Mix-n-Match Rosie

Mix-n-Match Rosie is a fun creative play toy that includes many different clothing functions for kids to practice with. These features include buttons on the ears, a snap on the trunk, a buckle on the tail, zippers-- both separating and non-separating-- on the vest and body, and a tie for practice with shoelaces. These functions were included with children with fine motor disabilities in mind, so the pieces are big and allow the children to start out with easier functions and practice until they can do some of the harder tasks. The creative play aspect is added by many different Velcro attachments made from a bunch of different materials and textures. They cover a variety of different interests so Rosie can appeal to many different types of children. The zipper on the back doubles as a pocket to hold these attachments for easy cleanup and storage.

I was able to stick with this project for the second half of product development which included product testing and redesign. Being the team member with the most familiarity and experience with the project, I had the opportunity to take on a bit of a leadership role.

My team was able to work efficiently to test Rosie, making sure that it met all the ASTM standards for a stuffed toy for children 3-8 years old-- all while maintaining the fun, engaging, and educational functions of the toy. Luckily, Rosie passed these tests with flying colors leaving us with more time to focus on other redesigns we were considering.

One of the major redesigns we worked on was remaking the vest to include an inner lining. This fixed two issues, the elasticity of the felt-- which caused the vest to wear very quickly-- and the vest getting caught on the Velcro of Rosie's hand when taking the vest off and putting it back on. I got to express my sewing experience more this time, and I was in charge of making the vest from extra fabric we had from the original project.

Overall, we went into the testing process with confidence and were able to use our time efficiently to improve on our design. The final product turned out great, and both our clients and us are extremely happy with how it turned out.