Blue Cat

So after I made this jacket, the kiddo thought it was great fun to pat the fluffy sleeves.  I had a bit of the blue left over, so I asked if he'd like me to make something for him from it.

He said a jacket.

I said there wasn't enough for that.

Then he said a blanket.

I said there definitely wasn't enough for that, although maybe there was enough for a scarf?  He was not impressed with that idea.

Eventually I thought of making a plush of some kind and asked if he's like a blue kitty.  He did indeed like that idea.

I initially thought I'd use the old teddy bear pattern, copied ages ago from a 1980s craft book, that I've been known to make the ears pointy and add a tail, hey presto it's a kitty.  It's not very large, though, and I'd still have lots (relatively) of the cloth left.

Then I remembered the Nunodoll cat pattern that I'd enlarged to 150% a few years ago...  I had to get creative and shorten some bits and ignore the nap on other bits, but I made it work...more or less...

I improvised the "eyes" and nose, and, yes, that nose and the insides of the ears are made from the pink velour used for the same jacket.

This pattern looks a bit daunting--at least for me, who is most definitely not inclined to making plush animals--but it's well-drafted and goes together easily.  I had to fold a bit of length out of the neck/shoulders area (and corresponding part of the chest piece) and didn't make the fold transition as smooth as it could've been, so there's an awkward angle in the back that I didn't notice until I was in the stuffing stage, so I decided it didn't bother me enough to fix (even though it would have been very easy to fix...)

 

The ears are hand stitched--I've tried, in past iterations, sewing them into the head seams.  The result is a bit too dog-like, so it was worth it to do the hand stitching.  I also machine sew a bit of the head to the neck, just so I don't have to hand stitch all the way around, because I am me.

It's a bit large for that actual pet collar, but I did print it at 150%, so that's not surprising.

 Chip wants you to know he was in the sun first.