Bespoke Soft Toys

A bespoke soft toy is a cuddly toy made for one person: we draw a pattern from your drawing, photo or idea and sew it by hand, so nobody else has the same one. At SKAZKODROM custom soft toys start from $350, making usually takes 2–4 weeks, and delivery to the UK or Europe usually takes 7–20 business days.

The quote is free, and you see photos of the finished toy before it ships. We’ve sewn toys to order since 2009, more than 2,100 of them. There’s no shop shelf and no stock to pick from. Every toy starts when someone asks for it.

In British English, bespoke means made to one person’s order, the way a bespoke suit is cut for one body. A bespoke soft toy works the same way. It doesn’t exist until you ask for it, and its pattern is drawn for that one toy.

That’s the difference from a personalised toy. A personalised teddy is usually a ready-made bear with a name stitched on. A bespoke one starts from nothing:

• Personalised: a stock toy, plus your name or a printed message.
• Bespoke: a new pattern, fabrics chosen for it, the size you want, sewn by hand once.

Our teddy bear from a sketch shows how it goes. The customer told us what they wanted, our artist drew the bear, and we sewed it in navy patterned fabric with a cream muzzle, a floral waistcoat and a red bow.

Almost anything that can be sewn from fabric. These are the soft toys people order from us most:

• A child’s drawing turned into a cuddly toy, or your own character from a sketch. See plush from drawings.
• Your dog or cat as a soft toy, copied from photos, markings and all. See pet stuffed animals.
• A doll of a real person, from photos. See portrait dolls and our bride and groom dolls.
• A favourite character from a book, a film or an old TV advert, like Findus the cat or Flat Eric.
• A lost childhood toy, remade from old family photos. See lost toy replicas.

Take Lou, a scruffy cartoon dog invented by an animator in Italy. She sent two drawings, one for the colours and one for the pose, and we joined them into one toy. Our goose began as a few wishes for a gift. Our artist sketched her first, pearls, cameo and little golden flute included.

Lou the Dog, sewn from his creator’s two drawings.

A goose soft toy from a sketch: curly white plush, pearls, a cameo and a golden flute.

Yes. A pet soft toy is about as bespoke as it gets, because no two coats are alike. Send clear photos of the face, both sides and the markings, and tell us the size.

Our whippet gets the lines of a British sighthound right: narrow head, deep chest, tucked waist, thin legs. Our blue merle corgi is a copy of one real dog, down to one ice-blue eye and one brown.

A black whippet soft toy, sewn to order for its owner.

A blue merle corgi copied from photos of one dog, odd eyes included.

1. Send a picture and your wishes through the quote form, by email or on WhatsApp. A drawing on paper, a photo or a few words about your idea all work.
2. Get a free quote. We talk through the details and send a price and a time estimate.
3. We draw and sew it. When an idea needs it, our artist sketches the toy first. Then we cut the pattern and sew it by hand.
4. Approve the photos. When the toy is finished you get photos. If something looks off, we change it and you look again.
5. It ships to you, anywhere in the world.

The full steps are on how we work.

Making a bespoke soft toy usually takes 2–4 weeks. A very detailed one can take a little longer, and you get a real estimate with the quote. Delivery to the UK or Europe then usually takes 7–20 business days, depending on the country, the courier and how close it is to a holiday.

For a Christmas present, order by 1 November.

Custom soft toys start from $350. Replicas of lost childhood toys start from $295. Our prices are in US dollars, and each toy is priced on its own, by size and detail. A bigger toy needs more fabric and more hours, and so does one with an outfit or lots of small parts.

Delivery is quoted separately. Regular post usually costs $50–60. Where the money goes is explained in what your custom plush costs.

Size makes the biggest difference. Our Ted stands 160 cm tall. Ruslan, one of our customers, asked for a Findus no taller than 25–30 cm, so his daughter could carry it around.

Ted, 160 cm of cream fleece with a red knitted scarf.

Christmas Findus from the Swedish picture books, a red sock on his tail.

Yes, that’s the point of bespoke. Toys we’ve made range from a 20 cm rat to a 1.3 m dinosaur that children climb on, and a teddy bear is usually 30–40 cm. Tell us the size you want.

We pick the fabric for each toy: plush, fleece, minky, felt, velvet, faux leather, needle-felted wool or faux fur, with polyester stuffing inside. Faux fur only. We never use real fur and turn down orders that ask for it.

Extras on request:

• wire in the arms and legs, so the toy holds a pose
• a sound module or LED lights
• clothes that come off, secret pockets, zips
• an embroidered name or message

Extras change the price and the time, so mention them when you ask for a quote.

Two European customers, in their own words. Magge, an illustrator, sent us her own character. Ruslan wanted a book character for his daughter, in a size she could carry.

“Skazkodrom constructed him based on one of my drawings. I could not be more pleased with the result. … I was very impressed with their attention to detail.”

Magge, Italy, about Lou the Dog. Read her review

“I needed a toy no taller than 25-30 cm since I wanted my daughter to carry it around … The toy wasn’t cheap, but it was definitely worth it.”

Ruslan, about the Findus cat he ordered for his daughter’s birthday. Read his review

You see photos before it ships, so most fixes happen then. On a personal order, if the toy arrives and you don’t love it, tell us within 14 days of delivery. You get a full refund and you keep the toy. See our guarantee.

Looking for bespoke plush as a one-off design piece rather than a cuddly toy? That’s in our article on bespoke plush.

Send it with the size you have in mind. We’ll reply with a price and a time estimate. For Christmas, order by 1 November.

Custom toys start from $350.
A bigger size or extra details can cost more.