Thursday 22 January 2015

Kitty the felt cat x


I have to confess a terrible sin, I am guilty of making purchases based on other bloggers recommendations.


Are you shocked or just as guilty as me?


Well this particular purchase was all the fault oops rather influence of one Abi who blogged before Christmas about a gift she had handmade for her friend. One look at that beautiful bunny had me intrigued so I went to the pattern designer Alicia Paulson's website  "Posie" and there I fell in love with Juniper the cat.
She is made from felt and requires a fabric quarter for her dress and some wool for her stole which I had already in my stash. You also need embroidery thread and stuffing which again I had in my stash.


So I followed Abi's expert advise and bought my felt from a lovely shop called The Eternal Maker. I chose barnyard red felt for her welly boots and silver grey felt for the body. I also found a beautiful patchwork fabric a bit reminiscent of Cath Kidston I thought called Faded Floral Patchwork for Lecien Japan.



The pattern is very easy to follow and you don't need to know a great deal of embroidery. In general you need to know only three stitches...........
whip stitch
buttonhole stitch and
satin stitch

The designer recommended a chalk erasable pen for drawing around the pattern but I could only find an erasable felt tip pen. Sadly despite following the manufacturer's guidelines, the pen is not 100% erasable however, the main areas which I couldn't get the pen out were covered in either her boots or dress so hopefully as long as no-one undresses her, the secret is safe.




I found it really therapeutic sitting and doing tiny back stitches to form the shape of her body and then gradually see her face appear as I stitched her eyes and nose and added in some cute whiskers. Unfortunately, there is a slight discrepancy between her eyes so she looks a little lopsided by about half a centimetre but it makes her original and a bit whimsical.

I ended up hand stitching her dress because I sat in the lounge, the warmest place in my cottage, and watched Miss Marple episodes as I stitched. I tied a piece of pale blue ricrac around her waist to add something different. She also has a little stole which I made in some rose pink thread to match the roses in her dress.




Instead of green wellies I made deep red ones because I referred the colour and again I felt they would coordinate with her dress.



She is now named Kitty because I think it suits her best and she is going to sit on my bed.



I also bought the bunny pattern too and I have plenty of felt left over to make her once I've completed some other projects I'm working on.

Have you been inspired to make something based on another blogger's handiwork?



5 comments:

  1. She's beautiful! Er, would now count? I'm very tempted..

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  2. She's sweet. And I'm taking the 5th on your inquiry.

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  3. What a lovely thing you have made! Except she feels more like a person. I do love the colours you have chosen, and her little knitted stole and red boots are perfect. I would not be able to produce anything like this in a month of Sundays ...

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  4. Gorgeous! I'm quite tempted too! :)

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Hello and thank you so much for stopping by. It is always a pleasure to read the comments I receive and to meet new friends. I try and reply to comments on friend's blogs as much as possible. I hope you have enjoyed reading my blog and look forward to seeing you here again soon. Love Jo xxx