I know we do a lot of dog tutorials so I wanted to share a fun one for our cats. We made something similar around Halloween but it was a bat. You can easily change this around to fit any holiday.
There's something about catnip! My cats go crazy over it! According to Google, 2/3 of cats are affected by its aroma.
So, to get started here is what you will need:
-paper
-pen
-scissors
-pins
-fleece
-sewing machine
-thread
-dried catnip
First step is to cut out your pattern. I folded a scrap sheet of paper in half long ways and free handed a tree. My tree is about 4" wide at the bottom and 5" high. You can make your tree bigger or smaller depending on your style or your what your cat likes.
You need to pin the paper template to the felt and cut around it. Cut two trees out to make a front and back.
Once you are happy with the size and shape of your template, you can begin to cut your trees out of your felt.
You will now want to pin your two trees together and start to sew around the edges.
I started a the top of the tree and worked my way down to the base. Don't forget to backstitch to keep your stitches from unraveling.
Helpful tip: When turning your tree to sew at different angles, keep your needle down into the tree. Just life the foot and turn your tree. This will keep your stitches from having large gaps and your catnip from falling out.
When you are sewing your tree you will want to leave the trunk open so you can fill it with catnip.
You will want to sift through your catnip and take out any large sticks or debris so it does not hurt your kitty or poke them in the mouth while they are playing.
Add a pinch of catnip at a time and push it down with the end of a pen. Keep filling your tree until you think it is full enough. I put about 5 tablespoons of catnip into my tree but you can use more or less.
Once your tree is nice and fat with catnip go ahead and pin the bottom of the trunk so you can sew it up.
You will want to sew all the way around the trunk making sure al the gaps are filled so none of that precious catnip escapes. Don't forget to backstitch again!
Now, trim all your stings, take out your pins and admire your cute Christmas cat toy!
These make great, inexpensive gifts for the cat lovers in your life. I made several of them for family as well as for my kitties!
I got a little more creative with these trees as I went along and started using different stitches to decorate my trees! Let's see what you come up with!
Hope yall enjoyed this tutorial. Happy Holiday and Merry Christmas!
As if this tutorial was not fun enough for me, my cats had a BLAST "helping!" Here are some outtakes from our tutorial!
Smalls is a very good "helper"
He seems to have gotten the catnip everywhere!
No comments:
Post a Comment