My little niece recently turned two and I made her some cats. Being the neglectful, horrible aunt I am, though, I still have to get them sent to her. I just hope she hasn't become Internet savvy and learned to read in the month since I've seen her.She loves kitties. Loves them. Maybe it's because her family doesn't have a cat, but she adores her grandparents' cat, Schubert, and when she found out her aunt and uncle Snicklefritz have two kitties, she now generally follows our names with "cats" when she speaks of us. So, I decided to make her the Snicklefritz cats, Bosco and Gracie, for her present. I somewhat recently picked up Amy Butler's new book, Little Stiches for Little Ones, which is a book geared to sewing for babies. No, I'm not breaking news on the blog here, but I do have one niece already, a second niece/nephew (they don't know yet) on the way (in May), and another niece coming (in June). I thought her book would be a good investment. The pattern I used for the cats is the "Cuddle Kitty Toy" project. Amy Butler's books generally include all patterns, too--on pattern pattern, so one doesn't have to worry about enlarging them, etc.
I used flannel for both cats because it's nice and soft. When one looks at flannel in the store, it doesn't seem too soft, but after it's washed (I usually wash the fabric before I sew with it), it's awesome. The flannel is from Hancock. Gracie is the black cat and Bosco is the gray cat. The Gracie toy pictured is actually the second one I made. I had trouble with the first Gracie mouth pulling out of the stitching when I stuffed her. I fixed the problem by straight stitching (by hand) the mouth on first and then zig-zag stitching around it. The pattern only says to zig-zag stitch. Otherwise the instructions were spot on and easy to follow. This is the second Amy Butler project I've sewn (the napkins and placemats were from the In Stitches book). Her directions are usually great and she tends to have good diagrams.
Happy Belated Second Birthday to my niece! The cats will soon be on the way!
Wiedersehen!
Comments
The real question is, what does C-Money think of the strap (see the previous post.)
It was good of you to make little stuffed reminders of Bosco and Gracie for yourselves.
And I would have sewn pink socks for Mr. B, but I thought Aunt Liz could perhaps crochet some.