‘Meow Meow’ cat softie sewing tutorial

How to make a ‘Meow Meow’ cat softie

This tutorial is a small ode to my love of cats. I saw a similar (more advanced version) of this cat for sale at a craft booth a couple of years ago. I knew I had to make one and there after totally fell in love with the simple, cute design. It is really easy to make and makes a great present for a kid (or adult) cat lover alike.

What you will need:

The Cat Body

-An old fleece sweater, or fleece material or any kind of soft material you want to use for the body. You must have 2 pieces at least 10.5″ X 13″ inches.

-Some kind of stuffing ie., wool, acrylic, cotton etc. You kind find the acrylic kind at any craft store or an old stuffed animal ready to be thrown out or an old pillow etc.

-2 buttons for the eyes (or bits of felt if you don’t have buttons)

-A small scrap of pink felt for the nose

-A small scrap of red felt for the heart

-2 colors of embroidery thread for the mouth and whiskers

-Black thread (for the body & eyes), red thread (for the heart), and pink thread (for the nose)

-Scissors, sewing machine (optional), regular needle, embroidery needle, paper to draw template on, pencil, ruler

For The Diaper

- 2 pieces of felt 5″ X 7″ each. They can be the same color or different.

- 2 small scraps of felt for the diaper tabs

- Embroidery thread

1) First thing is to get a large piece of paper and draw out your template. I made mine 10.5 inches wide and 13 inches long- including a quarter of an inch seam allowance. Besides that it does not need to be perfect in the least, if one arm or leg is bigger or smaller, I think that it adds character! After you draw the template, cut it out.

2) Pin the cut out template onto your sweater/material.

3) After you cut it out, take the paper template off and make sure the material is inside out before you re-pin the material in place.

4) Before sewing around outside of the body, pin an area between the arm and leg on one side of the body to make sure you do not sew that area- you will need to leave it open in order to flip the body inside out when you are finished sewing the body.

5) Now sew around the outside of the body.

6) Once you are finished sewing around the body, take out the pins and flip the body inside out.

7) Now take your stuffing and stuff the cat as much as you can/want.

8 ) After you have stuffed sufficiently, take the black thread and needle and sew up the stuffing hole.

9) Now you can sew on the button eyes on with black thread.

10) The eyes are on!

11) Now its time to embroider on the mouth. I made a starting knot right where I plan to put the nose piece.

12) I did a few basic embroidery stitches to make the mouth and finished off with a knot back at the start where the nose is going to be.

13) Next I took a different color to embroider on the whiskers. Again, I made the starting/ending knot underneath where the nose is going to be. 3 Whisker stitches on each side of the face.

14) After the mouth and whiskers have been embroidered on, I take a pink felt scrap triangle and sew it over the embroidery knots with pink thread.

15) Now the face is done!

16) Now you can cut out a little felt heart and sew it on the body if you like.

17) The body is all finished, now onto the diaper!

18) For the Diaper: Cut out 2 pieces of felt, 5″X7″.

19) Now make 2 semi-circles approx 1.5 ” deep and 1.5″ in from top and bottom on both sides of the felt pieces.

20) Cut out the semi-circles to reveal your diaper shape.

21) Now sew the 2 pieces of felt together with a blanket stitch around the outer edge with some embroidery thread.

22) Fold the diaper in half (make sure it is inside out) and sew up both sides to make the diaper shape.

23) Sew on the 2 decorative diaper tabs on either side of the front of the diaper.

24) Voila! The diaper is finished.

25) TADA! Put the diaper on the cats body and you are finished! The meow meow cat is complete and ready for a play mate!

26) This meow meow is going to my niece Fiona for her 1st birthday present.  (I took this picture before sewing on the diaper tabs .