Ah Niu's New Tuxedo

This is a true story.  It was about twenty five years ago.  My friend brought these stuffed animals from Hong Kong and gave them to us as wedding gift.  They have always been together and have been sitting on top of our headboard in our bedroom since the first day we were married.  They moved with us to several houses and they were always placed in the same location, even we moved to different houses.

They went through the ups and downs with us all these years.   They witnessed how we raised our kids. If it hadn't been for the valentine's card I received from my husband, I would have not remembered that we had been married for almost 25 years.   I then realized Ah Niu (the groom's name for the cow) and his wife had been with us all these years.

I noticed Ah Niu had lost his hat and tuxedo.  I also noticed his shoulder was beginning to fall apart.

But his wife still looks just as good as the first day she arrived.


I feel very fortunate to still have these two stuffed animals with us after all this time.  After days of futility to find Ah Niu's tuxedo, I decided to make a new tuxedo for him.  Because I don't know how to sew, I went online to search for some tutorial videos hoping to learn to sew properly.  Unfortunately, I didn't find any clips to show how to cut the pattern for a stuffed animal.  So I began to brainstorm myself with whatever I learned from the internet.

I used a vanilla card board to roughly measure Ah Niu's body and cut the pattern out first.  Then pinned the fabric on the pattern and cut it quarter inch bigger as seam allowance.  It was a little difficult to deal with when it was time to sew the shoulder area. I left out the sleeves and collars, since I wasn't good with sewing. I was afraid it would look terrible after all the effort; that's why I only made a simple tuxedo.  I remembered Ah Niu originally had a golden chain. I then looked through some old jewelry and found these gold chains that I bought from Singapore and thought they were perfect because they both have the same sentimental value to me.



 I added a new bow tie on him.  Now look at the handsome Ah Niu:


I thought I should also give something new to his wife.  I used the broach I found from the box and pinned it on as part of her necklace. Look at them now, aren't they a lovely couple?

It was fun to do this project.  Not only I get to save something sentimental, but it's always good to learn something new.  The internet is a great way to learn anything you wish these days.  All you need is some willingness to explore.