Sewing a Cat Coat for a Cat-Lover

My girlchild loves cats.
She reads about them. She writes about them. 

She watches documentaries about them. 

She plays with them.

She draws (lots of) pictures of them.
She made this one for her friend Isaiah, who loves Star Wars.

 And this one:

She dresses like them.

She dresses them.

She gives them props.

 She sings this song with no humorosity or mockery.

She's also very persuasive. We were at JoAnn's Fabric Store one day and she convinced me to buy some, what she calls, Snow Leopard Fur Fabric. I had a 50% off coupon, so I am pretty sure I saved more money by buying it than I would have if I hadn't bought it. Isn't that how coupons work?
I'd seen and fallen in love with this coat on the World Wide Web at some point.

It's really fantastic. It's made by littlegoodall and for sale on etsy. You should totally buy one for you kid. Unfortunately, it is out of my price range, a little too young-looking for my second grader, and not nearly warm enough for a Vermont winter. This past weekend I decided to improvise up a coat for her from the faux fur fabric. I traced out a pattern from a coat that she already had in my typical free-wheeling pattern making technique. I spent a lot of my weekend looking at this view.

And my family saw a lot of this view:

Since I hadn't been blogging, I didn't think to take pictures of the whole process.

I was inspired and informed by this tutorial.

And this one.

How to Make a Men's Fleece Hoodies.

And this is what I came up with:

That face!

Those ears!

That tail!

And warm. The faux Snow Leopard Fur is thick and warm. I lined that baby with some flannel that I had bought on sale last year and was too lazy to use saving for such an occasion. The hood is lined with a sweater that was salvaged from free pile at a yard sale upcycled. I also made flannel-lined pockets that are big enough to cram in a mittened hand. That's some Vermonty-thinking right there. 

I love this coat. 

I was able to make the coat for under $10, and the girlchild really loves it. 

She's told me about a 100 times. 

Crafter's Block

I've got writer's block of the crafty kind. Sort of. I can think up stuff to make; I just don't feel like doing it. I mostly feel like sitting on my couch eating snacks of the fatty kind while I watch Parks & Recreation.
I've started some stuff (mostly in an attempt to push my way through this block), and I've completed some special orders. Other than that, nothing for about a week and a half. This is, by far, the longest I've gone without making something in a very long time.
I'd like to pretend that I've had a lot of concerned blog-readers emailing me to question my lengthy hiatus, but no one has noticed. Pity party. Table of, sniff, one.
Only, I'm not really feeling bad about the break. I am curious to see what I'm going to make next.
I'm about to receive my annual Money for the Arts Grant (aka a tiny bit of our tax return), and I don't have any plans on how I'm going to spend it. A search of the history of my search history shows that I've been searching quilting feet for my sewing machine, sergers, enameling supplies, porcelain shipping pricing, and new glazes. When I go out to eat, I usually spend a long time trying to decide between two different entrees only to order a third unconsidered option when the waiter takes my order. This sometimes happens with my Money for the Arts Grant, too. The good thing about this strange habit is that we can all be surprised together when the package shows up.
Anyway, I hope you aren't blocked up and are making something cool.

Quilting for the First Time

Here's some stuff that happened recently.

I joined Pinterest. When I joined I was already magically following someone who pins really incredible quilts. Her name is Merche Grossomodo, and I don't know her in real life.

My friend Mandy (who I do know in real life) from Vintage Rag Inspired, who makes these really beautiful bags from some very authentic vintage fabric, gave me a big bag of fabric.

My laptop croaked.

After a week of record-breaking warm temperatures, it returned to a more typical Vermont spring. Big, wet snowflakes are now covering our grill and bikes.

One minute we were watching too many shows about the existence of Big Foot; and the next thing I knew, Officer, I was making a quilt. What?! To say that I'm not a perfectionist would be understating it a bit. I like to call it free-wheeling, and I am very free-wheeling in both crafting and baking. And life, in general, I suppose. On the craft spectrum, I lean more towards the Amy Sedaris side than the Martha Stewart side. Though, I love them both. This free-wheelingness if very helpful when learning new crafts. It helps me to just plow through the early stages of undeveloped skills without becoming too disappointed or discouraged. This is what the process looked like.

I spread out Little Dude's current blanket. The pink one with the flowers and flip flops. It is actually the girl's blanket, but like I said - free-wheeling. I picked out the fabrics that I liked from the stash I got from Mandy. Vintage, indeed! Then I started cutting strips that were similar in size. I knew I wanted stripes, and I knew I wanted my first quilting expedition to be completable in a reasonable amount of time. 

This is what I ended up with. I tried all printed fabrics to start, but it was way too busy for my taste. Adding in the solid blue stripes really worked well.

I added the striped material to the edge to even up the edges, make it a little wider, and give me a way to sew on the back. Basically, I made a giant inside-out bag with stuffing. When I right-side outed it, the stuffing was sewn in along the edges which kept it in place nicely.

I didn't have enough of any fabric to do the back solid. It feels a little in bad fashion to have pieced the back, too, but it kept me from having to actually purchase any parts of this quilt. I started sewing up the edges in a simple straight line pattern. 

I was trying to figure out how I was going to do the actual quilty sewy part of the center since I don't have a quilting sewing machine, a quilting stand, or even a quilting ring. When I accidentally ended up on this website with a straight line quilting tutorial. I really love the way they look! I didn't read the whole tutorial before I plunged in (remember when I told you my laptop broke?), and I didn't use the special foot on my sewing machine. I also started on the outside. I went around three sides in a "U" shape with the top of the quilt being the top of the U. I made my lines wider than the lovely ones on the tutorial. That was just me being lazy. Also, I started on the outside and worked my way inward. I should have done it the other way. My inner rows felt a little lumpier than the other ones.

It doesn't seem to affect the usability. Right after I finished sewing it, I spread it out on the ground to admire my handiwork. It turned into an impromptu photo op. I don't know what he's telling her, but I know it was funny!

I am already gathering ideas for my next quilt.

Kelee: Comic Book - Part Six, The End

Click here for Part One.

Kelee: Comic Book - Part Five

This is Part Five.

Click here for Part One.

 

Click here for Part Six, The End.

Kelee: Comic Book - Part Four

And now for Part Four.

If you haven't read Part One, click here.

If you haven't read Part Two, click here.

If you haven't read Part Three, click here.

If you haven't read Part Four, you are already on the right page.

Click here for Part Five.