A major challenge for me was using the sewing machine for the peel-shaped pieces. The edges were difficult to sew using the sewing machine, which would often run off the fabric or bunch the fabric up. Maybe next time I could sew the folds in the peels before cutting them out or draw them as a connected single piece rather than two separate pieces. At the time, for the parts that were way too difficult to use the sewing machine for, I just hand-sewed. This was a decent alternative because I’ve gotten faster at hand-sewing. The only issue is sometimes the stitches may be a little loose, so I had to go over some edges twice with hand stitches.
I also think I didn’t quite use the panels/peels in a way that made sense. I ended up making horizontal panels, which makes the apple look more like a melon. Vertical panels or a singular long strip going around the circumference of the apple face would’ve made more sense. This made me realize how the patterns are shaped also affects the design / final look of the toy.
Maintaining the shape of the apple was also difficult. It turned out rounder than I intended since it lost its shape when I sewed the edges of the pieces together and furthermore when it was stretched out by the stuffing. Sharp corners such as the bottom part of the apple that goes in are hard to maintain in particular. Next time when designing the template patterns, I could make the corners of the shape sharper and more exaggerated with allowance for them to get rounded out in the process.
Finally, the invisible stitch looked ragged and not very clean because the stitches were too close to the edges of the fabric, so they didn’t pull the fabric inside when I tightened the thread. I’ll make the peel pieces wider next time, which will allow me to stitch farther away from the edge.