Katie From Horton Hears a Who! Stuffed Animal

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Description

This is a Katie stuffed animal from Horton Hears a Who!: the round yellow yak calf with the orange tuft, the huge brown eyes and the grin that never quite fits the moment. She is about 50 cm (20 in) tall, and we sewed her to order as a gift. That's how everything here works. Nothing waits on a shelf. Your Katie gets cut and sewn after you ask for her.

There's no shortage of Horton toys. A Katie plush is much harder to find, which is odd, because plenty of people say she was the best part of the movie.

"That's beautiful, Katie"

Katie isn't in the 1954 Dr. Seuss book. She was made for the 2008 Blue Sky film, voiced by a young Joey King, as one of the jungle kids Horton teaches. She barely talks. She makes strange noises, faces the wrong way, catches a leaf bug with her tongue and gets left "in charge" when Horton runs off. Then, when the kids show Horton their own clovers, she says it: "In my world, everyone's a pony, and they all eat rainbows, and poop butterflies!" Horton answers, "That's beautiful, Katie!" Fans still quote that line and still laugh at her weird randomness. Some call her ugly in a cute way. Some just call her the small yellow yak thing. Everybody remembers her.

What we sewed

A round body of long yellow-orange faux fur, the same puffball shape as in the film
A tan plush face with a wide smile and soft pink lips
Big brown eyes with stitched brows, that slightly lost look
A red-orange faux fur tuft, small round ears and a brown nose
Four chunky brown feet and a thin tail with a fluffy orange tip

She sits by herself on a bed, a desk or a shelf, and at 50 cm she's big enough to hug.

Your Katie, your way

Want her smaller, bigger, or with a flower on her head like in the clover scene? Send us a picture and your wishes. We can change the size and shades, add a sound module or an embroidered name. You see photos before she ships. She'd look right next to our Horton plush, and there are more toys from animated films and book character plushies to look through.

We're an independent studio. This is a handmade fan piece, not an official Dr. Seuss Enterprises product.

Materials used

Katie is mostly fur, so the fabrics decide how she turns out:

Long-pile faux fur in yellow-orange for the body, so she reads as a puffball from across the room
Red-orange faux fur for her tuft and the tip of her tail
Short tan plush for the face, which keeps the smile and the eyes clean and readable
Brown plush for the ears, nose and the four feet

The fabrics are premium and the filling is hypoallergenic, so she can live on a kid's bed or a grown-up's desk. Long fur likes a brush now and then. We only use faux fur, never real fur. If you'd like a paler yellow, a darker tuft or a different shade for the face, tell us at the start. Extras like a sound module or an embroidered name go in at the same stage.

Lead time

A Katie stuffed animal usually takes 2–4 weeks to make.

The pattern comes first. A round toy sounds easy, but with long fur a few millimetres in the cut decide whether she looks like a yak calf or a mop. Then the face panel, the ears, the feet and the tail are sewn, and the fur is trimmed around the face so the smile shows.

The eyes and brows go on last. That's where her odd, sweet look appears. The time frame keeps a small reserve for handmade surprises. If she's a birthday gift, tell us the date in your first message.

Delivery

We ship worldwide. Delivery usually takes 7–20 business days, depending on your country and the carrier. Couriers slow down around the holidays, so allow extra time then.

Katie makes a good gift for anyone who still quotes the pony line. Add the making time to the delivery time and count back from the day you need her. For Christmas, order by November 1.

Before she leaves, you get photos of the finished toy. She travels packed so the fur and the tuft arrive fluffy, not flattened.

Guarantee

We've been sewing custom plush since 2009, and a lot of it is side characters that never got a toy of their own.

Katie only works if the face is right. Eyes a little too close, or a smile too neat, and she's just a yellow ball of fur. That's why you see photos of your Katie before she ships. If you still don't love her, you get a full refund within 14 days, for any reason.

Not sure about the size or how orange she should be? Ask before we start. A detail is much easier to change in the pattern than in the finished toy.