What’s New Pussycat?

KittiesIf you’ve been checking out my sewing projects over the past few years, you know that I design some of my own but sometimes–why reinvent the wheel?  There are several DIY blogs that have great patterns and tutorials.  Purl Bee, Sewmamasew and PositivelySplendid just to give you a start. 

But the one I turn to most has to be Sew4Home.  Sometimes I start out with their pattern and morph it into my own. That’s where I got the idea for all those wascally wabbits I made earlier this year. 

So many wabbits!
Wascally Wabbits

This week I wanted to make kitties for Pippety Piper since that’s her all time favorite animal and I turned to sew4home again for their kitty pattern.  I followed their tutorial but I wanted my kitties to be bigger. I downloaded their pattern and enlarged it through Photoshop.  Since it didn’t fit on one 8 1/2 x 11″ page, I cut it in half through Photoshop, printed, then taped the pattern together.

Pattern
Can you see the line where I taped?  Then I marked a 1/4″ seam for the back.

I also like to eliminate as much handsewing as possible so I cut the back of the kitty pattern in half and added a 1/4″ inseam so I could insert and machine stitch the tail.  I taped the ears on to the pattern so I wouldn’t have to use separate fabric plus I used faux fur instead of double-sided minky.

catpattern1

seam allowance
I put a 1/4″ seam allowance on the pattern.
pattern
After I cut out the front, I cut the pattern down the middle with a 1/4″ seam allowance for the back.
pieces
All the pieces cut out.

I always make the faces first. Because if the face is ugly, why bother finishing it? I used fabric glue to attach the features.  After the glue dried, I stitched around each eye and the nose and did some embroidery for the mouth and  added buttons.

face

 faceNext I sewed the tail together and attached it to the back.  About 1/2″ from the bottom.

tail

back
Leave an opening of about three inches on the back, above the tail, for turning the kitty right side out then filling it with stuffing.
Thomas
Thomas the Cat

I thought Thomas’s ears were a too small so I made the next kitty’s ears a little bigger and moved them down the sides a tad.  Plus, I changed up the face.

The face

kitties

 

What's new pussycat?
Here they are doing a little yoga on my mats. Yes, I use three mats!

A couple of hints for you.  Faux fur is slippery.  Use a lot of pins.

Faux fur

I used binder clips to hold the opening together for handstitching.  And always use the very best premium fiberfill for the stuffing.  It’s worth it.

binder clips

Piper
Piper named them Talking Tom and Angela. We have no idea where those names came from.

Piper

I plan to make some more kitties and change them up a little. I’ll give you an update! 

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