What

A top made of loads of small stuffed toys.

IDEA

WASTED TIME

REVIVAL CHANCE

Why

In 1996 I saw a skateboarding fashion advert that featured a guy with a full suit made of small toys. I thought it looked great and thought it would be good to have something like that. Some years later I had been almost accidentally collecting the small toys hat were in McDonald’s or Burger King children’s meals that I used to often get on a lunchtime. Although I wouldn’t have enough for a suit, I thought I’d be able to make at least a jumper out of them.

When

2002.

Development & Progress

There was no easy way of knowing if the volume of toys I had was enough to complete this. It was before I had a good enough camera phone and before I even had a digital camera so no progress photos were taken. 

Reason for Abandonment

It turned out that attaching toys to old clothes is difficult, and also requires a very large number of toys if it’s to avoid looking patchy and half-arsed. When it became clear that I wouldn’t have anywhere enough toys to do the project justice, I bunged it all in bag and left it in a spare wardrobe.

Chances of Revival

Still something I’d like to make, but it would cost money and effort to source enough small toys to finish it, and I’m not sure I could get enough of the same small sized toys to complete it in a uniform way. The base garment may also need reinforcing wit something non-stretchy fabric or webbing to prevent stretching and distortion as that seemed to be a further problem when putting it together.

Legacy

I have a plastic box containing the unfinished top and all the unused toys. Finding it in a wardrobe for this abandoned project page is the first time I’ve looked at it in years.

Regret

Not enough for me to resume this over the last 18 years, but since digging it out for this web page, I think it deserves another crack.

*** UPDATE ***

Since I first wrote this in September 2020, I went on to make this magnificent creation in January 2021. More on that here.