Plexi-foil: Adhesive applied 24 hours before the foil. Can be a nuisance to look after while drying. Very effective for shiny patterns, texture and fantasy.

Applique: Textured effects on smooth background. Padded shapes on the body of the toy. Educational shapes to make a toy more marketable. Animal spots, stripes.

Batik: Multicoloured fabric with animal skin effects or fantasy patterns, words, pictures.

Tie-dye: Marbled effects, stripes, rings, tartan. Dip-dying.

Quilting: Lining the outer skin with a sandwich of light wadding and quilting for a 'thick skin' effect (elephant, dragon, snail shell, dinosaur).

Embroidery: Hand embroidery with silks, shisha mirrors, gold thread, couching. Machine decorative stitchery, freehand embroidery for a textured appearance. Computerised machine motifs, letters, flowers. Application of ribbons, sequins, buttons, beads, feathers.

Patchwork: Machine or hand-stitch small patches together to form enough fabric to cut out the pattern pieces. Crazy patchwork, embroidered and embellished before making up the toy.

Screen print: Remember cloth-kits? Screen printed parts of the toy with patterns or facial details, stripes or patterns on the body pieces.

Step 3 - Problems and Answers