Unexpected Cats

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!

Eggplant Man

I have made several Mado Monogatari/Puyo Puyo Carbuncle plush for the kiddo [link to the cutest] because I think the character design is so cute.  A lot of the characters in Mado Monogatari/Puyo Puyo are cute, albeit in a baffling way (Mado Monogatari is a satire), but most of their character designs are a bit complicated

...but not Nasu Grave, an eggplant who wears glasses.

So I threw together a quick little felt version

First, I cut the 'glasses' from foiled silver knit, and glued them on with white glue, edges touched up with Fabri-tac. I machine sewed around most of the body, catching the arms and legs in the stitching, notched the seams, turned right-side-out, stuffed with a pinch of Polyfil, realized I should make a simple stitch to represent the glasses bridge, then hand stitched the top closed.  I attached the leaves with a line of whip stitching through the center (is it still whip stitching if it's not on the edge?), then whip stitched the bottom of the stem over that line of stitching.

I may or may not make a larger, more-spherical version--I have an entirely suitable low pile purple plush fabric, but the kiddo doesn't think an eggplant should be fuzzy.  We'll see what happens, whenever it happens, if it happens.

Oh, Look: Another Carbuncle

 I had thought I was finished making Madou Monogatori / Puyo Puyo Carbuncle plushes, but then I saw this post and said...oooh.  That's a Very Good Carbuncle Shape.

I sketched it immediately, then had it it in the back of my mind for a while, and impulsively made it yesterday, using the last bits of fleece from a previous Carbuncle attempt.

And, yes, once again, there was no pattern involved.

He is, as the kids say, scrunkly.

Another Carbuncle

 So in November I made a simple little felt Puyo Puyo Carbuncle for the kiddo.  As I am not much of a plush maker, it turned out...oddly.

That, however, did not stop me from trying again, on a larger scale.

 

 I am still not much of a plush maker.

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.