Monday, June 30, 2008

kitty cat applique



I was feeling the need to appliqué something cute, so I came up with this kitty cat for a simple little tunic dress for my girls. The older one can wear it as a tunic, and it works nicely for a dress on the younger one. I love it when things pull double duty.
Here's the appliqué pattern for you. Just right click on the picture of the cat above and save it to your computer. You can download and print this out at whatever size you like. I did mine pretty big. Print it out once for the overall outline, then once again to cut out the nose, eyes and collar. Then one more time to cut out the irises, if you don't want to freehand those.

I applied Heat N Bond to the back of the overall cat outline fabric (follow their instructions). Then the rest of the features are in wool felt, with a button on the collar.

Lay the main cat body down on the fabric, and iron it down according to the Heat N Bond instructions. Use a satin stitch on your machine to sew it down all around. Then secure the collar, nose, and eyes on with dots of glue, and satin stitch around those too. I glued both parts of the eyes down at the same time, and just switched thread when I was stitching them down. I used a button for the collar tag, but you could also use a bead or an oversized sequin.

Thursday, June 26, 2008

Molly Monkey pattern tester?


Hey, everybody. This post brought to you by the magic of scheduling, because I'm not even at home on my computer. I am in the technology desert that is my mom's house until Saturday.

I have not forgotten my promise to publish the pattern for Molly Monkey. I've been working on it off and on, and it is mostly finished, but I am loathe to post it for fear of mistakes or problems with the instructions.

Thing is, I am also loathe to make another Molly Monkey doll myself just to test things, and I'm not sure I'd be the best tester anyway. It's like proofreading your own copy, you tend to look over mistakes because your brain knew what you intended to write.

I know it is a long shot, but is there anyone out there who would like to take a crack at making a Molly Monkey doll from my new pattern and letting me know what questions or problems you have? Leave me a comment or send me an email. thanks!