Backstory

I have been into the fandom since early 2011. In 2012 I commissioned my first plush, a 12 inch tall Twilight, from a maker known as Brainbread. Fast forward to 2014, I started to come across pictures of a lifesize Twilight made by MyLittleWaifu on 4chan's /mlp/ plush thread- it was this plush that started an obsession to get my own lifesize Twilight.

At the time, there were a couple plushmakers on the thread that posted their lifesize making process, and yet, each of their lifesize ponies looked odd or had strange features and none of them would ever release their patterns. I had tried several times to secure a slot for a plush commission hoping to get my Twi, but every plushmaker was permanently booked out. Then in May 2015, an unknown anon showed up and changed the game entirely.

This was a gamechanger, an anon that showed his progress, and his pattern he released made a plush that actually looked good! Watching this anon, I knew what I had to do.

Before he had even completed his plush I had already started buying fabric and had it on the way, thats how determined I was to make my own lifesize twi for myself.

Baby steps

Having never sewed in my life, I needed to start out simple. Unlike TwiAnon, I had planned to make my plush using a knockoff singer sewing machine I had purchased at a flea market and a Singer 503A I inherited from my grandmother- both well over 50 years old by that point. I had already repaired and serviced both machines and was ready to work. To start out with, I had decided to put together a simple foot ball involving two colors and several panels. This would serve as my introduction for cutting, pinning, sewing, turning, stuffing, and closing- the basic processes needed to make any plush object.

After only a few hours of work, I had succesfully made my first plush object. Now it was time to move on to something a bit more challenging

Pony body

The next step in the process was to construct a ~15inch body with no features to learn the more complicated piecing, sewing, and hand stitching requirements. This process took about a week to get right.

Going Bigger

With the smaller body finished, the next step was to repeat the process at 21 inches but add a mane, tail, eyes, and Cutie Mark. The mane and tail would be in a single color, and the eyes and CM would be also in a simplified form, but attached as applique as per the final plush.

After about 2 weeks of work, protoTwi was finished. She would end up going to GrandBronyGala to a surprising amount of fanfare due to her unusually large size in 2015, despite being a very basic version of Twilight.

Final Waifu

Finally, after about a month of learning and working up my skillset, it was time to start making the plush I had started the process in the first place. I had set myself a goal to finish her before Bronycon 2015, which gave about a month and a half's time. This Twilight would be 36 inches tall, and would test all the skills I learned so far.

From the instant I printed and pieced together the pattern, I knew I was in for something special- the size of the pattern pieces absolutely dwarfed the previous 2 Twi's.

Not feeling content with the applique I did on prototype Twi, I researched a new technique for the Cutie Mark that would blend in better with the surrounding fur.

For the eyes I dropped the satins and the original thin cotton and went with quilting cottons hoping for better durability after quickly seeing the eyes on prototwi start to degrade.

After the head was completed, next came the CM applique and the body

Things had been going well up to this point, but after multiple attemps to get a decent mane shape that I liked, I decided to go and ask a friend for help, so I loaded up Twi in the car and set off.

Who was this mysterious friend? None other than the very plushmaker whose Twi got me originally wanting a lifesize in the first place, MyLittleWaifu. I spent about half a day at her place learning how to pattern a mane and tail for Twi and got to meet the plushie I had been so envious of!

After this visit, I would quickly pump out the tail as well at protoype manes and until I was finally satisfied.

Finally, after nearly 2 months of effort, on July 27, 2015 I completed her. A two month long journey, with a month alone of nearly constant work to bring her to fruition. I had not only gotten the plush I had so desired, but had made her with my own hands despite having started with no experience, and I was happy with what I made. While she may not be the most accurate or best looking plush out there, I loved her despite the flaws she had. I would never guess that that I would spend the next 10+ years traveling with her to many different states and even several countries, with many more hopefully on the bucket list.