It's almost Christmas! You have just enough time to sew up some cute toys for under the tree, and this pattern from Ruby Jean's Closet just happens to be our #1 toy pattern pick for this year! Thank you, Stephanie and JaNette for your lovely reviews; such cute little Ellies!

This review was completed by a 3rd party objective reviewer who received a complimentary copy of the pattern in order to complete the review. Neither Pattern Revolution nor the reviewer received any additional compensation for this review.

Hi there! Stephanie here from Sew Van-Tastic.

If you're anything like me, you began sewing in hopes of making adorable stuff for your kid. Now that I'm a small business owner, I find that my daughter often gets left out of the mama made goodness. I really wanted to change that this Christmas. When I came across Ellie the Elephant from Ruby Jean's Closet, I just KNEW I had to make it!

Ellie the Elephant PDF is available as the elephant alone, or in a combo pack, with tons of clothing patterns and a little suitcase to carry it all in.

Initially, I made just the elephant. I really love how it turned out and was pleased that I was able to complete it from start to finish during my daughter's nap. The instructions were very clear, and overall, it was a very enjoyable sew.

After thumbing through the clothing pattern, I decided I couldn't possibly give this to my daughter without some sort of wardrobe! Totally unacceptable. So I set out to make a few outfits.

I started with a dress. I especially loved that I could dig thru my scrap bin and use some of my larger scraps to create these clothes. This picnic fabric was perfect. I can just picture my daughter taking Ellie on a picnic and her wearing this dress.

There were so many options to choose from in the pattern. There were skirts, shorts, pants, overalls, a couple of dress, shirts, and even underwear!

Playing with my daughter all day is exhausting, so OF COURSE Ellie needs a pair of pajamas. I had this awesome scrap of Lucky Girl leftover from another project and this was the perfect thing to use it for. I really like how the colors in the fabric complemented the bright colors in Ellie's ears.

Ellie is the perfect size too! Not too big, but not too small. She's going to be the perfect present for my daughter's stocking on Christmas Day!

Happy Holidays and Happy Sewing!

XOXO

Stephanie

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Move over lions, tigers and bears...oh my!! Ellie is here to stay!

We are a little biased in this household to elephants, though. Jenna eats, breathes, and sleeps elephants. All things elephants. So when lovely Ellie by Ruby Jean's Closet came up for review I had to have her......er.. I mean Jenna had to have her. She went together fairly easy as far as stuffies go. Just make sure to clip the lines that need to be clipped almost to the stitching to insure it lays properly. Then stuff the heck out of it. That little elephant takes a bunch of stuffing!!! I didn't stuff Jenna's Ellie to the brim, however. We like a little wrinkle as it gives some character as some are "Saggy Baggy".

The main thing to watch is to make sure you transfer the placements of eyes, trunk, etc over to your fabric. So make sure you have a washable fabric marker or something to mark those....it's extremely helpful. There is also a glossary of terms towards the end to help explain some of the sewing directions if you get stuck. I love that you don't have to fuss over attaching arms or legs. However, there are instructions to give her arms the ability to bend and it is another place you will need to mark with your washable fabric marker.

The Ellie pattern also comes with instructions for the bow, bib, and diaper accessories and those were perfect scrap busters!! I have more to sew up for Ellie in the coming weeks and I love using up my scraps.

Ellie has a fabulous wardrobe and travel case to hold it all in as well!!! I only had time to make the ones below but there is also a skirt, shirt, pants/shorts, and romper to choose from. I love how they fit. Jenna is 5 and had no trouble dressing and undressing her Ellie. The pillowcase dress does have a tie closure so I would expect the younger ones who haven't learned to tie yet to be a little difficult. That style might be something you could get creative and change. The other 2 have elastic and/or Velcro closures. Her bow is also attached with Velcro which makes changing it out simple. I was worried it would fall off during playtime, but it didn't.

The travel case was a little challenging for me. Not only does it take a little bit of time, but it's different than sewing clothing, which is what I'm used to sewing. I worked on it for a couple of days off and on. I used a canvas type of material for the outside of the case and made my own bias tape to keep with the purple theme. You really need to take your time and go slooooow while sewing it especially around the corners. Things like this are not as forgiving as ruffley dresses so pin, pin, and pin some more. The fabric layers are thick at times especially when attaching the bias tape. The instructions are well written and she prepares you for those parts, so if you go step by step it's easy to follow. The notches are the guides to lining everything up, so make sure you include those when cutting your fabric out. I also double stitched the handle( which is not in the instructions) where it attaches to the case just because it's a area that will have some strain. The bed pocket is roomy enough for young children to be able to put Ellie down for a nap and the dresser flap holds the 3 outfits I made. This would be perfect for a long car ride!!