I am very excited to share this do it yourself tutorial of the memorable character Tock from the cherished children’s book “The Phantom Tollbooth” by Norton Juster.

I actually had no knowledge of this book or the 1970 movie version of it. It was something that never filtered into my childhood experiences. Fast forward to today – my kid absolutely loves this story. While he hasn’t read the book yet, he adores the movie and characters throughout.

The story follows a boy named Milo who, due to his boredom, ends up entering into an animated world called the Kingdom of Wisdom. The Old King died and the kingdom has been split into two lands; Dictionopolis and Digitopolis. Milo must now save the Princesses of Rhyme and Reason to bring the kingdom back to its original state of harmony.

Tock is the faithful watchdog he meets during his journey who accompanies him on his travels through the wonderful and wacky regions of the two lands.

This now brings me to why I came to making my own Tock doll. My niece’s 6th birthday was coming up and we really wanted to share this story and movie with her. It was decided that her gift would be a copy of the book, the movie and a plush doll of one of the characters. I immediately thought of the faithful watchdog Tock and assumed there must be official merchandise for this story. So began my internet surf of all things The Phantom Tollbooth.

To my surprise, I was unable to find anything remotely close to a “The Phantom Tollbooth” plush toy. They just don’t exist, and if they ever did, I was unable to find any trace of them now. I did, however, find another blogger who shared their own homemade plush doll version of the character Tock, but it didn’t offer a downloadable pattern or tutorial of the project to make your own.

Fear not though, Machinelovers! I’ve done the work for you (sort of). Here is my take on The Phantom Tollbooth’s loveable character Tock, the watchdog. To save time, I did buy a pre-made dog doll, but this opens this DIY up to people of all skill levels. I simply made Tock’s pocket watch out of felt and sewed/glued it to the doll’s chest. Keep reading for the step by step guide on how to make your very own Tock!

Here’s What You’ll Need:

• (1) Dog plush doll
• (1) 4×4 inch white felt square
• (1) 4×4 inch black felt square
• (1) 4×4 inch gold felt square
• White thread
• Gold thread
• Black thread
• White tracing pencil
• Straight needle
• Hooked needle
• Scissors
• Shears
• Hot glue gun
• Tracing cup (or something to make your circles unless you’d prefer to freehand)

Step 1:

Use the tracing cup (or freehand) and white tracing pencil to draw the body of the gold pocket watch and white face of the clock onto the white and gold felt squares. Don’t forget to include and draw in the watch clicker at the top of the gold circle (see step 2 for example of clicker at the top).

Step 2

Use the scissors to cut out the pocket watch body and clock face.

Step 3

Use the white tracing pencil to draw the numbers, hands and ticks of the clock face onto the black felt square.

Step 4

Cut out the numbers, hands and ticks of the clock from the black felt square. (I originally tried doing this with regular scissors, but found the size of numbers and pieces needed to make this work were too small to be cut with a regular pair. I ended up switching to my sewing shears for the small detailed pieces and they turned out decent. Now that you have all of the pieces necessary to make Tock’s clock, you can begin stitching/glueing them together.)

Step 5

Use the straight needle and white thread to hand stitch the white clock face to the golden pocket watch body. Put a dab of hot glue behind the white felt piece before placing it down and hand stitching it, for extra durability. (I totally biffed this step and forgot to hand stitch the clock face. I ended up just hot gluing it to the gold felt and by the time I realized I missed this step, the watch was already half stitched to the dog. So, I don’t have a photo of this step, but don’t forget to do it, as the stitch work adds to the overall quality of the finished look.)

Step 6

Use a hot glue gun to glue down the black felt numbers, hands and ticks onto the clock face. (I did not attempt to hand stitch these, as I had limited time for this project, but you can absolutely hand stitch these pieces on instead of gluing.)

Step 7

Use the black thread and straight needle to add detail line work to the clicker on top of the pocket watch.

Step 8

Use the hooked needle and gold thread to hand stitch the completed pocket watch onto the chest of the dog doll. Half way through, add a dab of hot glue in between the back of the felt watch and dog’s chest, for extra durability. Press down. Continue hand stitching until the pocket watch is completely sewn to the dog’s chest. (I did not have a hooked needle handy, but I highly suggest using one for this step, as it will make it easier to stitch the clock onto the dog and make your stitches look cleaner. I was, however, able to successfully stich it on with a straight needle, but it was difficult and made my stitches look very messy. Thankfully, I was able to cover my shotty stitch work with the dog’s fur, mostly).

There you have it! Your very own Tock, the watchdog doll from “The Phantom Tollbooth”.

I truly hope you enjoyed this tutorial. I had so much fun putting this together and I thoroughly enjoyed this DIY project as this is a really fun story and character. I do hope you try this guide for yourself. If you’d like to use the same materials I did for this project, such as the dog doll, felt, needles and threads etc, including the book and DVD, follow the affiliate links below for the items. I do get a kick back (commission) if you purchase your materials via these links, so thank you so much for supporting this blog if you do!

I plan to bring you more DIY projects and tutorials this year. Not sure exactly when, but do stay tuned here for more sewing and all things crafty.

Links for materials needed:

• Golden retriever dog doll
• 4×4 inch multi-color felt pack (this pack comes with four black squares, three white squares, one gold square, one straight needle and enough black, white and gold thread needed for this project)
• White tracing pencil
• Shears
• Hot glue gun
• Hooked needle
• The Phantom Tollbooth paperback book
• The Phantom Tollbooth remastered DVD

Happy crafting!! ❤

-Athena