Things To Do

Make a paper pattern for the body by folding an 18cm square of paper in half.

At one end, starting about 5cm from the folded edge, draw a slanting line to half way along the unfolded long side.

Cut away the spare paper outside the drawn line and when you unfold it, that's your pattern. Use it to cut out a shape of white towelling.

Fold the material in half, shaped sides together and join by doing a row of small, straight stitches.  The smaller the better as they have to stop the beans falling out.  It's best to use white thread as this won't show.

At the top and bottom edges sew straight stitches all around - but only sew through one thickness of material.  When you get to the end leave the thread long.  You'll need it to pull the material together to make her neck and bottom.

Pull gently but tightly on the bottom of the body first and then oversew to hold the gathered material in place. Now turn the body right side out.

This open end will become Mabel's neck and it is where you fill the body. You can use split peas as the filling. A nifty way of doing this is to make a funnel by cutting the top off a plastic bottle.

Push the funnel into the neck and pour enough peas to fill nearly to the top. Give the body a little shake to make the contents settle and add a few more peas if necessary.

Now, just like you did on the bottom, pull the long thread to gather up the neck and sew to secure.

For her head, you'll need a circle of paper for the pattern. You can make one by drawing around a dinner plate.

Fold it in half and half again to create a wedge shape which is the shape you need to cut from white towelling. 

Sew the straight edges together.  When you have done that, open out the curved edge and sew all the way around through one thickness only.  It's the same method as the body.

Again turn the material inside out and you've got a head shape.  Leave the pointy tip inside and you'll see you've created the right shaped muzzle for Mabel.

Fill the head with split peas and pull up the thread and oversew to hold them inside.

About halfway down the head shape, sew a few stitches from back to front pulling up the thread tightly to give shape to the face and oversew or tie the ends of the thread.

Push the top end of the body down inside itself to hide the rough edges. Sew or glue Mabel's head in place and make sure the seam on the body is at the back -where the spine would be.

Mabel's one up, one down ears are her trademark. These are made from triangular shapes of material.

A good tip is to put a little glue around the cut edges to stop them from fraying.

Sew or glue one edge of each ear to the head.

You can't see her back legs when she's sitting up, so make 2 front legs from oblongs of material - roughly 5 by 10 cm in size.

Fold one long side over the other and glue or stitch down.  Fold the paw end outwards and sew a few stitches through to hold the shape.

Push a straw through the open end to stiffen the leg and then sew the top up.

Sew or glue the top of the legs on to the front of the body.  Leave a gap between them.

Mabel's tail is made in the same way as her legs but the strip of material narrows at one end. Glue or sew one edge over the other making the tip as small as possible. Glue in place under her bottom.

Use coloured felt tip pens to add Mabel's markings.  Do them a little at a time and leave to dry before adding her eyes and nose.

Mabel's eyes are circles of coloured paper - one blue and one brown with peas painted black for the pupils.

Mabel's black nose comes next - again this is a tiny triangular shape of black felt with the points rounded off. Glue in place.

Her tongue is a filled in U shape cut from pink felt.  Glue the straight end inside the muzzle.

Finally Mabel's collar is a length of ribbon with a scrap of foil for her identity disc.