Hello everyone!
This is my first tutorial on Livemaster. Although the experience of organizing workshops is no small: I worked with children and adults at the Waldorf school where my son goes.
This tutorial is quite easy, you only need the initial experience in knitting.
What you need:
- knitting needles 3 - 3.5
- wool 250 m per 100 g or of a greater thickness (to attain fluffiness, you can knit in two strands: one of wool and another one of mohair)
- a wide eye needle
- raw fleece sliver for the filling (for non-followers of Waldorf pedagogy, it is permissible to use artificial stuffings)
You can start creating!
Work a rectangle with usual knit stitch (a row of knit and a row of purl). Pick 16 loops and knit 24 rows.
No scrupulous observance of proportions is required,
it would be enough to make a rectangle with a small imbalance in its form. Just a couple of rows. Focus on it, because different yarn provides different proportions.
It is better to leave long strands for all details when casting on and off. They will come in handy when sewing the body, head and tail.
Now stitch a blank for cat's head. Cast on 7 stitches and knit 20 rows (roughly).
The folded detail is supposed to be a square.
The proportions of the head can be slightly modified. It all depends on the thickness and structure of the yarn, and the desire to make a tom-cat with a large forehead or a graceful she-cat.
Knit the blank for the tail: 3 stitches per 10-15 rows.
All our details are ready, proceed to assembling.
Sew the body. Remember that the long part of the rectangle is the length of the body.
On the shorter side, determine the middle and mark it with a safety pin.
Now you are to sew 4 paws to the body. To do this, fold each corner with its inside like an envelope (making a triangle). Usually, purl stitch is used for the right side (for knitted toys).
Sew the folded part up to the safety pin.
Similarly, fold the second corner — the paws should be symmetrical, that is why we marked the center with the pin.
Sew the second corner.
We now have a 2 legs stitched, and the second edge is not processed yet. Again, find the middle, near the unsewn edge. Mark with a pin.
Likewise, fold the corners and sew the 2 legs.
In the middle of the body, a small hole was supposed to be left if everything was done correctly and you had a rectangle originally, not a square.
This is how it should look like from one and another side.
And now you need to turn the body to its right side. If the hole is narrow, gently turn the legs outside in one after another. Straighten each leg with scissors or a blunt knitting needle at the end.
The Bird is ready for stuffing.
Proceed to stuffing the body.
Stuff the legs especially tight at the beginning. Help with the scissors. Then tightly stuff the body and shape it in order not to overdo it and make the cat too plump.
Here is the finished unsewn body.
Now you are to sew it up. Join the corners of the holes slightly squeezing the body.
Start stitching.
Once the hole is sewed up, sew the paws together so that the body acquired the desired shape. Otherwise, the paws will just spread out and the cat will not stand.
Sew the paws with two to three stitches at ther base (not along the whole length) somewhere close to the inner seams. First, the front paws.
And then the back ones.
The body is ready!
Now the head. Turn it inside out (like the body) and sew up its sides leaving the bottom edge free.
Turn the head outside in.
Before stuffing it, make the ears. Press the corners to shape them with your fingers, then fasten the folds with two or three stitches to their base.
Here's what comes out — slightly outlined ears. You can make them to your taste, more or less.
Stuff the head. Here is it.
Sew the bottom edge slightly pulling the thread, making the stitches tough and the shape round.
The head is ready, let's sew it onto the body.
Sew the head carefully around the circumference, creating a line of the neck base. To later the head is not hanging and kept the gaming excitement of a child.
Only the tail is left! Sew it into a tube from the right side.
Slightly tighten the thread when knitting to put the tail into the shape of a ring.
Sew the ready tail to the body.
Sorry, fatigue of the photographer influenced the shot!
And here is the ready cat!
Hope you'd got pleasure when crafting, and the kids will like playing with it.