How do we know that she is a witch? We bite her! This DIY squeaky stuffed witch dog toy is a fun Halloween treat for playtime. It’s also easy to adapt to different witchy styles. Humphrey is loving his coven of squeaky witches. He has three, spoiled spotty devil, but it has been a bit of a tricky time around here lately with Oli’s cataract surgery. A little spoiling and some Humphrey-centric fun was definitely in order.
Sewing DIY Dog Toys
Dog Toy Safety
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.
Creating Your Own Custom Dog Toy Designs
One of the great things about making you own dog toys is that’s is a fun opportunity to get a little creative. We share DIY ideas, but you can take those inspirations and adapt them into your own unique crafts to suit your skills, pet, materials, and style preferences. For example, this basic triangle shape can be easily adapted, like including a protruding hat band, rounding the face, and much more. The witch’s colours and embellishments are all versatile, too. Your imagination is the limit!
Humphrey (who has been a bit glum with all the extra attention Oli has been getting post cataract surgery) received not one but three squeaky witches. I had lots of scrap materials, so I sewed extra toys. The coven has been nicknamed the “b*tchy witchies”. Haha! They’re all a little different. One is a triangle, one has a wide hat band, and the other is stouter and square from the band down. That oddly shaped witch was made from offcuts that were too small for a full triangular toy. Putting my scrap materials to great squeaky use. Pawfect!
How to Make a DIY Squeaky Stuffed Witch Dog Toy
Supplies and Materials
To make a similar DIY stuffed squeaky witch dog toy, you will need:
- Sturdy fabric in a witchy colour of your preference
- Black fleece for the hat
- Scraps of fleece for embellishments (optional)
- Stuffing for filling for the stuffed toy
- Squeakers (optional but so much fun!)
- Complimentary coloured thread
- Sewing machine and general cutting / sewing supplies
My witch used the same green upholstery fabric as our Frankenstein dog toy, our snake dog toy, and some of our other tougher DIY dog toys. The heavy fabric with a bonded black fleecy backing is thick work for sewing, but it is really great for making tough stuff! It’s one of the strongest base materials that I’ve found for use this far. Unfortunately, it’s not easy to find and when I do, the colour options are rather limited. It is, however, perfect for witches and monsters! Yay!
Because fleece is colourfast and doesn’t fray, it’s an easy option for embellishments on dog toys. I keep off cuts from other sewing projects and tug toy ends for embellishment supplies. It’s also very forgiving to sew, since the stitches of coordinating thread often seem to disappear into the fluff. No matter what material or technique you choose, security and safety trump looks for toys. It’s important to make sure that any embellishments are very securely attached
I try to salvage squeakers in our DIY dog toy hospital for reuse when possible, but I also have purchased packs of replacement squeakers in different shapes, sizes, and sounds. Squeakers can be tricky to find in shops. Try the toy section of large craft shops or look online at specialist suppliers or large retailers like AliExpress or Amazon. You can check out the replacement dog toy squeakers on Amazon (affiliate link) for product examples and ideas.
Making the DIY Witch Dog Toy
This witch is made in a simple triangle shape. I experimented with a few others when creating Humphrey’s coven of witches, and this was my favourite look of the bunch. It’s an efficient shape to cut, easy to sew, and looks great, too! If you’d prefer a brim, a rounded chin, or other design, the DIY can be easily adapted to create your own custom witch.
Cutting and shaping the materials:
- Cut two identical triangular pieces from sturdy base fabric. Don’t forget to include seam allowances. You can shape and scale your toy to best suit your fabric and your pet. If you are working from a large piece of fabric, you can also cut the toy as a large diamond and fold at the bottom instead of having a seam.
- Cut scraps of fleece for the witch’s hat, hair, eyes, mouth, and (optional) other embellishments. Personally, I’m a big fan of the angry eyebrow and evil sneer, but you can do a friendly face if you’d rather. I added some black for the shoulders of the witch’s dress, a band to the hat, and used the centre off cut of yellow fleece from my hat buckle for the dress button.
Adding embellishments to create the witch design:
- Sew the dress (if using).
- Sew the hair into place. You can use a single piece cut to size for the hair or multiple strips, as shown. I used pinking shears on the bottom of the witch’s bangs/fringe for a little extra style as well as added extra lines of stitching to the hair, which is primarily for looks, but also ensures the strips are very securely attached.
- Sew the hat into place, ensuring that the band covers the top edge(s) of the hair.
- Continue layering to best suit your embellishment placement, incrementally sew the eyes, eyebrows, mouth, and any other extra embellishment pieces securely to the base.
Sewing and stuffing to finish the toy:
- Layer (or fold) your triangular pieces so that the witch is right/embellished side in. Pin to secure.
- Sew together along the seam allowances, leaving an opening gap for inverting and stuffing.
- Trim any excess threads and/or material if/as needed. For thick materials, you can trim or notch excess material in the seam allowances at the corners if you want them to turn pointed.
- Invert to right-side-out
- Add stuffing and (optional) squeaker(s).
- Sew to securely stitch closed the gap.
- Trim any threads if/as needed, and enjoy!
Humphrey's Witch Trials
Surprisingly, Humphrey seems to really love the triangular shape of the toys. Corners are always a favourite, of course, but there is something about the shape and size of his witch that just clicks with his individual style of play. So much so that my husband suggested that I make him more triangles. Since they’re an easy shape to sew and efficient for fabric cutting too, why not? Keep an eye on our DIY stuffed dog toys and DIY squeaky dog toys for more triangles in the future. Design suggestions for things that suit triangles are most welcome. Hehehe.
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!
