Help! I have purchased some stuffies from a thrift store to use as dog toys. I opened a seam to remove tags and the stuffing. Two of them have big safety eyes (is that the right term?) that I want to remove before laundering and letting Vivienne have them. I know I could just cut around them, but I’d rather have a much smaller hole to sew shut/be vulnerable to opening.
Is there a trick that experienced toy makers here know? Do I need to saw or smash them? Is it not worth the effort to do anything other than cut them out?
If you can get to the backs of the eyes without too much trouble, I’d try attacking the backs with pliers. Otherwise, it’s probably easiest to pick your pointiest scissors & cut as close to the shaft as you can get-- with a lot of the bigger ones I’ve seen, you should be able to press down on one side & get the eye to tilt sideways so you can cut behind the front part of it.
Whether it’s subsequently worth basting on a fabric eye to keep leaky stuffing to a minimum is going to depend on how enthusiastic Vivienne is in her destruction…
Thanks! I have ready access to the backs and so far have cut the posts back to the level of the piece it goes through, but that’s as far as I could get sitting on the sofa, watching TV with tools I felt comfortable using on my lap. One pair has a soft-ish plastic back, so I am going to attempt to cut those with a utility blade before trying the other pair. I am sure I have probably put more time into this than it will take to turn each of these critters into several more sub-critters! I picked these up for when we are dog sitting Vivienne’s bestie and her sister, so tug games will make quick work of them!
Hey, sometimes poking something until it all comes apart is worth it just for your own entertainment! (my family: Why are you taking apart that old TV? me: Well, at this point b/c I’m still having fun with it…)
I love the idea of “sub-critters,” heehee!
I was really into deconstructing thrifted teddy bears a couple decades ago, and probably ended up with some sub-critters… but as far as safety eyes, they all seem to be different in my experience, so I’m not sure there is even a one-size-fits-all solution, even if someone found something that has worked.
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One pair has a soft-ish plastic back, so I am going to attempt to cut those with a utility blade before trying the other pair. I am sure I have probably put more time into this than it will take to turn each of these critters into several more sub-critters! I picked these up for when we are dog sitting Vivienne’s bestie and her sister, so tug games will make quick work of them!