Zombie Mouse!

Invite your cat to battle zombies, zombie mice that is. Cats love felt, the texture allows them to sink their teeth and claws into the fibers, which they find immensely satisfying.  Enjoy the sight of watching your cat go head to head with an army of mice back from the dead and hungry for brains.

You will Need:

Green felt, I used Honeydew, Cilantro and Granny Smith*

Scraps of red felt I used Lipstick *

Scraps of white felt

Stuffing

Cat Nip – Optional

Embroidery thread in white, red, beige and black, optional dark green for whiskers

Zombie mouse pattern at the end of post

*matching thread

 

Cut

Cut one body shape on the fold, two paws, two ears, a base and a foot base from green felt

Cut 2 eyes from white felt

Cut tail wound, mouth and any various wounds from red felt

Fold paws over at the wrists and secure with overcast stitches as shown. Set aside.

Pinch ears together at base and secure with a few stitches. Set aside.

Place eyes down first and secure with french knots in red embroidery thread. Keep the eyes near the center and away from the edges.

Place mouth into the center between the eyes and sew down with red thread, sew desired wounds into place.

Add ribs with a few stitches of white embroidery thread onto one side near the center.

Add stitches with black embroidery thread as desired. Simply stitch into a line and then go back over with spaced stitches.

Sew down paws at the base with a running stitch.

Sew tail wound into place with red thread. Sew along the center with white embroidery thread to simulate tail bones. Add any dark stitches with the same method you used above.

Bring edges of the tail together and overcast stitch along the raw edges in matching thread.

Fold accented mouse body in half placing tail near the base and overcast stitch, until you get to the tail. Stitch over the tail with a running stitch or two before returning the overcast stitch to the bottom.

Turn right side out and stuff. Add cat nip if you are using it in your cat toy.  Sew a nose over the top with beige embroidery thread.

 

Sew zombie mouse ears into place with a few stitches.

 

Sew base to foot base. Leaving the edges free to make sewing base to the body a bit easier. Overcast stitch base into place.

 

Now your cat has a worthy foe thanks to your amazing DIY cat toy making skills.

Happy Crafting!

~Andie

Check out some of our other awesome free felt crafts

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Feeling Star Beanbags

You are the sky- everything else is just the weather.” – Pema Chodron 

Identifying feelings is tough for kids (and some adults) understanding feelings are temporary can be even tougher. These shooting star bean bags are designed to help with both. The weighted  bean bags are comforting and the ribbons are prefect for fiddling with. When your child is ready they can simply let go of the feeling and move on.

Great for preschools and toddlers. You can make these in any feeling or color scheme you can dream up. The star bean bags come together quickly and are prefect for developing a strong emotional IQ not to mention they are just plain cute!

You will need: 

Felt in star colors 4″ x 8″ per star. I used Crushed Coral, Teal, Aqua, Grey, Banana Cream Pie, Honeydew and Lavender. *

Scraps for details in blue, yellow, pink and black

Embroidery thread in black and white.

Stuffing beads, beans, rice (whatever you  are planning to stuff with.

Various ribbons in various lengths. I used 4 styles per star varying in length from 6-8″.

Star bean bag template (at the end of post)

  * And matching thread.

Stitch faces to bean bags, if you are nervous about placement you can stitch over tracing paper and then carefully tear it away. add white spots in the eyes with white embroidery thread and a french knot.

After adding details stitch of star to the back. Leave side open to add filler and ribbon.

Fill star beanbag.

Stack ribbons with the smallest on the top.

Tuck the ribbons inside and stitch closed with a running stitch.  Repeat with the remaining stars.

Happy Crafting!

~Andie

Star template print at full size.

Felt Beach Ball Toys

 Super soft and indoor safe these DIY felt toys stitch together easily. The addition of a jingle ball makes this toy at least 9000x more charming.

You will need:

7.5″ x 7″ Felt in White*

2.5″ x 7″ scrap of 3 other colors, I used Aqua, Hot Pink, and Sunshine

Stuffing

Jingle bell noisemaker (Optional)

*matching thread

 

Cut 3 ball pieces from ball template (below) in white and one each of the remaining color. Cut 2 dot pieces for the center from color of your choice.  Lay a white piece and a color piece together and overcast stitch around one of the edges. You will be turning this inside out so keep the knot on top. Set aside and repeat with remaining pieces sewing white to color.

 

Lay the felt pieces together with outsides facing in and stitch the colored sides to white sides.  Leave the end pieces a little open on one side to turn it right side out. Turn right side out and stuff, add noisemaker to your toy if desired. Since this is a soft ball it will hold it’s shape better if it is well stuffed.

 

Sew center closed and cap stitch the beach ball accent to the center. Roll the ball in your hands to distribute the stuffing more evenly to get the ball shaped correctly.

Darker felt beach ball in White, Navy, Lipstick and Egg Yolk.

 

Happy Crafting~

Andie

Felt ball template print at full size.

D.I.Y Baby Kraken and Ship Toy

The Norse legend of the Kraken tells of enormous sea monsters attacking sea vessels of the coast of Norway and Greenland. The kraken once awoken from it’s sleep wraps it’s giant tentacles around anything it encounters, dragging entire ships and their crew to a watery grave in the deepest depths of the ocean before returning to it’s soulmn slumber.           But man their babies sure are cute!

Since no one has ever seen an actual Kraken I decided this version had one giant eye, a beak, a squid like head and an octopus like body.  These kraken babies are practicing fearsome ship attacks with their little shipwreck pull toy.

The finished felt kraken babies are 3″ tall and 3″ at the  base, their toy is 1.25″ long and 1.5″ from “wheel” base to mast. So these little guys come together pretty quickly.

You will need:

For Felt Kraken Baby

4″ x 9″ Felt scrap per kraken I used Skating Pond and Cactus *

3.5″ Felt square per kraken bottom, I used Ink and Cilantro

1″ black square felt for eye *

Tint scrap for beak I used Banana Cream Pie, and Beet

Kraken Template (at the end of this post)

A small amount of stuffing

White embroidery thread

Felt Glue

For Shipwreck Pull Toy

2″ x 4″ Scrap brown felt I used Doe *

Tiny amount of white felt for sails.

4 – 3/4″ buttons

Red embroidery thread

Felt Glue

* Matching Thread

Release the Kraken!

Sew down eye piece with black thread and accent with white embroidery thread body pieces as shown. Sew or glue kraken beak into place. If you use felt glue wait for it to dry around 30 minutes before continuing.

Sew along the kraken head as shown on the template using a tight running stitch. Make sure the body pieces don’t match up like mirrors you should have a higher leg on either side. Sew sides down to the legs, leave legs unsewn. Overcast titch the head edges together. Stuff felt kraken lightly. Cut sucker circles from scraps of felt that match your kraken and glue down as shown allow to dry 30 minutes before continuing.

Overcast stitch the kraken bottom to the stuffed body piece, add more stuffing as you go to fluff up the neck area so the feltie stands up straight. Twist the arms a few times and they will curl up a little.

Tiny Shipwreck Pull Toy

Freehand some sail shapes as shown above. For reference the larger one is 3/4″ inch at its longest point and the smaller is 1/4″ at it’s longest point, so these are very small. The goal is to look tattered so there’s really no way to mess up your felt sails.

Fold the mast piece over and stitch sails down to one side with a running stitch, stop on the area shown on the template. Knot.

Open up bottom of mast and sew the flaps to the base of the ship. I sewed mine off center so it would lay a little more haphazardly. Set aside.

Sew felt ship sides together along the front using an overcast stitch.

Sew back to short side in back with the wider part of the template facing upward. And repeat on opposite sides (pictures above are backwards, sorry.)

Curl the flap that that is over the top of the boat backward and secure with a few stitches.

Place bottom with mast into the ships hull and stitch together with an overcast stitch.

Now that your felt boat is assembled cut some chunks out of it to make it look a little more distressed.

Glue button wheels in place with felt glue or hot glue.

Knot embroidery thread and sew through the ship, knot and cut to make pull string.

Print kraken template at full size

Get to kraken!

~Andie

 

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