Cindy Crushes Programming: DIY Finding Nemo Inspired Clown Fish Plush by Faith Healy

Faith Healy is here to walk us through a super cute Summer Clown Fish craft. 

My library’s Summer Reading Theme was Splash into Summer. I tried to think of popular movies and fandoms related to it and the first that came to mind was everyone’s favorite clownfish, Nemo. Inspired by the popular movie, I found a cute video that explained how to make your own plush with a free downloadable template and knew I could turn into a cute program with a few changes

Check out the video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xjS8RITQoiI 

Template: https://adobe.ly/39z7zWA 

Faith does use a sewing machine, I don’t have that option, so I did mine with fabric glue and hand sewing. Plus she used fabric, but for me felt is a cheaper more readily available option. Hers is also a bit bigger. I took the template she made and shrunk it to fit both pieces on 8.5 x 11 in paper. You can definitely shrink this or even make it larger if that works for you. I also did not add the anal fin or ventral fin to my Nemo, the pieces were too small for me to work with, plus my Nemo looks great without them.

Supplies

• Orange Felt (1 8.5×11 inch piece per clown fish)
• White Felt (1 8.5 x 11 inch piece per clown fish) 
• Black Felt (1 8.5 x 11 inch piece per c;pwm fosj) 
• Fabric Glue (Aleene’s Original Tacky Glue) 
• White or Orange Thread
• Needle
• Stuffing (Polyester Fiberfill) 
• Template
• Black Permanent Marker 

Instructions

1. Cut out the template pieces with the corresponding felt pieces. 
2. Using Fabric glue, glue the eye pieces together: black orange white. Glue the eye on the two body pieces. 
3. Using Fabric Glue, glue the white strips on top of the black strips. Glue the strips to one of the body pieces. One strips are secure, flip over and place the other body piece on top. This will help you line up the strips. Glue the strips to line up with the other side the best you can. 
4. With the needle and a little thread, sew on the fins. Nemo’s lucky fin is supposed to be on his right side if you would like to add that. 
5. Place one body piece down. Use a little fabric glue to secure the dorsal fin. This is just to keep it in place while sewing the body together. 
6. Sew the two body piece together. I used a blanket stitch. Make sure to leave a spot open to be able to put in stuffing. I started from the top of the tail to leave the tail open to push stuffing in. 
7. Stuff your clown fish inspired by Nemo the best you can. Use a pencil or something similar to help push and fully stuff the plush. 
8. Finish sewing the rest of the plushy closed. Use black permanent marker to draw a smile and details on Nemo’s fin. 
9. Enjoy your finding clown fish plush. 

I limited my program to 15 people. This was just due to the amount of needles and sewing supplies I have, plus teaching stitches is difficult if too many people. While sewing might seem easy to some, it can be a difficult skill to teach. 

Filed under: Crafts, DIY, Teen Program in a Box, Teen Programming