Some characters live only on paper. Da Vinci the cat was one of them, until someone asked us to sew him. This book character plush was made to order from the pictures in the book, for one reader.
We don't keep a shelf of ready toys. Every plush is sewn for the person who orders it, from the book, drawing or photo they send.
Who Da Vinci is
Da Vinci is the hero of a Russian series of children's detective books by Katya Matyushkina, who writes the stories and draws the pictures herself. One collection of his cases is called All the Mysteries of Da Vinci the Cat. He's a super-detective. Nobody knows where he came from (the books say he fell from the Moon), and he cracks tangled cases with a gang of mice, an owl and a hen who works as a reporter. His arch-enemy is a little mouse called Zyza.
Off the page and into faux fur
The book draws him as a round, sunny cat with a huge red nose and eyes that roll up toward the sky. We kept all of that. His body is yellow faux fur with brown stripes around the tummy and the tail, and longer tufts stick out of his ears and cheeks. The red nose is big enough to boop. He wears a magenta cap with ГЕНИЙ stitched on the front, which is Russian for "genius", and a satin cape tied with a big bow.
One of the workshop photos shows him sitting next to a printed picture from the book, so we could check the pose and the grin while we worked. Another shows him before the cap and cape went on. The photos are from 2021.
Your favorite book character, sewn by hand
Have a hero from a bedtime book that nobody ever turned into a toy? Send us a few pages or a photo of the cover. Tell us the size and whether the outfit should come off. You'll get photos of the finished plush to approve before it ships.
We're an independent studio. This isn't an official toy from Katya Matyushkina or her publisher AST. It's a one-off made from a reader's request.
More book friends: the learned cat in glasses, Bobo the dormouse and every other book character plush we've made.
Da Vinci is mostly short-pile yellow faux fur, soft to hug and bright enough to look like the book. Longer faux fur makes the wild tufts on his ears and cheeks. Soft brown stripes ring his tummy and tail.
- A big round red plush nose
- Satin for the cape and the big bow at the neck
- A soft fabric cap with the word stitched on the front
- Soft hypoallergenic filling
Your character's outfit can be made to come off, or sewn on for good if a small child will carry the toy everywhere. We can also add wire to the arms or tail so they hold a pose. Tell us at the start.
A book character plush like Da Vinci usually takes 2–4 weeks to make.
We start from the pictures you send. Book art is drawn from one angle, so our maker works out the back and sides, then builds a pattern, sews the body and sets the face. The face takes the longest. A few millimeters decide whether the eyes look up with that cheeky Da Vinci grin or just stare.
The time frame keeps a small reserve for handmade surprises, so if the toy is for a birthday, give us the date in your first message.
Once your plush is ready, shipping takes 7–20 business days, depending on your country. Around the holidays the post gets slower, so allow a few extra days.
Want him under the tree? Order by November 1 for Christmas.
Before we pack anything, you get photos of the finished toy. Hold them up next to the book. If the nose should be bigger or the stripes darker, say so. We ship once you say yes.
We've been sewing toys to order since 2009. A character from a children's book is a tough client: the kid who loves it knows every picture by heart and will notice a wrong color right away.
That's why you approve photos of the toy before it leaves us, while there's still time to change a detail.
If it arrives and you don't love it, you get a full refund within 14 days. No need to explain why.
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Custom toys start from $350.
A bigger size or extra details can cost more.
Why?
No ready-made pattern. Your photo or drawing doesn’t come with one. Our artist builds the pattern from scratch and turns a flat picture into a 3D toy. It’s the hardest and slowest part.
Materials picked for your toy. The right color, fur length and texture. Sometimes we order fabric just for one project.
Sewn by hand. Every piece is cut, sewn, stuffed and finished by hand. The face takes the most time: move an eye a millimeter and the character changes.
You approve it first. When your toy is ready, we send you photos. Something looks off? We fix it before shipping.
One toy, not a thousand. A factory spreads design costs over thousands of copies. Here, all that work goes into one toy: yours.
That’s why prices start at $350. And on a personal order, if you don’t love your toy, you get a full refund.
