I made this! · 8:05pm Jun 6th, 2020
So, uh, it looks like I'm a plushie maker now:
Wait, what?
How did this happen?!
Okay, see, here's the thing:
Custom plushies are expensive.
That's the boil-down. But, of course, a one-sentence summary obscures the details of the wider context.
Longer story: it kinda started a few years back when I started playing a weekly session pony-themed RPG with a few of my friends. The campaign was supposed to last maybe a year to a year and a half.
By the time it was all said and done, it took four.
Then I ran the sequel campaign for another year.
Needless to say, people got pretty invested in their characters, and some players wanted stuff to remember them by. As times goes by, we've hatched various ideas for souvenirs that might be cool (because nothing says "cool" like merching your own RPG campaign, I guess? Well, we thought it was cool. Shut up!), and custom plushies was one of the more obvious ones. So I took the lead in checking out the feasibility of that for the group, and I came to the conclusion that there are two roads:
One, commission custom plushies from outside artists. This costs $200 and up (usually significantly up) for each plushie.
Two, someone in the group acquires the skills and makes the plushies at the cost of tools, materials, and shipping.
Guess which one I chose?
Yeah, turns out a passable computerized combination embroidery and sewing machine that does what you need for plush-craft only costs about $300, new. At that price, you're pretty close to breaking even vs. commissioning from outside if you can manage to make just one satisfactory plushie with it. Make more than one, and you've really saved a lot.
Also, if I did this I would come out of it knowing how to sew and embroider, and it's hard to put a price on acquiring a skill you get to keep using forever, so that was also a big plus to me, too.
Also-also, Rarity is one of my favorite ponies and she inspires me and I wanna be like her so what the heck why not! 
So, long story short, I just finished my own custom Twilight Sparkle plushie. This particular one was created as a prototype for a revision of the pattern I had been using before, and as Twilight Sparkle tends to do, she's taught me a lot; further iterations on her pattern will have some refinements and improvements and look even better. Personally, I'm more than satisfied with her even in this incarnation, since she IMO absolutely demolishes the mass-produced "official" commercial Twilight Sparkle plushies in the looks and show-accuracy department.
I've also created some of custom OC plushies that I started this endeavor to make in the first place, and I'll post some of those later. For now, I'm just excited to have finished my first canon character!
And since people have already asked and I've already done them, yes, I can take commissions. Just PM me or leave a comment or something if you want to inquire about that, I guess.
Mostly, though, I just wanted to say: WOOOHOOO CUSTOM PLUSHIE!!!! 
I plan to make a Sunset Shimmer and a Starlight Glimmer in the near-ish future, to complete the set of the Three Unicorns of FiM that hold a special place in my heart. And after that? Well, I dunno. We'll see! 
Adorable! Nice work.
Looks great.
Wow, Winston! She looks wonderful! Good on you for learning new skills, too. I know how much work goes into making something like this and you have done a great job!
WINSTON.
THAT IS SO COOL MAN.
Nice. Sewing skills are underrated.
Very cool.
Wow, that's amazing!
"So, uh, it looks like I'm a plushie maker now"
It does indeed. :)
Congratulations. :)
"WOOOHOOO CUSTOM PLUSHIE!!!!
"
:D
That is awesome! (And I keep telling people, sewing is much more a craft than an art. Almost anybody can learn it. Not that I mind being paid to sew ponies, but you know...) Did you start with a pre-existing pattern, or did you create the pattern from scratch? Because it's a pretty good looking one!
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The body draws a lot from patterns I've seen on the internet (because I didn't see a point in reinventing the wheel), with my own take on them to capture the looks of the parts I like and adjust the parts I don't like until they're more pleasing. So it's sort of my own special-sauce composite of various influences.
Manes, tails, wings, etc. are completely original designs starting from scratch on all the plushies I've made so far, though.
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Fact! These plushies are the first thing I've ever sewn. I'm sure I still have a lot to learn, but getting started took literally ten minutes of watching YouTube and reading my sewing machine's manual to get me started with satisfactory results.
I only hope people decide to start paying me for it. It's honestly a pretty fun hobby, so if I could turn it into some cash... well, that'd just be perfect.
duuuuuude that's awesome! Your work looks really good!
Ayyyyyy that's so awesome, Winston!!! Congrats!! :D
I like it!
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Thanks! :)