Patch Notes

So.  The patches I mentioned in the previous post.  I am very much still working on making them.

I started with three (one of which I had made years before) and have made 17 more.  The photographing thereof is inconsistent (and not great quality), because it didn't occur to me that documenting the progress would be worthwhile, if only to show that I have been sewing.

 The sitting black cat was purchased in the early 2000s, while the other two here were made for this project.

The gray sleeping cat uses the same "parts of an old sweatshirt, arriving here in the friend's relative's destash" as the quick gray beret and the patches on the Halloween varsity-style jacket.  The white cat face was an exercise in using the sewing machine satin stitch to mimic machine embroidery. And the base fabric is from the twill flannel used in a recent skirt, because the scraps of that cloth were convenient.

There is so very much satin stitching in the making of these patches...and, because it's me, it's super narrow satin stitches that fit in the opening of my straight stitch foot.

All of my stitching is followed up by liberal application of Fray Check, which didn't occur to me until I made the patch from sequin fabric, because I wanted to make absolutely sure the sequin stitching wasn't going anywhere, followed by thinking...that would probably be good for all this stitching huh...

Retro Kitten is from a flannelette print I thrifted years ago, and Pusheen is the only other (so far) purchased patch in this project.

The vinyl black cat face is the appliqué I made years ago--I made it randomly (something something proving you just need to use a leather needle and then sewing vinyl is easy) and it has already been used on (and removed from) a different patch-covered jacket project (which I apparently never photographed in any way.)

The antique-style kitten is from a craft panel, with a coordinating back to be sewn into a pillow.  The red bow is from a different craft panel, and is what reminded me that I have a lot of Wonder Under that I should be using more in this patch making process.

Cranky Cat later had the black stitching over the eyes removed, rendering it a little less cranky looking.  I used Wonder Under for every layer of that.  The paw (featuring more of the gray sweatshirt fleece) was just pinned and stitched.

This is definitely a project of quantity over quality.

 Since I had the recognizable character of Pusheen, I decided to make some other recognizable characters.  And then I made Michel Long/(Long) Walter from Ugly Neko Café (and also from more of that fleece!)  I acknowledge that this character is probably not recognizable, but I do like the comic he's from. Original French version  and a few translated to English.

At this point I started wondering about making something that wasn't actually a cat and so we have this.

Once again, so much Wonder Under.  And maybe I should mention that I hand-drew just about everything in this overall patch making project--the MEOW was all done with see-through rulers, but everything else was pretty much freehand with rough refinements. I did trace some later letters and a cat shape off of my monitor (but the cat shape was based on a photo I had taken, so still kinda original.)

Decided it would be nice (and quick) to have a cluster of Retro Kittens; made two more, realized that my technique had improved visibly since making the first, so re-made that one.

Had this idea while sitting outside with the neighbor's (white) cat on my lap

Yes, it's more of that gray sweatshirt fleece, plus the first appearance of reverse appliqué in this project. The BRIGHT PINK knit is left over from the Over The Hill sweatshirt.  In retrospect, I should have stitched the number contours first, then cut away the pink under the gray, but instead I sewed the edge contours first, so there are spots of exposed PINK around there.  As usual, it's fine, no-one going to be looking that close.

Back to "I should have more recognizable characters on this," I used some Hello Kitty print (gift from a different friend) to make a HK patch.  I...managed to forget about Wonder Under while making this one.

I made these yesterday, and they do all involve Wonder Under--even the low-pile plush and metallic lamé blep cat.  I just...ironed very carefully.

This all goes together to create a decent amount of coverage on the front, back, and sides, but there's definitely room for more...plus the sleeves...

So, this is now officially an Unwise Sewing Adventure