Book Plush for Authors

Yes, a children’s book character can become a real plush without a factory order. Send SKAZKODROM your illustrations and we sew one sample by hand. A single custom plush starts from $350 and usually takes 2–4 weeks. A prototype with full sewing patterns for a factory starts from $1,500 and takes about a month.

This page is for authors, illustrators and small publishers. Everything we make is made to order: nothing waits on a shelf, and your character is sewn only after you write to us. We’ve worked this way since 2009, more than 2,100 toys so far.

It’s one of the oldest ideas in children’s publishing. Beatrix Potter made a soft doll of Peter Rabbit shortly after his first book came out, and in 1903 Peter became the first soft toy to be patented. A German toy company started making him the following year.

You don’t need a publisher’s budget for it today. A book character plush can start as one handmade sample from your own drawings. You hold it, check it against the book, and only then decide whether you want more: patterns for a factory, a small batch, or just the one toy for your desk at signings.

A writer from Canada came to us with a character for her children’s book: a white lion cub born on the clouds, who likes to help children, teaches them to do good and gives them kind advice. All she had for the toy was a pencil sketch with a spiky blue-lined mane.

Our artist first drew the lion in detail, so we both knew exactly what we were sewing. Then we built the pattern and sewed the first sample: a soft cream body, a spiky long-pile mane and blue eyes. The author wanted the toy to look the way she saw him, and it did.

The writer’s pencil sketch of the lion cub, the only reference we started from.

The first lion plush sample: cream body, spiky faux-fur mane, blue eyes.

A book character has to work in more than one pose, because children sit toys up, lay them down and carry them around by one paw. Here is the lion standing, sitting and lying down.

The lion plush standing, sitting and lying down, the way readers will play with him.

After the sample was approved, our makers sewed a whole small batch of lions for the author, white and pale blue manes side by side. That photo also sits on our plush prototype page.

The same lion as a small batch, every toy sewn by hand.

One of the book illustrations of the lion cub on the clouds. Reference art, not our toy.

Whatever you already have. For most book characters that’s enough:

• Your illustrations. A colored page from the book works. Front, side and back views help most, because a plush has a back that the book never shows.
• The size you want, in cm or inches.
• What matters most about the character: the ears, a scarf, the expression readers know.
• What it’s for: one toy, a sample before a factory run, or a small batch.
• Your date, if there’s a launch or a book fair.

Some characters exist only in words. Shishimora came from a writer’s own fantasy novella, with no merch and only the author’s reference art to go on. We needle felted it by hand from gray wool as a one-off, about 25 cm (10 in) sitting. If your character has no picture at all, we can draw a plush-ready drawing first, from $150.

The Shishimora reference art from the novella. Not our toy.

Our needle felted Shishimora: gray wool, tufted ears, amber eyes.

Because a flat drawing can turn into more than one toy. The proportions change once there’s stuffing inside, and a face that reads well on paper can look different in fabric. One sample shows you that before any money goes into quantity.

How it goes depends on your brief:

• You have a clear brief and finished art. We agree up front what “close to the reference” means and make the prototype to match it. If something still bothers you when you see it, one change is included.
• Your idea is rough, or the art is very complex. We sew one sample first. Each round of refinements after that is priced separately and costs less than the first sample. In our experience, 2–3 rounds get a result the client is happy with.

You see photos of the sample and approve it before anything else happens.

Yes. That’s our plush prototype and patterns service, and it’s built for exactly this: a character that a factory should sew again and again. You get:

• the sewn prototype you approved, which stays with you and can serve as the factory’s sample to match;
• a complete set of patterns as PDF files, every part of the toy;
• a step-by-step assembly guide: the order the parts go together, how each part is joined and how many grams of stuffing go in;
• embroidery files for embroidery software, when your design needs embroidery.

The patterns belong to you fully, and we sign an NDA, so your character stays private until the book is out. A prototype with its full patterns starts from $1,500 and usually takes about a month. See more plush prototypes we’ve made.

Yes, we sew small batches ourselves, usually up to about 200 pieces. There’s no minimum, so a batch of a book character plush can be as small as a launch event, a crowdfunding reward tier or a signed limited edition needs. The lion above is one of these: one approved sample, then a run of the same toy.

Every piece in a batch is still sewn by hand, which is why a batch gets its own quote rather than a list price. If you’re planning promotional plush for a company rather than a book, our article on custom branded plush covers that.

A single book character plush usually takes 2–4 weeks to make. A prototype with full patterns takes about a month. For a batch we give you a timeline with the quote, since it depends on the toy and the number of pieces. Delivery usually takes another 7–20 business days, longer around holidays.

If the plush has to be ready for a launch date or a book fair, tell us the date in your first message. For Christmas, order by November 1.

Most of our book characters were ordered by readers, one toy each. They show how a page becomes a toy:

• Horton, the Dr. Seuss elephant, about 50 cm (20 in) tall with his pink clover, and Katie, the yellow yak calf from the 2008 film.
• Christmas Findus from Sven Nordqvist’s books, sewn from a book illustration the customer sent, with a wool hat and a sock on his tail.
• Greg Heffley from Diary of a Wimpy Kid. He’s drawn with a few pen lines, so most of the work went into the pattern.
• The Gruffalo, sewn for one family’s party.
• Lou the dog, an Italian artist’s own cartoon character, ordered as a plush prototype for mass production. She sent a color sketch for the palette and a pencil drawing for the pose.

Plush of famous characters like these are one-off orders for fans, not official merchandise. If the character is yours, it stays yours. We only make the plush. Browse all our book character plushies, more plush from drawings, or our guide to turning your original character into a plush.

Horton with his pink clover, about 50 cm tall.

Lou the dog, a plush prototype sewn from the artist’s own drawings.

Magge, an artist in Italy, had us build her own character Lou. Ruslan ordered Findus for his daughter and sent a picture straight from one of the books.

“Lou” is a character that I created. Skazkodrom constructed him based on one of my drawings. I could not be more pleased with the result. Their style of work really compliments my style of illustration.

Magge, Italy, about her character Lou. Read her review

“I wrote an email with all the details for the toy I wanted made and attached a colored image from one of the books, so that the toy would look just like the character I wanted it to be based on. The order was taken right away.”

Ruslan, about his Findus cat. Read his review

Send us your illustrations, the size and what the plush is for: one toy, a prototype with patterns, or a small batch. We’ll reply with a price and a time estimate.