craftgrrl | Stuffed zipper banana!

Sweet, sweet

rocknrollpsycho once came across a special banana in a toy store: it was plush, and you could unzip the peel to reveal a button-eyed fruit dwelling inside. But, for some reason, she didn't buy it, and since then it's come up in conversation every few months. I'd scour the internet trying to find one for her, but they'd all be ugly clown props if I found anything at all.

So I decided to make one. After I took these pictures, I opened him up and added more stuffing (since he was an awfully lumpy banana) and straightened his mouth, because the crooked grin was seriously creepy.

Here it is unpeeled. It does, in fact, have black tips--like every good banana should--but since I was taking these pictures at four in the morning, the lighting wasn't that fantastic.
That fur is SUCH a whore to work with. I still have piles of yellow fluff on my floor, and the coat my mother was wearing when we had it cut looks like big bird.

He has two zippers, because he just peeled better that way. I had to sew them in by hand, because there's nothing in the world I hate more than sewing zippers on the machine. Except sewing vinyl.

Naked and free! He's made out of pill-resistent fleece, with matte button eyes--I couldn't find any shiny buttons--and a little red felt mouth. He's a little longer than a foot, I think, and he's much less malformed now that I've restuffed him.

Yay! More Christmas crafts to come over the next few days, after I give them to everyone.