Felt Kitty Plushie DIY

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

No, your memory is not failing you, nor is it that funny taste that may have been in your drink.  Although, if that actually happened, you may want to look into it.  You may have seen this post before.  In an attempt to make everything easier to navigate for everyone, I am working on transferring all of the old beauty and craft posts from the recipe blog to their appropriate homes on the newer wings.  I'll be only one a day so as not to clog up your feeds, so please bear with all the boring re-caps!

<3

-WW

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

This is the longest tutorial I have ever done by far, but it was worth the adventure and the effort because the result is undeniably adorable.

I'd been seeing hand-made felt plushies all over the web and really wanted to try one, but my sewing skills are meager at best.  I decided to take a stab at it anyway, and I'm glad I did because she's pretty cute.  I didn't follow a pattern or anything, and its all by hand since I neither own, nor can operate a sewing machine, but here's how I made her.

First, I cut out her shapes.  I figured that big piece would be a good basic body shape, so I drew it out on the felt with a sharpie then cut it out of two layers so I had two of those.  Then, I cut out the eyes, ears, nose, tail pieces (not pictured since it didn't occur to my dumb ass until several minutes later that she'd need one) and the 4 little triangular arm pieces.  I drew out the arms, but the rest I just free-handed with the scissors...Free cut?...Free scissored?...Free snipped?

Anyway.

I picked the piece I wanted to be the front and stitched on her eyes and nose and embroidered any details I wanted.

Then, its time to sew up all her little extremities.  I cut out two teeny little pieces of foam, squished them between the arm pieces, and stitched all the way around.  I originally wanted to sew her inside out then flip her right-side out and stuff her, but that wouldn't work as the only stuffing I had was this sheet foam stuff.  I told you, I don't sew.

Once i had the arms done, I cut two little slits in her body where I wanted them to go, then gently pulled the skinny ends of the arms through the holes.

Once they were through, I pinched them together and stitched them on from the inside.  You can also see here, that I flipped the piece of felt so that the sharpie outlines go on the inside...Good thing to keep track of.

Now, for the tail.  I wanted the tail to be bendable, so I folded up a pipe cleaner to go in it.  I bent it to the basic shape, making the end that would attach to her bum thicker by folding the pipe more there, and twisted the ends of the pipe cleaner into itself so it would poke through the felt.

Then, I stitched one side of the tail together, went about half way down the other side, then put the pipe cleaner in.  Then, holding the pipe cleaner between the felt, I stitched it up the rest of the way around.

Now, to attach the tail, take the back piece of your  kitty and snip a little vertical slit where you want her tail to sit.

Stuff it through and stitch it on the way you did the arms.  You'll just have to go for it since this, sadly, is the best picture I came up with.  Fail.

Next, put the pieces together, cut a piece of foam that is only slightly smaller than your animal but in roughly the same shape, stack them together sandwich-style, and begin stitching all the way around.  Don't forget to add the ears in when you get to the place on the head where you want them.  Just add them to the sandwich, pin them in place if you want, and just keep sewing.

Done!

Now, Kitty from all angles!  I added some of my old earrings to her...

And an old skull charm.  Eventually I'll replace the embroidery thread collar with a ribbon one, but I don't have any ribbon.  I'm a horrible, broke crafter.

From the back...

And one more just for fun.  I completely on accident made her tail just long enough that it causes her to stand on her own, which is a real added bonus.

Let me know if you make one of your own, I'd love to see it!  I also made a 6-zombie mini-horde of felt zombie plushies for the Wookie, but I'll save those photos for the one of the next snapshot posts I decide to do...Give you something to look forward to and all.  :)

<3
The Wookie Wifey