Long 2012 Furby

I decided to make this tutorial after noticing a distinct lack of long Furby tutorials for 2012 Furbys/ Furby Booms. The only real difference when longifying booms vs 2012s will be the shape of the fabric around the Furby's face. The pattern I have provided is for a 2012 Furby, which has a smaller faceplate. I have found that it is easiest to adapt this pattern by cutting the fabric the same, sewing it the same, then try it on your furb. Then, I found it looks neatest to just cut the face hole larger while it is on the furb.

This longification process can really go two distinct ways, you can simply add fabric to the bottom of your Furby, or totally remake it.

Part of this tutorial is derived from https://www.instructables.com/id/Longifying-Your-...

If any step needs more detail you will likely find what you are looking for in this tutorial.

*If you are doing a simple longification, cut the fur around the base of your Furby and only look at steps 2, 3, 5, 6, &7.*

*IMPORTANT TIP FOR CUTTING FABRIC*

When dealing with fabric with long hair, it is *SO* much easier, and less messy, to use a razor blade to gently cut the fabric from the back. Seriously, if you want to attempt this project or ANY project with similar fabric, I cannot stress enough how much of a game-changer this was.

Supplies

Materials:

Furby Boom!/2012 Furby

1/2 yd. main body fabric

1/4 yd. tummy fabric

Felt for feet (optional)

Stuffing

Spine (link in step 3)

Large zip ties

Paint

Clear nail polish (or varnish)

Hot glue

Zipper (optional)

Tools:

Sewing Machine (not required but very helpful)

Razor Blade/Exacto Knife (If not, scissors will work)

Drill OR Electric Soldering Iron

Hot Glue Gun

Step 1: Skinning Your Furby

So, the first thing you always want to do when longifying a Furby is skinning it. (Well unless you are doing a simple longification, in that case, skip this step).
Take a sharp seam ripper or scissors and start cutting the fabric along the bottom of the Furby (under the feet). (If you want to reuse the original feet make sure to neatly save them here).

*PLEASE NOTE IF YOU WANT TO MAINTAIN FUNCTION BE VERY CAREFUL TO NOT CUT WIRES DURING THIS STEP* That may seem like a no-brainer but it’s worth mentioning.

Once you cut all the way around the base, begin peeling up the fur. There is a wire in the belly cushion. I am not entirely sure what this wire does, but my best guess is it allows the Furby to “feel” if you are touching its stomach. There is a white wire attachment where you can simply pull the wire apart from the Furby.

Depending on whether you have an older or newer Furby Boom! model, there will be either one or two screws and a series of plastic clasps that hold the fur down around the faceplate. You can rip the fabric away from the clasps with enough force but you will need some sort of tool to unscrew the two small screws. (I did not have a small enough screwdriver so I ended up using a cuticle clipper, the screws were loose enough that that worked just fine). These screws unscrew to the right!

The fur is also secured around the base of the ears. The easiest way to remove this fur is to use scissors to cut through the plastic "cage" surrounding the ear joint and the two plastic clasps securing the fur around each ear. Once you have freed the ears you should be able to pull the fur over the ears and off the Furby!

Congratulations you have now successfully skinned your Furby Boom.

Step 2: Painting the Face/Eyelashes

This, of course, is not required but if you are totally changing up the color scheme of your Furby this is a simple way to make it appear more polished.

*Before beginning the painting process I would highly suggest gently cleaning the body of your Furby to get rid of any remaining fuzz from the skinning process. If you do not this fuzz will probably get stuck to the face as you are painting it.*

If your Furby still works turn your Furby on and wait until it closes its eyes before taking out a battery so that it stays in that position while you paint. THIS MAKES IT MUCH EASIER TO PAINT THE EYELIDS.

Once your paint has dried paint over everything with clear nail polish or varnish. THIS IS IMPORTANT. If you do not seal the paint it will chip off. Seriously, this is important. Do it. The nail polish also does a really good job at smoothing over your paint job and making all the colors and textures much more even.

*Especially make sure to thoroughly cover the outer parts of the eyelids and mouth as these are the parts that will chip the most when the face moves.*

If you want to make sure the ears retain mobility you should also paint the connection between the ears and the head the same color as the fabric you bought at this time. The ears don’t need to be particularly neat; this is just to hide the joint after the fur goes on. Just like the face, seal this paint with nail polish.

*if you did not skin your Furby I would recommend using masking tape or something similar to keep the fur clean*

If you want to add eyelashes, simply grab some fake lashes or doll lashes, cut them to size (you may also need to cut the length), and attach them with superglue!

Step 3: Attaching the Spine

This step is not required, however, if you want your Long Furby to be possable this step is necessary. Without a spine, your Furby will just flop around and since the eyes cannot be separated from the body this Furby will already be very top-heavy so I would highly suggest adding a spine.

Many materials can be used as the spine for your Long Boy but I used this: https://morezmore.mybigcommerce.com/m03020-morezm...

This website also sells the same product in varying thicknesses and lengths.

This is probably the easiest part of the entire process. I unscrewed the bottom of the Furby and drilled four holes into it. I then drilled two holes into the top of the spine like this: I then attached the spine to the Furby base with two large zip ties to hold it in place like this:

Now reattach the spine to the Furby!

*I have recently been using an electric soldering iron recently for this part instead. They are not expensive and make is MUCH easier to put holes in the round spine segments. FULL DISCLAIMER these get VERY HOT. They work by burning through the plastic, so you will need to use it in a well-ventilated area and use it with EXTREME CAUTION!*

Step 4: Ears!

Ok, now for the fun part! You’ve completely destroyed your Furby now it’s time to put it back together! Here is the pattern I came up with for the head fabric. http://www.mediafire.com/file/o0iwi6cn368v7sg/Hea...

*If you did not skin your Furby you can go ahead and skip to Step 5*

*When printing out the pattern make sure the margins are set to default and set the paper size to executive or it will not be the right size! Alternatively, if you have the option in your printer settings, set the print size to “actual size.” Changing the paper size may cut off the top a little bit but it should still be fine to work with*

*If you are working with fluffy fabric like I am, the seams should not be a problem. I’m not sure how you could get around the seam issue if you are working with a thinner fabric. *

*I created this pattern with my not-stretchy fabric in mind. If your fabric is stretchy be VERY CAREFUL when cutting the fabric that will go around the face. It would probably be best to cut well within the margins and cut the fabric out when it is actually on your Furby.*

The Ears!

I began with the ears, I found this to be the easiest way to avoid getting glue all over your fabric but do what you want.

Firstly, I used my pattern and cut out the inner and outer earpieces.

The first thing I did was flip seam 9 back up on the inner ear fabric to finish the edge.

I then placed both pieces of fabric so that the right sides were facing, and made the tips of the ear match up on both pieces.

I hand sewed this part for more control. I sewed from the top down either side. DO NOT SEW ALONG THE BOTTOM. Leave it open like a pocket.

*On the second side, you should have to pull the smaller piece of fabric a bit to continue sewing along the seam, this will create the curved shape of the ear.*

Once I was done sewing, I flipped the ear pocket inside out and slipped it over the ear to make sure it fit.

I then took the fabric pocket back off the ear and squeezed some super glue around the edge of the plastic ear. I then quickly slid the fabric back over the ear and firmly pressed the outer edges into the glue. Next, I squeezed some superglue onto the front side of the ear (inside the pocket) and firmly pressed the front ear fabric into the glue.

To finish I, you guessed it, glued the edges of the fabric to the bottom of the plastic ear. Since I want to retain mobility, I want to keep the ear joint-free, so I am opting to not sew this part.

I ended up with this. (I will give him a handsome haircut once the rest of his fur is on).

Step 5: Reconstructing the Head

The Rest of the Head!

I began by sewing seam 3, which is the top of the head between the ears. Then I sewed pieces A and B together down seams 1 and 2.

At this time you should try the new skin on your furby to make sure everything looks like it’s lining up. Check to see if the fabric around the eyes fits and if you need to cut fabric off the sides before sewing them together.

*Depending on how fluffy you want your furby head to end up being you should take in the sides accordingly.*

After sewing seams 4 and 5, flip the fabric back right side out then try the skin on your Furby one more time to see if you need to make any alterations.

Step 6: Make Him Long!!

At long last, you’ve reached the most rewarding step of all. Congratulations.

You deserve everything you're about to get.

I’m so sorry to all my fellow not-math-people, but we’re gonna have to do some math. To begin, you need to measure the circumference of your Furby, mine was 17 inches. Make sure to measure yours in case it’s different! Next, measure the length of your spine, mine was 35 inches.

Decide how wide you want to stomach fabric to be, mine is about 4 inches, and add about an inch for your seam allowance. The measurements I used were 4.25” x 36”. For the rest of the fur you can cut one long strip of fabric, in my case that fabric would be about 15’” x 37”, this includes the addition of two inches to both the width and the length for the seam allowance. This is a bit overkill but it’s better to have cut the fabric slightly too big than slightly too small. I have found that cutting the stomach fabric slightly shorter than the fur leaves me with a cleaner bottom seam.

If your Furby still works you will need to create some way to access the batteries, I chose to add a zipper. Since I did this, I chose to cut out two long rectangles measuring 8” x 37” instead.

* I’m not going to write a tutorial about sewing zippers because it would be quite lengthy and I’m sure you can find better ones on the internet. Make sure you practice before adding one into your final Furby.*

If you are using long faux fur fabric like I am, the zipper is almost completely hidden by the hair!

If you have a sewing machine, the next part is fast. Simply sew both pieces of fur to the stomach right sides together. Next, I pin the head fabric to the tummy fabric to make sure the front is centered, then sew the body tube to the head and slip the Furby into its new fursuit. Now break out the super glue again. I glued the fabric snuggly around the ears and face.

HECK YA! No, you’re not hallucinating, the end is indeed nigh.

Now you’re gonna want to stuff your boy! Fill your long boy out to your heart’s content, be careful to keep the spine in the middle of the body.

Now to close the bottom. I folded the fabric in and used a ladder stitch to close it up.

Take a minute to sit back and gaze upon your handsome boy.

Step 7: The Feet

Now, of course this is also optional, you could just be done, but I like to make things really difficult for myself. Using felt, draw a rough shape of what you want your Furby’s feet to look like, and cut out the pieces. As you can see from mine, these can be pretty rough.
*Remember, two for each foot.*

Sew around the edges, right-sides facing, leaving the back open. Cut off the seams, if you don’t they will be much harder to turn right-side out.

Now turn them right-side out and stuff ‘em! Sew the opening closed and trim off the extra fabric.

If you want, you can use a sewing machine to sew between the little toes for a bit of definition.

I am fully aware of how janky these are….I had a long day leave me alone.

I then sewed the top edge of the feet to the tummy, adding on stitch at the end each foot to keep them from flopping around.

Step 8: Admire Your New Long Boi™

At long last. You reached the end. Pat yourself on the back, but not for too long or your boi will get jealous.

ENJOY!!

If you like this tutorial and want to follow me and my furbs on insta our handle is @majesticfurbs

If you want to buy any of my future Furbys you can find them on my etsy shop - MajesticFurbs