Craft Cottage - Friendly Felines

Skill Level:

Intermediate

Crafting Time:

1-3 hours

Technique(s):

Hand Sewing

Material(s):

Felt

Category:

Ornaments

Tag(s):

Cute Critters

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Friendly Felines

Calling all cat lovers! This little feline is so cute; he is house trained, loves people (and elves), and isn’t the least bit shy. Make one for yourself or give it to a loved one for a special handmade gift.

Supplies & Tools:

Printable template (download here)
Felt, assorted colors
Buttons
Needle
Embroidery floss, assorted colors
Scissors
Marker
Mini hot glue gun & glue sticks
Jewelry cord/thread, any color (for whiskers)
Poly-Fil®

Directions:

Print the template and cut out the pieces.
Choose the colors of felt that you want to use for the body, belly, and nose.
Place template pieces onto felt, trace with marker, and then cut out.
Place the buttons, nose, and belly onto one body piece. When you are happy with the placement of the cat’s features, you can begin sewing by following the steps below.
Set the buttons and nose aside. Sew the belly onto one of the cat pieces with embroidery floss. We use DMC 6-strand cotton floss. Cut a length of floss (about 14") and separate the floss in half, using 3 strands of floss to sew the pieces together.
Cut 3 strands of jewelry cord, each one measuring 5".
Note: If your whisker cord is polyester, then seal the edges with a flame so that they don’t unravel.
Stack the cords together and tie a knot in the center.
Using a needle and thread, sew the knot of the whiskers to the cat’s face in the place where the nose will be.
Sew the nose onto the face. We didn’t want to have the dotted thread outline (like the belly) so we sewed several stitches in the middle of the nose. We used the full 6-strand piece of floss to have better coverage. You’ll need about 20" of floss to sew the nose. (We are using a contrasting color thread so that it’s easier to see in the pictures, but, of course, you’d want to use floss that matches the color of the nose.)
Sew the buttons for eyes. (We are using red floss so the stitches are more visible in the picture, but use whatever color you like.) Now here’s our trick—we wanted the eyes to look like as similar as possible to a cat’s eyes, so we sewed the eyes as follows.
1. First sew one horizontal stitch.
2. Then sew several vertical stitches. This makes the vertical lines more prominent, like cat eyes!
3. Repeat for other eye.
Lay the cat’s face aside.
Cut a piece of jewelry cord that is about 10" long. Fold in half and tie the ends in a knot.
Note: You can also use thin ribbon instead of cord.
Glue the knot down to the other piece of felt, about 1" from the edge.
Stack the two cat pieces together and begin sewing around the cat with embroidery floss.
Once you’ve sewn about 3/4 way around the cat, stuff with Poly-Fil. (You can also use scraps of felt or fabric.)
After it’s stuffed, finish sewing. Tie a knot and hide the thread. View this article for tips on hiding the thread.)
Now your friendly little kitty is all done!