Every safari nursery needs its own lion king, and this 3D plush lion wall decor is a fabulous DIY nursery art project that you can make in a day. The FREE pattern and instructions below will help you make a super soft 27 inch tall lion with fluffy mane.
The best part is, you probably already have a lot of the supplies. If you can cut cardboard and use a hot glue gun, you’re already halfway there. You’ll just need a little furry fabric for the lion body and some fake fur for the mane which you can find at any large hobby or fabric store. The plush fabric for the lion below came from JoAnn.
In addition to the lion, you can also make plush giraffe wall decor from this post, which will give you a set of safari animal decor.
Enjoy creating!
gather these supplies to make your lion wall art
- tan plush fabric for lion body & face (a little less than 1 yard)
- felt or fleece in a lighter contrasting color for ear insides and muzzle
- long brown fake fur for mane & tip of tail
- cotton batting (optional, but nice for adding extra thickness and dimension)
- buttons for eyes (or use felt)
- cardboard or foam board
- X-acto knife or craft knife
- scissors
- hot glue gun and glue sticks
step 1: download the FREE lion pattern
Download the free lion pattern here and print on normal copy paper. Your lion pattern will print on nine separate pages. Arrange the pages as shown below.
Then use scissors and tape to cut out and join the pieces together.
step 2: construct the lion body shape
Place the paper lion pattern on thick cardboard or foam board and use a pencil to trace around the body shape. Then use an X-acto knife or craft knife to cut the shape out.
It should look like this–
Now place the cardboard shape on top of your soft tan fabric or fake fur. Using scissors, cut the fabric so that it is several inches wider than the cardboard shape.
To give the lion some extra softness and dimension, cut several layers of natural cotton quilt batting to add as padding. You only need to cut batting for the bottom half of the lion since the top half will end up with a lot of thickness from the mane. (see below)
Sandwich the cotton batting between the cardboard and the fur. Then wrap the fur over the edges of the cardboard, and use hot glue to attach to the back.
Once the hot glue has dried, flip the lion body back over to the front, and begin attaching the long brown fur sections to make the lion’s mane.
It helps to make some cuts in the fur so that it overlaps nicely in the middle without bunching up.
Once the mane has been glued in place, set the body section aside and begin working on the head, ears, and tail.
Here is a quick preview of how it will look after the next steps are completed.
to make the lion head
Trace around the circle part of the face shape onto cardboard, and cut out.
Place the cardboard circle on top of the tan fabric and cut a fabric circle a couple of inches larger. Then cut a few layers of cotton batting the same size as the cardboard circle.
Now sandwich the layers with the cotton batting between the cardboard and tan fabric as shown below.
Flip over to the back and use hot glue to attach the edges of the tan fabric to the back of the cardboard. Making small cuts in the fabric will help it to fold more easily over the cardboard rim.
to make the lion muzzle
Using the paper pattern, cut a cardboard circle and a few layers of cotton batting the same size. Then cut a nose from black felt. Also cut a lighter color circle from felt or fleece, large enough to wrap around the cardboard and batting.
Stack the cotton batting on top of the larger fleece/felt circle, and then place the cardboard circle on top of the stack. Wrap the felt or fleece over cardboard edge and use hot glue to adhere the back. As with the head section, making small cuts in the fabric will help with working around the curved rim of the cardboard.
When finished gluing, the lion muzzle should look like this on the back
And it will look like this when flipped to the front–
Place muzzle on top of lion head, and use hot glue to secure in place.
Add black felt nose and button eyes. Since buttons can be a choking hazard, sew them on with needle and thread instead of using hot glue, if possible. You can also make eyes from small circles of felt instead of using buttons.
to make the ears
Using the ear pattern, cut circles the same size from poster board, heavy paper, or an index card. Place the circles on top of the tan plush fabric. Cut fabric circles that are almost an inch larger than the paper circles.
Fold the plush fabric around the paper circles, and use hot glue to hold in place.
Then flip over.
Cut two smaller circles from felt or fleece to make the inside of the ear. Glue on top.
Tuck ears slightly behind the head and hot glue in place.
You can add a small felt “line” under the nose if you like.
to make the tail
Cut a strip of cardboard to use for the tail. Then cut a section of tan plush fur larger than the cardboard strip, and a piece of long brown fake fur to use for the tip of the tail.
Glue the long brown fur to the end of the cardboard strip, and then wrap the tan fabric around it.
assemble your 3D plush lion decor
Glue the tail behind the body section and glue the head onto the mane.
Once all the parts have been glued together, your plush lion decor should look something like this–
You can add extra details such as making some giant felt or fabric leaves for your cute lion to hide behind.
In order to turn the plush lion into safari wall decor, use an epoxy glue to attach D rings to the back of the cardboard. Then you can easily loop the D rings over picture hanging hooks on the wall.
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