  to make these for themselves, as they are fairly simple.