Bottoms UP!
The Cat's Meow
materials
- Yellow cotton duck or broadcloth for diaper cover
- 6" square of black fabric for head
- 5" x 8" rectangle of white fabric for ears, fur and muzzle
- 2" x 4" rectangle of red polka-dot fabric for collar and nose
- Yellow embroidery floss
- 1/4" yard of 3/8"-wide red polka-dot grosgrain ribbon.
Prepare appliqués. Use the cat appliqué patterns and follow the General Appliqué Instructions to prepare the collar, nose, head, fur and muzzle from the appropriate fabrics.
To make the dimensional ears, cut four ears from white fabric, reversing the pattern on two of the pieces. Pin two ear pieces right sides together and stitch with a 1/4" seam, leaving the straight edge open. Clip the curves and across the point, turn right side out and press flat. Draw the ear detail line from the pattern and straight stitch along the line through both layers with black thread, beginning at the lower edge and stitching to the ear point. Turn the ear around and stitch back to the lower edge, retracing the original stitched line. Tie off the thread ends. Repeat for the remaining ear.
Cut the diaper cover pieces from the yellow cotton duck or broadcloth according to the pattern guidesheet. Set aside the front. Fold the back at the center back and lightly press to crease.
Center the cat-head appliqué over the pressed crease 2" from the diaper-cover upper edge. Use the dotted lines on the appliqué patterns to place the upper fur, collar, muzzle and nose on the cat head (the cat-head lower edge will overlap the collar).
Slip the ears' unstitched lower edges 1/4" under the cat head so the raw edges are covered (1). Fuse the appliqués, draw the detail lines and stabilize the appliqués as detailed in General Appliqué Instructions.
Satin stitch each appliqué's perimeter and detail lines in the following order:
- With a 3 mm satin stitch and red thread, appliqué the collar. Change to a 2.5 mm satin stitch and appliqué the nose.
- With a 3 mm satin stitch and white thread, appliqué the cat head, beginning with the fur layers closest to the lower edge and continuing upward, then appliqué the muzzle and upper fur piece. With a 2 mm satin stitch, stitch the eyebrows.
- With a 2 mm satin stitch and black thread, stitch the whiskers. Stitch the mouth with a straight stitch, retracing the stitches as before on the ears.
Pull the threads to the back and tie to secure. Clip all thread ends, and remove the stabilizer.
To make each cat eye, use two strands of yellow floss to stitch a French knot. Bring the threaded needle up from the wrong side at the eye placement. Wrap the thread around the needle two or three times. Stitch back through the fabric close to the first stitch, holding your finger over the threads, and pull tight to create the knot (2). Secure the thread ends on the diaper cover wrong side.
Tie the red ribbon in a bow and stitch in place through the center knot, referring to the photo for placement. Assemble the diaper cover following the pattern guidesheet.
|
