DIY Plushie Monkeys In a Barrel toys

 Monkeys in a barrel toys are classic.  I loved them when I was a kid, my parents played with them and now my kids do too.  One night I was thinking about making something for a friend who just had a baby boy and the idea came to me.  I made this cute monkey toy for him.  I took pictures of it to show you.
You can get the PDF pattern for the monkey here .  (note; This is my first PDF ever and the paper got wrinkled because my baby grabbed it from me before putting it in the scanner.)

Eye balling a monkey, I drew a pattern and traced it on the wrong side of some flannel fabric.  (Remember to flip the monkey pattern over to the other side each time you trace one, so that you can place the fabric cut outs right sides together.

Cut out your pattern and leave at least 1/4 in seam allowance.  When you sew, sew along the traced lines.

Pin and sew leaving the space between the legs open for turning

I went over it again with a zig-zag stitch to reinforce the seam.  You will be filling it with a lot of stuffing so you want the seams to hold.

Trim off the excess seam allowance. 
To turn the monkey right side out is tricky and so I show how I did it.

First take and turn the hands into the arms and push them down as far as you can.

Next turn the head in word.

Push it till you see it coming out of the space you left open.

Pull it through, then you will find the hands waiting to greet you, all have to so is pull them out too.

Last turn the feet out.

Now we stuff. There is a lot of stuffing that goes into one of these monkeys, you will be surprised.  Stuff the arms first.  Take a little at a time and push it all the way up the arm till you get to the ends.  keep filling. The arm needs to have enough to hold its shape.

Finish filling the monkey and hand sew the opening closed.

Repeat till you have all the monkeys you want. I sewed a patch of velcro in the hooks of the arms so they will cling to each other a bit better.  That is it. Have fun.