Black Kitty Loaf

Anyone familiar with cats--or even just LOLcats--should be familiar with this pose!

It's the infamous Kitty Loaf! When somehow, the kitty absorbs her legs into her body, and she just looks like a loaf of bread. 

I decided to make the body much larger than my previous design, since this is how my kitties look when they're all scrunched up into a loaf. Plump, soft, and squishy!

Some kitties also absorb their tails when they're loafing. I decided to give my Kitty Loaf a tail, just for fun. 

This particular Kitty Loaf is extra special because I hand-colored her eyes using a silver Sharpie. I think it makes her look mysterious--as if she's thinking deep thoughts while meditating in the Loaf position.

The great thing about this design is that it has fewer parts and seams, so I can sew it much more quickly than my "Big Headed Kitten" (for lack of a better name) design. That in turn means that I'll be able to offer it at a lower price. Everybody wins! Unless you prefer kitties with limbs. In that case, go with my standard design. ;-)

White Fleece Kittens

After a week and a half of working on these guys, they're finally finished! Eleven kittens at once! Whew!

Since I love odd-eyed cats, I gave them a variety of different eye colors:

• Blue
• Yellow
• Green
• Blue/Yellow
• Blue/Green
• Yellow/Green
• Yellow/Blue
• Green/Blue
• Green/Yellow

This kitten is pretty representative of the litter. Average-sized felt-and-fleece ears, odd eyes, and that nice, big, round head that characterizes my designs.



I did have some moderate trouble with visible stitches. I prefer to sew tightly enough that stitches aren't visible, but it wasn't quite possible with this fabric. You have to look really closely to see them, so I'm happy that they weren't too obvious.



The fabric was interesting because it was hemmed at the end--if that's the right word. It actually made my live WAY easier, because I was just able to cut off strips of the hem, flip them inside-out, and quickly stitch up one end of the strip. Voila! Insta-tails!

Since I made them all at the same time, they follow the pattern pretty consistently--with minor variations, of course, since these are hand-sewn. The ears are a little different because I cut them free-hand from scrap material. (One kitten has exceptionally large ears, all the better to hear you with, my dear.) Most are around the same size and shape, though.

All in all, they turned out well. I will be listing each one separately in my shop, simply because they almost all have different eyes and ears.

Next up: more fleece kittens in several different colors! Plus, the grand opening of my shop next week! Tune in tomorrow (hopefully) for more Nekomancy Plush! Same cat time, same cat channel!

Elly the grey kitten

Elly is a short-haired grey kitten with amber eyes.

She loves to chase bits of dust--which, to the average person, means it looks like she's chasing nothing at all. Some kittens are like that--they want to play with anything and everything, even invisible things. 

During the chase, she darts from room to room, tail held high.

If you give her the chance, she will happily tell you about her hunting adventures. Mew, mew, mew. All the time. Unless you dangle a feather toy for her to chase--then she plays and purrs away!

Nekomancy Plush will open its doors in just a few short weeks. Maybe then, she can come home to play with you!

Twin domestic long-haired cats: Puff and Tuft

This was a very busy week at my "real" job, but I finally managed to finish these two guys. Like the winter twins, these kittens were cut from the same swatch of fabric.

The dark brown faux fur has a lovely sheen to it, and the shade varies throughout the fabric, making it look more natural.

Like my other dolls, they stand about 4.5" tall, and they are way fluffy.  They sport jade green eyes and little grey noses.

Puff loves grass. He likes to run outside and roll in it, and then eat it. Then, he runs back inside and leaves a present in his person's shoe. But it's just to show how much he cares. He's the kind of kitten who likes to curl up under the covers with his person and puuuuuuurr until he falls asleep.

Tuft's favorite thing is stalking leaves. He'll watch them from the window for hours, eyes wide and tail swishing in anticipation. When he gets the chance, he darts out the door and pounces. Score! Then, since the leaf has stopped moving, he gets bored and comes back inside to take a nap.

This is Tuft's fluffy tail. He has sooooo much fluff!

Status...

I'm running way behind on getting plushies out because it's been such a busy week. Hopefully, I'll have something to post tomorrow!

I did finally get the furs in that I ordered... I have all kinds of colors and textures to play with now. Everything from short and grey to long and bright blue! So that's exciting. :-)

Preview...

Coming soon:

• Long-haired brown kittens
• Short-haired caramel-colored kittens
• Cuddly fleece kittens

Coming in the future:

• Grey kittens
• Black kittens
• Dinosaurs! (I found a couple of fabric remnants that are PERFECT for this. I just need to work out the pattern--and find time to sew them, of course.)
• Puppies? I need to work out a pattern for this. Who doesn't love puppies?

Man, I just need a couple days off to work on this. Each doll takes 3-4 hours to complete, so it's tough to fit crafting around my "real" job. Grump grump grump.

Twin Winter Kitties

These two girls are twins--they're cut from the same swatch of fabric. However, since I'm not good at following my own patterns, they still turned out unique. I named them in honor of the record-setting snowy weather that hit Maryland just weeks ago.

Flurry and Blizzard are two quirky kittens. They feature odd eyes (one blue and one green) and out-of-control fluff. They both tilt their heads quizzically, as if they're studying exciting new prey--a laser pointer, perhaps?

I've always loved how odd-eyed cats look. There's something mysterious about animals with eyes that don't match. I find them very beautiful.

Blizzard is a wild child. Her fluff is out of control, and she looks like she's about to pounce on something exciting. 

Flurry is much more reserved. As you can see, I opted not to finish fluffing out the seams on her paws. I like the look--it makes her look like she's wearing little socks! It also makes her look less like a big ball of fuzz.

Flash Cat, updated

So, I looked at Flash Cat again this morning, and I decided he looked way too much like a Care Bear. So, I added a couple of enhancements to his costume.

Much better!

I made his booties and the lightning bolts on his arms removable, since I was tired of sewing into his body.

I was worried that adding more decorations would overwhelm him--he's only 4.5 inches tall, after all, so there's not a lot of space to work with. But he turned out ok. I keep picking him up, looking at him, and giggling like a maniac. :D

For non-geeks, here's a pic of The Flash for reference:

Any DC fans reading this?

A few years ago, I found this big, red, furry pillowcase at IKEA in the bargain bin. I, uh, can't imagine why no one wanted to buy it for their couch. 

So, I bought it.

Not for putting on my couch, of course. I do have *some* taste, even if it's a bit questionable.

No, it seemed like excellent crafting fabric. I knew eventually, inspiration would strike, and I would know what to make with it.

Today, Inspiration came to me.

And I made the geekiest thing I've ever made.

Yes. I made a Flash cat. Out of an old pillowcase and felt.

If you look closely, you can see that I attempted to embroider that little half-smile that Flash always has in the Justice League cartoon.

Even his tail turned out kinda jaunty.

And if you look here...

Damn! He was just here a second ago!

Scrappy Cat

First of all, I just wanted to note that my order of plastic eyes came in today! 

I'm so excited. I've always made plushies with felt eyes, which to me always looks unfinished. I did have to buy in bulk--the seller only sells them in lots of 6 packs of 6 eyes apiece. I'd better get crafting!

I made a second attempt at the kitty UFO-doll-inspired pattern, with some minor modifications. And thus, Scrappy Cat was born:

I constructed him out of two veeeeeeeeery small scraps of faux brown fur that I had lying around (plus a couple of tiny felt scraps for the fronts of his ears). Since not all the pattern pieces fit onto the scraps, I did take a few minor liberties to get him all stitched together. But, I think he turned out well!

Doesn't he have such a sweet expression? I think it's because his ears are so low on his head. I meant for them to be higher up, but they... drifted... somehow. But it still works.

The color is a little off (what can I say--I live under fluorescent lights), but this is really just to show that he has a little fluffy tail.

It amazes me how different fabrics behave even when I'm using the same pattern. Felt HATES this pattern, but the faux fur took to it really well. Check it out:

Same pattern, but better materials lead to a much cuter result. Huzzah!

I'm hoping to get my Etsy shop up and running by the end of March. If I complete at least one plushie a day, I should have a good amount of stock by then.

Alien cat

So, I've been thinking about relaunching my plushie business that I abandoned in college because I got too lazy. I cannot find my patterns for the life of me, though. Will keep looking... it would be a shame to have to start everything from scratch.

In the meantime, I made a new kitty pattern, and tried it out using cheapo felt. There are, ah, some kinks to work out, as evidenced by my conversation with Ray once I finished the first plushie using said pattern.



Ray: ... What is it?

Me: *sputtering* What do you mean, "what is it?!" It's a cat!

Ray: Oh.



Me: Now, did you ask what it was because you really can't tell, or because you didn't look at it too closely?

Ray: Well, I looked at it, but it didn't look like much.

Me: *sputtering again* What?! I created it! I pulled it into this world out of nothing!

Ray:... you should put it back.

*facepalm*

Anyway, Alien Cat sits about 4" tall and is constructed out of cheapo felt, red thread because I was too cheap to go out and buy thread that matched the felt, and polyfil. There are some kinks to work out in the pattern, but it worked out ok.

I'm actually kind of proud of the "embroidery" on Alien Cat's face--the eyes are green felt, but the pupils, nose, and mouth are embroidered (my first time doing this, actually). I used regular thread because it's too cold and gray outside to go out and buy embroidery thread.



Oh poor, sad, big-headed Alien Cat of the sub-par materials... I hope you find love one day. You're no freakier than your average sphynx, after all.

Incidentally, have you ever seen a solid brown-colored cat? I never have. Isn't that wierd? You'd think brown cats exist, but they only exist with stripes.