Proggy Menagerie - Hayley Smith

Learn the basics of the Proggy technique with step-by-step photo guides, then set your creativity free with the easy-to-follow patterns. In Proggy Menagerie, designer and author Hayley Smith provides a collection of adorable three-dimensional rag-rug projects that can be adapted for use as children's toys, pet toys, or home accessories. The technique is easy to master—simply cut your fabric into strips and push it through the holes in some Hessian backing—and has been a traditional way of creating mats for centuries. This technique, known as "progging" in northeast England, is familiar the world over. Proggy Menagerie puts a refreshing modern twist on the technique, moving it beyond the usual two-dimensional rug format, with instructions for making twenty fun and funky three-dimensional stuffed animals. With a few adaptations to the backing, filling, and eye materials, the projects can be safely used as soft toys for children, chew toys for pets, or be used as doorstops and draft blockers around your home. Designs include:

Woodland creatures

Farmyard favorites

Perfect pets

Feathered friends

Water babies