He was made of snow, but the doggos know how he squeaked to life one day… This round squeaky DIY Frosty the Snowman dog toy combines sturdy base materials and decorative fleece for a tough but cute Christmas dog toy. Frosty the Squeaky Snowman was created as a matching toy for our Squeaky Santa DIY Christmas dog toy. I wanted to make a few extra tough stuffed toys for our Christmas play time.
Sewing DIY Dog Toys
Stuffed dog toys follow the same basic principles as you would use if sewing (or buying) for a small child – no loose parts to nibble free and everything securely stitched into a sturdy toy. It is particularly important to know your pet and how they play before making or buying toys. Not all toys are suitable to all pets. Check out our post on toy safety for helpful links and resources.
How to Make a DIY Stuffed Snowman Dog Toy (Round Face)
Supplies and Materials
To make a similar stuffed Santa dog toy, you will need:
- Sturdy white fabric or other colour of your preference
- Sturdy black fabric or other colour of your preference
- Scraps of fleece for embellishments (optional)
- Stuffing for filling for the stuffed toy
- Squeakers (optional)
- Non-toxic pink makeup or tint for the nose and cheeks (optional)
- Complimentary coloured thread
- Sewing machine and general cutting / sewing supplies
Because fleece is colourfast and doesn’t fray, it’s an easy option for embellishments, like these accents, on dog toys. I keep fleece off cuts from other sewing projects and DIY dog tug toy ends for embellishment supplies. It’s also very forgiving to sewing technique, since the stitches of coordinating thread often seem to disappear into the fluff, but it’s important to make sure that any embellishments are very securely attached. No matter what the material or technique, security and safety trump looks for toys.
I try to salvage squeakers in our DIY dog toy hospital for reuse. I also have purchased packs of replacement squeakers in different shapes, sizes, and sounds. Squeakers can be tricky to find. Try the toy section of large craft shops or look online at specialist suppliers or large retailers like AliExpress or Amazon. Check out the replacement dog toy squeakers on Amazon (affiliate link) for product examples and ideas.
Designing a DIY Santa Dog Toy Face
I free handed all of Frosty’s design and embellishments so that I could work with my available materials and off cuts. To help clarify what’s being cut and used in the text and photos below, I made a little diagram to include here (see above). It isn’t a pattern, just an extra visual reference. Our dog toy DIYs are all just ideas to help get you inspired to create your own custom looks and styles.
For example, I didn’t have a strong enough white fabric in my craft stash to suite my tough Frosty plan. I made two circles for Frosty’s head out of strong dark denim and layered the white face on top instead of just using a single layer of white. If you have a suitable white fabric, you could just use that one it’s own instead. Or you could build up a face completely with fleece instead of the white fabric circle.
Making the DIY Frosty the Squeaky Snowman Dog Toy
Cutting the materials for the toy:
- Cut two identical circles of strong fabric for Frosty’s head, one white and one dark. Alternatively, as noted above, I wanted a stronger base than my white fabric, so I cut three circles: two dark and one white, and then layered and sewed the white onto one of my dark circles to create a reinforced white face circle. A large plate or bowl makes a great template for tracing your circles.
- Cut a matching part partial circle (roughly 1/3) of black fleece for Frosty’s hat.
- Cut long narrow strip of black fleece that is wide enough to span your full circle at the base of the hat for a brim.
- If you’d like to add holly or other embellishment for Frosty’s hat to break up the black and add a little style, you can also cut those shapes if/as you wish.
- Cut two strips of fleece to create an overlapping scarf for the bottom of Frosty head. No need to trim to match the circle edge yet – you can do that when you position for sewing.
- Cut scraps of fleece into coal and a carrot to create Frosty’s face. The lumps of coal can be a little irregular and vary is size, like real coal or stones would, for added style.
- Once you have all of the pieces, lay out your Frosty head on the white base circle. Double check that all of your shapes and sizes work for your design. Adjust if/as needed before sewing.
Sewing the embellishments to create the snowman face and clothes:
- Carefully sew your hat, scarf, and face pieces onto the white base using complimentary coloured threads. Where the edges of the hat and scarf cross the outside of the circle these places do not need to be sewn (you can, of course, if you wish) as they will be sewn into the seam when you join the circles for stuffing.
- Optional: If you’d like to add a little extra stitching for style and strength (totally up to you), do this before adding extra embellishments and joining the circles. I opted to sew a few lines on my carrot nose, vertical lines on the main part of Frosty’s hat, and double sew the edges of the hat brim and scarf.
- If you’re adding an embellishment to the hat, sew into place after the hat has been sewn to the base and ensure it is positioned far enough from the edge of the circle that it won’t be in your seam when the circles are joined.
- Trim any threads or excess fleece from the edges of the circle if/as needed.
- Optional: If you wish, dust the cheeks of your Frosty with a little bit of human lippy other non-toxic tint to create a slightly rosy glow.
Sewing and stuffing to finish the toy:
- Layer your face and backing right-side-in and sew together along the seam allowances. Leave a gap at the top (or elsewhere, if you prefer) for inverting and stuffing.
- Trim loose threads and excess fabric if/as needed.
You may find that cutting small slits and/or notches in the seam allowances (not all the way to the stitch line) helps the curves invert more smoothly in your round toy. This is particularly helpful if your toy is small (tighter curves) and/or the base fabric is very thick/stiff.
- Invert to right-side-out.
- Add stuffing and (optional) squeaker(s).
- Fold the gap seam allowance into the toy and hand sew the toy closed with an invisible stitch. Optional: If you hate hand-closing or want to reinforce the hand-sewn closure seam, you can cheat by carefully machine sewing an external seam along the edge.
- Trim any threads if/as needed and enjoy!
Caution: Accidental squeaking while stuffing and/or sewing may result in dog theft attempts from your craft table before you finish the project. I almost always accidently squeak things when I’m squeezing fillings or hand sewing. Look at rascal Humphrey in the collage above!
Safety first, furfriends! Remember, no matter what a toy is made of or how it’s made, toys are meant for supervised interactive play. Know your dog before giving him or her any new toy. Some dogs try to eat toys or parts (whether bought or handmade) and that’s doggone dangerous. Toys are for playing, and playtime is always safer (and more fun!) with you involved. You can read more in our dog toy safety post, including tips and helpful links for safer playtime. Have fun and play safe!
