pattern & project // stand up kitty plush

I started this year with the hope of making old things new. Picking up long-forgotten projects and giving them new life or using old things in new ways has been the plan. The other thing I wanted to try was to take a vintage pattern or tutorial and make it in a new way. That's what today's project is.

Months ago, I saw these kitty pillows in a craft magazine from the 80s.



I sketched out an idea for how I might make them cuter, and the sketch has just sat there waiting. Until I went to Disney World and saw a mural that got me thinking about a pattern that might work for my kitty pillow. Long story short, even this old idea that was getting new life, now became an even newer idea than I planned.

I love that.

Anyway, the original idea had these cats drawn on the fabric with a laundry marker so that you don't have to embroider. Whatever. We're stitchy people! We stitch! (That said, feel free to draw or paint your pattern on the fabric if you want.) And if you aren't up for a stand-up kitty, the embroidery pattern will work for any sort of embroidery.

You will need:

Fabric to embroider and for the base
Fabric for the back
Fabric for the weighted insert
Embroidery floss
Rice
Stuffing
Basic sewing and embroidery supplies

Kitty Stand Up Plush Pattern PDF



First, embroider the kitty design onto the fabric for the front. I stitched the main outline and the face outlines with six strands of floss. For the face details I used two strands.



Use the kitty pattern template to cut around the embroidery, centering it within the template shape. Flip the pattern piece over and cut the back piece from your other fabric.



Pin the two pieces right sides together. On the longest side, sew about an inch from the bottom edge and leave a gap of 2-1/2" (where you see the pin above). Now, sew around the rest of the kitty until you get to the other side. Stop at the bottom edge. Leave the entire bottom open.



Cut two pieces of fabric with the oval template. These can be any fabric that is the same or lighter than your main fabrics (you don't want them to show through!).

Sew around the oval and leave an opening. Fill the shape with rice and sew the opening closed. There's no need to turn this, as it will be tucked away inside the base for weight.



Cut an oval piece for the base and pin it into the bottom opening. Sew around the entire oval. This is easier if you sew it by hand, but it works on a sewing machine too.



Clip the curves, then turn the kitty right side out through the gap in the side. Tuck the rice-filled weight through the gap and situate it at the base of the kitty.



Fill the entire shape with stuffing, starting at the ears. Use small amounts to prevent lumpiness.



Stitch the gap closed with ladder stitch and hide the knots.



The weighted bottom will keep your kitty standing up, which is different than the original project that inspired this. Of course, you could skip the oval insert in the bottom and just make this a pillow.

But I like the idea of this sitting and watching. Much like my own kitty likes to do!




And this was a perfect place to use my Cotton + Steel polka dot kitties. Right? The front is a cat filled with cat faces, and so is the back!



As I mentioned, Darcy Cat likes to sit just like this stand-up plush. Like, a lot. But do you think she would do that for a photo? No, of course not. I got one picture before she bolted out of here.

That's okay. My embroidered kitty stuck around!

Happy Stitching!

project // maz kanata star wars plush

May the 4th be with you! I love Star Wars. I mean, I'm not quite the crazy fan my brother is (he knows so many details about so many things related to all of the storylines and so on), but I just love watching these movies and taking in these characters.

Since my brother is such a fan, I try to make him something Star Wars related each year for his birthday. After The Force Awakens came out, I knew that this year needed to be a new character and Maz Kanata won out. She's just so much fun!



Plus, a while back I made Draw Pilgrim's Chewbacca plush and thought that the two would be a fun pair. You know...I like that wookiee!

Oh, and if you'd like to take a look at the other Star Wars posts I've done through the years, you can scroll through them all here.




The Maz plush is quite small. She nearly fits in the palm of my hand! There's no need to make yours this small; you can enlarge the pieces. The size of mine was guided by the Chewie doll, because I wanted them to look similar to the height proportion in the film.

Going back to the fact that I made this as a gift for my brother, my step-by-step photos for this are lacking. This is what happens when you are struggling to get something made in time for gifting and without the recipient seeing. Also since I made some tweaks to the pattern along the way, there's a chance that pieces may a little off.

Thankfully, the assembly is fairly simple, so I hope you'll forgive the minimal photos and any errors.

Now, here's what you need:

Felt - light & dark gray
Fabric - choose colors based on Maz (there's a good pic here)
Clear vinyl
12mm safety eyes
Embroidery floss - dark gray
Stuffing
Basic sewing tools

Maz Kanata Template PDF



The pattern pieces have cutting instructions on them, so look at those and look at the photos in this post for a cutting guide. When pieces say to cut something reversed, flip the pattern piece over for cutting.

Okay, let's start sewing!

Sew the hands to the arms and the feet to the legs. There should be two arms facing one way and two facing the other way. The same for the legs. Press the seam allowance to one side (use your judgement based on your fabric).



Pin and sew arm pieces with right sides together, and repeat with the other arm and legs. Turn them right side out and fill with stuffing. Set them aside.



Place the felt "hood" on the fabric head and sew around the inside of the hood. You can do this by hand or machine. It's not necessary to sew the outside edge, as it will be sewn into the main seam.



Now it's time for the face.

Cut out the goggle rings from felt, then cut out the vinyl pieces as a circle, not a ring. You may need to trim it down just a tiny bit, but start with it the same size as the outside of the ring.

Place the rings on the head to help with placement, then mark where you will install the safety eyes and go ahead and attach the eyes. (You can make the eyes from felt, but I love the dimension the safety eyes create.)

Embroider the nose and mouth in the middle of where the goggles will go.

Place a vinyl circle over an eye and a goggle ring over that. Stitch around the outside of the ring with a whip stitch. If you can, catch some vinyl with these stitches to secure it. But if you only catch the felt and fabric, the vinyl should still hold in place. Repeat with the other eye.

Place the "ear" pieces on the sides and sew around the curve. Embroider two lines connecting the ear pieces to the goggles. Sew the ear pieces to the back head piece, and take care that they are all positioned the same so they match up when the front and back go together.



Sew the shirt to the belt and the belt to the pants. Sew a front vest piece to each side of the shirt, and sew the buckle to the middle of the belt.

Maz wears some awesome jewelry and has some great accessories hanging from her belt too. I wanted to add some of these with embroidery or even metal charms, but ran out of time. Consider adding these!

Sew the head to the body.

Repeat this for the back of Maz. Instead of two vest pieces, you'll have just the one and no buckle. But the rest is pretty much the same process.



Place the arms and legs on the back as shown. You might want to baste these in place.

Pin and sew the front and back with right sides together and leave an opening for turning. Be sure to backstitch when you start and stop. I left the opening in the top of the head, and that worked well.



Turn it right side out and fill her with stuffing. Sew up the opening with ladder stitch.

And then give Maz a hug, because she's all finished!




If you've done this right, the sides will match like the ear pieces here.

If your fabric doesn't cooperate, they might not match so well, like the belt here. I tell ya, my sewing machine decided it wasn't a fan of that linen, and it wasn't liking the Liberty from Maz's shirt either!



Speaking of her shirt, I think we can all agree that Maz would choose to wear Liberty if she lived in our galaxy, right? I know she wears a sweater, but since I wasn't up for knitting a tiny garment, this is the next best thing.



With any of these elements, go for as much accuracy as you want. I knew that I could have found fabrics that were a closer match, but I had all of these on hand, and they were close enough.

I think finding a fabric that is a good skin color is one of the most important elements, because that and her facial features are what really make her Maz.





Ahh...a match made in Heaven! If you want to ruffle the Star Wars fan in your life, be sure to share theory with them: Rey is the love child of Maz and Chewie. She's just had a bit of laser hair removal.

Have a wonderful Star Wars Day, and May the 4th be with you!

blog hop project // tiny toffee designs pieced hexie magnet

Have you ever felt afraid to follow your heart? Probably. I was a little afraid to make this hexie magnet. Why? Because I've never tried foundation paper piecing (FPP) before, and that's how this little heart comes together.

But friends can convince you to be brave, follow your heart, and try a new technique. Susi of Tiny Toffee Designs makes these adorable FPP patterns and today I get to be part of her blog hop!



Just to be clear, Susi invited me to participate...before I had ever tried this sewing technique. Clearly she had faith in me! I was a little unsure, but only because her patterns are so TINY! This is a 1-inch hexagon.

The heart design is part of her newest pattern set, Dream Big. Others in the set are much more detailed, and I hope to try the rest soon. Especially because folks have been making incredible things with the patterns during this blog hop. You can see a list of the posts here.



Since this was my first time with FPP, I needed to start from scratch, and thankfully, Susi has a very helpful tutorial on her blog. I wanted to practice a bit, so I printed out the pattern at 150% for my first go. And I was so happy with how it was coming together, even though I couldn't really see the heart shape.

Suddenly I saw what I had done.

Um, yeah. Using the right color pieces makes a difference! Still, I knew at this point that I understood the process and rather than pulling this apart, I moved to the smaller version. (I'll be fixing this and using it for something eventually...)



Paying attention to the color pieces this time, I made a heart hexie! Actually, this is just the piece that will become the hexagon. It gets basted just like any English paper pieced hexie.

And now, I'll show you the super easy way to make these into magnets!



You will need:

1 pieced hexagon
1 felt hexagon
Strong magnet
Craft/fabric glue



Start with your basted hexagon, and leave the paper inside. It will give your magnet some extra support.



The felt hexagon should be the same size as the pieced hexagon. Glue the magnet to the felt.

Be sure your glue will work on metal. The glue shown above isn't ideal, but it does work.



Run a line of glue around the edge of the hexagon.

On mine, I'm placing the magnet on the inside, so the glue is on the same side as the magnet. This only works if you have a super strong magnet, so be sure to test it first. Otherwise, place the glue on the opposite side from the magnet.



Press the two hexagons together and hold it for a minute or so, giving the glue a chance to set. You can also clip them with Wonder Clips.



The back is smooth and won't scratch any surfaces, but it still sticks. And if the magnet were to pull away from the felt, it would still be inside and will hold things.



Refrigerator are a common place for magnets to hang out, and so are magnetic memo boards. But I'm liking the look of this on my little galvanized bucket! It's a fun way to add some changeable decoration to a utility item.




Given the near-instant success I had with this pattern, I think it's safe to say that I'll be doing more foundation paper piecing. In fact, I think I need a complete Dream Big magnet set! But then, there are more of Susi's FPP hexagons too, so I guess I'll just be a busy gal for a while.

Thank you Susi, for inviting me to blog hop with you!

project // easy bunny finger puppets

Need a quick Easter or springtime project? These bunny finger puppets come together in less than 30 minutes (plus drying time) and make a great little gift.

A pink rabbit has a very Easter Bunny look to it, but these little guys (or gals) don't just have to go in Easter baskets. When you have several bunny finger puppets they can play together and tell stories, which makes them fun for any time.

If you don't have need of finger puppets, you could make little bunny ornaments or even make a bunch and create a garland!



You will need:

Felt (wool-blend is good for this!)
Embroidery floss
Small white pompom
Craft/fabric glue -or- hot glue
Scissors

BUNNY FINGER PUPPET PATTERN PDF



Use the template to cut out a front and back piece from felt. You may find it easier to trace the patterns onto freezer paper, iron it onto the felt, and then cut out the pieces.



Embroider the face onto the front piece using three strands of floss. I used french knots for the eyes, satin stitch for the nose, a straight stitch and a scallop stitch for the mouth.

I usually hold the pattern in front of the felt and poke the needle through the paper for placement. Then I freehand from there, trying to match the pattern as closely as possible. But you can stitch through the paper for the whole face, then tear away the paper.



Run a line of glue along the back piece stopping just above the feet.



Press the front piece onto the glue and if any oozes out the sides, wipe it away. Let the glue dry for at least an hour before you slide a finger in there. If you use hot glue, it will be ready to use in a few minutes.



Glue the pompom on the back of the bunny.



When the glue is dry, your bunny is ready to play!



And maybe your bunny will want a friend? Yep, pretty sure you need a whole herd of bunnies. And they look so fun in pastel colors along with some natural tones.



I left the arms facing out like on the pattern, but you could glue the arms folded to the front like this. It would make some of them look a little different, as though they're rubbing their tummy or waving hello!



And how about those little pompom tails! I love their faces, but part of me just wants to have them hop away so I get to see their fluffy bunny butts. Please don't judge me.

Now, what color bunnies will you be making?