Introducing Billy, the Zero Waste Toy Kit

Billy is zero waste DIY toy kit, designed by artist Meg Mader and myself.

Meg painted the design, and I made the zero waste pattern and wrote the instructions.

The kit is available in my shop now.

Let me tell you more…

Meg and I both live in South Australia’s Clare Valley, and have been friends since meeting at playgroup when our children were little. Meg is an illustrative artist who creates animal portraits, still life, and pop culture mash-ups. She also paints animals wearing human clothes and personality! Her style is fun and colourful. She works in gouache, acrylic inks and pen. Take a scroll through her Instagram.

Some years ago she painted my portrait for the Clare Portrait prize.

Billy’s zero waste layout is adapted from the Humpty Dumpty toy I designed earlier this year for a workshop, and I tweaked the instructions and filmed a new sewing guide.

Meg took the cutting layout and painted the design on. No AI, no digital art, just paint, paper and the hand of the artist. Then it was scanned and sent to the fabric printers.

When the panels arrived from the printers, my Star Wars loving teen called them The Clone Army!

This Meg’s and my first collaboration together. Neither of us have created a kit toy before, so this is new territory but it has sure been a lot of fun.

As far as I can find, this is unique; no-one else has made a toy kit using a zero waste pattern.

The kit contains the pre-printed panel, ribbon, step-by-step instructions in a little booklet, and a link to a video sewing guide. You supply stuffing, thread and sewing gear. Billy can be sewn by hand or by machine. I think it would be okay for a beginner.

Included is a complimentary Mini Billy panel. It’s the same layout, printed at a smaller %. With the loop of ribbon on his head, he can be attached to one’s Gucci or Hermès handbag.

To go with the zero waste cutting layout, we tried hard to make the whole kit zero waste/sustainable/responsible. It was difficult! In the interests of transparency, here are some of the successes and fails:

1. The panel is printed here in Australia on organic cotton, using an Oeko-Tex approved water-based pigment ink. The fabric is woven in Pakistan (Australia does grow and weave cotton, but lacks large-scale spinning mills).

2. The zero waste arrangement has a narrow border of waste. This is a safeguard against fraying when pre-washing the panel. However, the trimmed-off border can be included when the toy is stuffed (creating a mini time capsule for our names and websites).

3. The ribbon (orange, 6mm wide) is, alas, synthetic. I searched and searched for a natural alternative, and will keep on looking. Cotton and silk ribbons are available but I failed to find the right combo of width, thickness, colour and durability. In the future, I can see that it would be better to look for suitable materials and then design with what’s available.

4. Minimal packaging. The kit is tied with the ribbon used for the toy. For posting, Australia Post’s paper padded mailers are used.

Billy will be part of some upcoming exhibitions. If you’re in South Australia’s Clare Valley area, take the opportunity to visit the Clare Valley Wine, Food & Tourism Centre where these will be held.

Creators and Makers opens tomorrow, 3rd September and goes until 30th September. It’s a group exhibition combining all of the artists who are promotional members and sell their products at the centre.

A Patterned Setting is a solo exhibition by Meg and will run for the month of October. A Patterned Setting “brings together vibrant still life works and imaginative scenes where patterns become both backdrop and storyteller. Teapots, table settings and cherished objects sit within patterned tables, tablecloths and disproportionate spaces, creating playful shifts in scale and perspective”.

Here’s Billy painting his own picture for the exhibition:

Billy kits are available at the exhibitions.

If you’re ordering one from me I can send Australia-wide and international (apart from the US, sorry. Etsy and Australia Post have suspended sales until the tariff situation is sorted out).

Cheers!