So I saw a post on social media with a small plush cat, made with a vintage pattern, that turned out terrible. This is not a slight against the crafter, since this was the whole point of their post, with the blame being put on the pattern.
I followed the link to the pattern, and thought, "Oh! I think I see the problem! You used polyester fleece, while the pattern, being from the 40s or 50s and illustrated the way that it is, would have been intended for calico! It would probably look very different with a firm, stable fabric."
...then, after a few minutes, I decided to print the pattern and try it myself.
I can now definitely say: the pattern very much deserved that blame.
This is what it promised
and this is what it delivered
Yeah.
I do agree with many people, in the discussion of these results, that the original intent would have been to fill this with sawdust, which would behave very differently from modern polyester fiber fill. But. I feel like a pattern would need a lot more seams and darts to approach being as round as the illustration.
Still, I saw a few potential areas to tweak that could help the shape, so I tried them and got this
Which is better!
I made the changes on the fly, first folding out some of the height in the...neck? shoulder? area
Then extending the width around the head as I cut the fabric
...which I managed to do very asymmetrically, so I folded the pieces in half and evened them out.
Then I paired one under piece with one upper piece, folded them in half, and trimmed off some of the bottom, to make the front shorter than the back.
I assembled everything the same as the first cat.
I thought I would be spending today sewing the things I cut out yesterday, but, nope! Horribly drafted vintage pattern cats!
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