Recovering Old Toy?

If it's just fleece, it should be easy enough to work with. Fleece doesn't fray (haha... sounds funny). Just use a heavier-weight thread and you should be fine.

Cute toy. Might have to get one for my Olive's stocking!

 

Have you considered getting a new one?

My previous dog had a specific toy that he got as a puppy that he loved, but after a while it was falling apart. I got similar toys - he was not interested. I finally found the same toy online and bought it for him - that he was happy with.

Over his lifetime he had something like 5 of them, he was always perfectly happy with it so long as it was a duplicate.

 

The ball-tipped needles should work fine. Use a very heavy thread, if your machine will take it - like hand buttonhole thread or quilting thread.

Back when I had destructo-dog (Max, a border collie) I came up with a toy design that really worked well. I ordered sheepskin remnants from American Science and Surplus, then cut about 5" circles out of it. It was too heavy to sew on my machine, so I ran a threadless seam around the perimeter of both pieces. Then I sewed them together (wooly side IN) by hand, using an overhand buttonhole stitch.

The toy I made lasted WAY longer than any toys I bought ready made, and even though it was leather and wool, it was machine washable. In fact, it outlived two dogs! (Normal toys had a half-life of about 2 days.) Always wondered what I could do if I had any ballistic cloth like they use in bulletproof vests.

 

Ironing THREAD? Sounds preposterous to me. Never done it in almost 50 years of sewing. I was taught by my Amish great grandmother, so we used the simplest methods possible.

 

Any kind of stiff leather scraps should stand up to a lot of biting and playing. The reason I used the threadless seam was to punch the holes needed for hand sewing so I wouldn't have to use a punch-awl (nasty little so-and-so's).

Through experimentation, I found the round ones held up the best. I tried triangles and squares, and they promptly got chewed into oblivion.

Oh, and I once found some bright yellow rubberized fabric used for making life rafts at the army surplus store. I used it for a couple of toys, but the dogs hated them. Finally used the remainder for a ground cloth when setting up at shows.

I prefer to make them with very little or no stuffing at all - not an issue with the wooly leather, but plain leather would need a little stuffing to give it the right consistency and make it more fun to bite.

 

I agree with the avoidance of punch-awls! Those things can be nasty - got a great big scar in one hand to prove it!

I've done the waxing when repairing leather. It not only makes the seam somewhat waterproof, it also keeps it from binding and twisting while you sew. I usually just use a quilter's block of beeswax in a round holder and run my thread through it a couple of times while working on the seams.

What I've never heard of is actually IRONING the thread. Does it really help?