The shark pattern’s done. I haven’t made a proper set of instructions, but the pattern pieces are pretty obsessively labeled. I’ll add the instructions here once I have some time to sit down and write them up. Instructions are found below.
The pattern is for personal use only – no selling of toys made based on the pattern.
Each piece is sized to be able to print on standard 8.5 x 11 paper, but feel free to size it up to make larger sharks! They’re in .png format, so just click through to the original sized images, right click and save*.
*(It’s worth noting that I’m not 100% positive I have my settings in such a way that this will work appropriately, so please leave a comment if it doesn’t work.)
Chubby Shark Pattern ©2011 Leigh threadtheneedlethrough.wordpress.com for personal use only:
These are the instructions for my shark pattern. The end result is a stubby, chubby little shark with one serious set of choppers.
The pattern pieces are labeled with pertinent information. For example the text on the body back piece reads as follows (with descriptions in italics):
Shark (the name of the pattern)
Body Back (the name of the pattern piece)
cut 2 (1 mirror) (cutting instructions, in this case you cut two of this pattern piece with one of them the mirror of the other)
grey (the color of the fabric to be used for this piece)
The double sided arrows indicate the grain of the fabric, though honestly I was cheaping out when I made mine and semi-ignored the grain in favor of economy with my available fabric. All seams are to be sewn with a 1/4 – 1/2 inch seam allowance.
The instructions and my original shark call for fleece, but it would probably work with another material. Most of the sewing for this project can be done by hand or by machine. Mine was entirely hand-sewn, but that was mostly because I can’t sit and watch tv while sewing using my machine. A girl’s got to have priorities, after all.
Materials:
fleece in two colors, noted on the pattern as grey and white (though feel free to be creative when picking colors)
white felt for teeth (you could also use a scrap of heavyweight interfacing if you have that laying around)
thread
two buttons for eyes (if you are making this for someone little enough to put stuff in their mouth, you may want to substitute small circles of black fleece to avoid the choking hazard)
stuffing
hand needle
sewing machine (optional)
Instructions:
1. Cut* out all pattern pieces as directed from the fleece. (*Note: Be sure to use a pair of scissors that you either don’t mind having to sharpen or that you don’t care if you dull beyond usefulness. Fleece somehow magically renders razor-sharp sewing scissors into dull safety scissors, as I learned the first time I used it.)
2. Attach and stuff the Dorsal Fin and Arm Fin pieces. With right sides together, attach the two Dorsal Fin pattern pieces together and sew along the curved edges. Turn the attached Dorsal Fin right side out and stuff generously with your stuffing of choice. Once stuffed, sew the Dorsal Fin closed along the flat edge. Repeat this process for both Arm Fins and set the assembled fins aside for now.
3. Attach the Teeth to the two Body Front pattern pieces. With right sides together, line up the seam marked as the head seam on each half of the Teeth and Body Front pieces, placing the Teeth between the pentagons on the pattern. Sew along the head seam on each piece.
4. Sew the Head Front pattern piece to the Body Front pattern piece along the head seam. With right sides together, line the Head Front piece and the Body Front pieces up on the head seam. Make sure the narrow point of the Head Front is facing the side seam on the Body Front. Unless you’re good at pinning and sewing using your machine (which I am not) this step will probably be easier to do by hand, as you’re matching curved pieces.
From here on, this piece will be referred to as the Assembled Body Front.
5. Sew the Arm Fins to the Assembled Body Front. Line the flat seam of the Arm Fin up between the stars on the side seam of the Assembled Body Front with the point of the Arm Fin curving away from the colored Head Front on the Assembled Body Front. Sew along the flat seam of the Arm Fin. Repeat this process with the other Assembled Body Front and Arm Fin.
6. Sew the Assembled Body Front pieces together. Line the two Assembled Body Front pieces up along the belly seam and sew along the belly seam.
From here on, this piece will be referred to as the Front.
7. Attach the Dorsal Fin. Line the flat edge of the Dorsal Fin up along the back seam of one the Body Back pieces between the triangles with the point facing toward the side seam and curving toward the tail. Sew along the flat edge of the Dorsal Fin.
8. Attach the Body Back pieces. Line up the two Body Back pieces right sides together along the back seam, making sure to also line up the tail. Sew along the back seam, continuing around the tail and to the first circle on the side seam marked “leave open for stuffing”.
From here on, this piece will be referred to as the Back.
9. Attach the Front and Back. With right sides together, line the Front and Back up along the side seams and head side seams. Sew along the entire length of the head side seam and side seam on one side, and sew to the circle marked “leave open for stuffing” on the other side.
10. Turn your assembled shark right side out using the hole left between the circles marked “leave open for stuffing”.
11. Stuff your shark generously using the stuffing of your choice, being sure to shove some of it down into the points of the tail.
12. Use a ladder stitch to close the hole left between the circles marked “leave open for stuffing”.
13. Attach your eyes. You could technically do this step earlier, but I like to wait until things are stuffed so I can figure out exactly where the eyes look best.
14. Attack!
thread the needle through 
Yay! This looks fantastic. 😀 Thanks for sharing it.
This is perfect for my shark-loving little boy! I can’t wait to get this made for him. But I am having a hard time with #4. No matter how I turn it, I cannot seem to get the head seams to line up on the body front and head front. Any suggestions? I’m not an experienced sewer, so I’m sure I’m just not reading something properly.
Here‘s a small picture to show how you start to line up the pieces. It’s meant to show the pieces with right sides together, lined up at the head seam along the narrow point of the head piece.
The head seam is more curved on the head piece than the belly piece, so the easiest way to sew it would be to line up the narrow point as shown in the picture, and sew along the curve, bending the edges of the head piece as you sew so that they line up with the curve on the body front.
It’s easier sometimes to think about lining up the edges at the start of the piece, sewing until they stop lining up, lining them up again, etc.
That helps tremendously! I was lining it up incorrectly and would have never figured this out without the visual. Thank you!
No problem. This is the first time I’ve ever tried to share a pattern, so my instruction writing was a little clumsy. I’m glad the image helped!
I’m having difficulty with number 3 I am definetly not an experienced sewer, and I just cannot seem to understand could you help? or re-word the instructions for me please that would be a great help!
Kacie,
I’ve made a diagram of what step 3 entails. I think it’s probably a lot clearer than my instructions, so hopefully it’ll help clear up what’s being done in that step.
Please let me know if there’s still any confusion. I hope the picture helped.
How much fleece did you use?
Oops meant felt!
For the teeth? I used one of those 8 x 10 sheets of felt, but if you want to double layer it you might want to grab two.
And this goes to show I should have had coffee before typing! I actually did mean fleece! 😉
I’ll be honest and say I’m not 100% positive how much fleece I used. Probably 1/4 yard for the belly color and 1/4-1/2 yard for the main body color? When I made it I was sharing the fleece among several stuffed animals, so I’m not certain exactly how much I ended up using.