DIY: Felt Cat Brooch

This week I thought I would make a little lucky black cat brooch for my kitten loving bestie. I think he's going to bring a lot of joy when he arrives in the post with our new hey kitty cat card :D Hooray for feline friends!

To make one you'll need some black felt, black and white embroidery thread, a little bit of toy stuffing to make it plump and a brooch back. 

Start out by creating a template to follow; I used a pencil and piece of paper and drew my little cat at about 6cm wide by 4cm tall. It needs to be a large enough illustration so you can make it nice and plump :) 

Once you're ready, cut it out and use it as a template to cut out 2 cat head shapes in your black felt.

Stitch the brooch backing onto the back piece of your felt cat cutout. It's best to stitch it in the centre of the felt, slightly closer to the top of the head so it sits nicely when you put it on.

I created the eyes by stitching several lines together so they form a sort of circular shape as you can see on the above left image. It doest matter if these are a little messy so don't worry. Going in the opposite direction, do the stitch the same way above it and you'll get a cute round eye with no gaps. Perfect!

Once the eyes are done you can stitch the front and back together. Start by threading the embroidery through your felt beside one of the ears and hide the knot on the inside. That means it'll be nice and neat :) Then stitch all the way around until you've just a gap in the centre of the head. Add in little tufts of toy stuffing inside till it gets nice and plump, but not totally bulging. 

When you're happy with the shape, stitch the rest of the felt closed. To hide the final knot on the inside, thread the needle through the two pieces of felt and push it straight through the inside and out the other end. You should pull the tread tight enough so it the cat head pinches a little at the top.

Tie a knot at the end of the thread and smush out the head so it's not pinching anymore. The thread zips right up and gets hidden inside the cat head! Hooray :D

 

*Ta*Da*
Aint he the cutest? Now all we need to do is think up the name :)
Happy Making!