Sharp piercing eyes, warm eyes, absent eyes, angry eyes…. Our eyes express emotion and convey personality.

But how about the eyes of stuffed animals?  Can a pair of eyes made of felt express anything?

Indeed, I think that they can!  Below are some examples of the effects you can achieve using the same exact pieces of felt.

Look at this baby-eyed moose.  There is no doubt that it wants a big cuddly hug.

To create these eyes, I placed the black ovals so that they are closer to the middle of the face than the white ones.  Vertically, the black ovals are centered on the white.  A closeup of this eye is shown in the lower right corner of the first photo of this post (the eye chart!).

In comparison, this horsey made from the same fabric seems perfectly content.  In fact, I think that it looks rather proud of itself for being able to sit up on its own!

For this horsey, I placed the black ovals much lower on the white ovals than those of the moose, so that their bottoms overlap with those of the white.  This eye is shown in the upper middle of the eye chart.

It is surprising how the same felt ovals create entirely different effects when they are positioned slightly differently!

Here is a timid looking zebra with eyes that are cute but shy.

Its eyes are similar to those of the horsey above.  However, I positioned the black ovals farther down than those of the horsey.  Amazingly, those few millimeters (a few sixteenths of an inch) up or down determine whether the eyes exhibit self confidence or shyness.  You can compare these two eyes more easily in the eye chart, where they appear in the upper middle and upper right corner.

Here, I added a small pearl bead to each of the zebra’s eyes.  And, ta-da!  The same zebra seems to have livened up with sparkles in its eyes.  I think that these eyes also add an anime-like quality to the stuffed animal.

Eye lashes also add a lot of personality.  This horsey’s eyes have three short and straight black stitches on the outer edges.  With such lady-like eyes, I call her ‘Miss Horsey’!

I find it fascinating that the same black and white ovals can create such different effects on the stuffed animals made from the same patterns.  When you make one of my Huggable Animals or any other stuffed animal or doll, I hope that this post will help you decide what sort of personality you would like it to have before sewing on its eyes!

Muumade’s Gallery awaits your one-of-a-kind stuffed animals with lots of personality.