FREE PATTERN: DIY Toy Story Aliens Fish Extender for a Disney Cruise

A good friend of mine will be sailing on her first Disney Cruise and she’ll be participating in the FE gift exchange too. She asked me to make her a Fish Extender. So when I was brainstorming designs for her FE, I remembered that she loves the aliens from Toy Story, aka. the Little Green Men, or “LGM” as she calls them. And that’s how I was inspired to make an LGM fish extender.

First I designed a 2D mockup of the fish extender to figure out the proportions. This is what I came up with.

I used the same pattern that I used for my DCL Ship-inspired Fish Extender but I modified it to make the pockets shorter to keep the proportions of the LGM uniform. Below is the modified pattern that I created & used.

• Pieces A & B form the back of the pocket. Make 2 of each.
• Pieces C & G are the pocket lid and bottom respectively. Make 2 of each.
• Pieces D, E, & F when stitched together are the front of the pocket. Make 2 of each.

I used felt, 16-inch zippers, paracord, and a chopstick (the hanging rod) that I already had in my crafting supplies. I stitched everything together using a 0.5” seam allowance.

ASSEMBLY:

1. Cut facial features out of felt. Appliqué the felt facial features to both A pieces. Make sure to keep clear of the 0.5” seam allowance. 
2. Mark the center of F. Mark the center of the arch of G. Pin F to the curved edge of G, right sides together, making sure that the centers are aligned. Sew together.
3. Mark the center of D and zipper. Align centers and sew right sides together.
4. Mark the center of the arch of C. Pin zipper from Step 2 to the curved edge of C, right sides together, making sure that the centers are aligned. Sew together.
5. Pin G to B right sides together, with straight edge of G aligned to bottom of B.  Sew together.
6. Place wrong side of C facing right side of B, with straight edge of C aligned with top edge of B. Align bottom of A to straight edge of C with right side facing. Sew all 3 layers together.
7. Repeat Steps 2-4 with the second pieces. 
8. Place right side of the 2nd piece of G facing right side of A, with straight edge of G aligned with top edge of A. Align bottom of 2nd piece of B to straight edge of G with right side of B facing wrong side of G. Sew all 3 layers together.
9. Place wrong side of 2nd piece of C facing right side of B, with straight edge of C aligned with top edge of B. Align bottom of A to straight edge of C with right side facing. Sew all 3 layers together.
10. Cut out felt planet badge and appliqué to both E pieces.
11. With wrong sides facing, sew bottom of D to top of E.  Repeat with second piece of E to the second piece of D.
12. With wrong sides facing, sew top of F to bottom of E.  Repeat with second piece of E to the second piece of F.
13. Fold the right edge of the pocket front as if to make a hem, and sew that folded hem to the right edge of B. Repeat on left edge of pocket.
14. Repeat Step 13 for the 2nd pocket.
15. Sew a 2 inch strip of fabric to the back top edge of the hanger. This will be the channel for the hanging rod.  Cut two 0.5” squares from that rod channel about 1 inch from the side edges of the fish extender hanger.
16. Insert wooden rod or chopstick into the hanging rod channel. Feed paracord thru one of the 0.5” squares and tie it around the wooden rod.  Feed the other end of the paracord thru the 0.5” squares and tie it around the wooden rod.
17. Sew the right and left edges of the channel shut to prevent the rod from slipping out.

The completed pockets are a semi-circle basket so that they can hold more stuff. They also have a zipped lid for added security. 

The LGM MagicBand+ fits with lots of room to spare.

The planet patches can also be customized with interchangeable name buttons (not shown) for each person.  And then when my friend isn’t on a cruise, she can remove the buttons and use this in her home as a hanging organizer.

Disney Cruise Inspired Cricut Beverage Stencils: DIY Fish Extender Gift for Adults

I’ve been searching the Internet, Pinterest, and Facebook trying to find inspiration for a DIY adult fish extender gift for a Disney cruise. And then I stumbled upon two photos. The first photo reminded me that Cove Cafe onboard the Disney Cruise ships places fun images on your beverages. The other photo showed me a thin plastic beverage stencil.

It’s brilliant! A Cricut could be used to cut a 4-inch diameter stencil from a plastic sheet, like a thin cutting board or placemat from the dollar store. 

Then I would have several gifting options:

1. Gift a package of 3-4 different character stencils in the same package (e.g. Mickey, Castle, Winnie the Pooh, DCL logo, etc)

2. Gift one stencil with an empty shaker for the powdered condiment

3. Gift one stencil with a mug.

Since the stencil can be used to decorate more than just coffee, I came up with this instruction sheet that names ALL of the Disney Cruise Line ships, including the names of 2 out of the 3 ships that haven’t yet been launched (as of the time of this blog post). {UPDATE: Disney Cruise line revealed on 3/20/2024 that the name of their 3rd triton class ship is the Disney Destiny which will set sail in 2025, so I’ve edited the text below to include its name.}

Culinary ADVENTURE is out there! It’s your DESTINY to bring home the WONDER of Disney Cruise Line's Cove Cafe and add MAGIC to any beverage/food item with this stencil. Use this stencil to decorate smoothies, milkshakes, coffee, hot cocoa, sugar cookies, cupcakes, pancakes, omelettes, or whatever you can DREAM up! Just hover the stencil above the item & sprinkle whatever powdered spice you WISH: sugar, cocoa, cinnamon, paprika, etc. Voila! It's a pixie-dusted FANTASY that any home cook would TREASURE. Hand wash only.

Perhaps it would be fun to package it with an instruction sheet that looks like the Cove Cafe menu.

I haven’t decided yet for sure if I’m going to give this as a FE gift or not. But I’m definitely saving this idea for the future.