how are my friend monsters™ made?

Every monster is handmade by me, Terri Wild, in my home monster workshop in beautiful Victoria, BC. You can read more about my monster journey here.

I make the monsters primarily from upcycled wool sweaters sourced from thrift shops in and around the Victoria and Vancouver BC area. To turn the sweaters into fabric suitable for monster-making, I felt them in the washing machine with hot water and soap. The goal is to get them to shrink (with heat, moisture  and agitation) into a felt-like material ready for cutting and sewing.

Not every wool sweater is suitable for monster creation. I only choose the softest ones. Lambswool, merino, angora, cashmere, alpaca...you get the picture! No scratchy monsters here!

Once the sweaters have been felted, I usually line dry them, and then they are ready to turn into monsters.

The monster design and build process is intuitive and organic, in the sense that I do not use patterns. Each monster character is created as it is sewn - that way every monster is an individual!

I have developed many different design elements that have become signature to the my friend monster™ style. The most distinctive being the pocket mouth!

Monsters with pocket mouths are super fun for interactive play, feeding monster food, as well as comfort when snuggling. I stuff the monsters quite full with polyester fibrefill so they are nice and plump!

Another unique monster attribute is the tentacle eye! I like to think of these monsters as being of alien origin - maybe - who knows?

Eye stalks, tentacles, slug eyes, whatever you call them, they allow your monster to see in all directions! The weirdness abounds.