How-to-make a Zombie Mouse Toy

            Have a cat? Need a distraction for your latest high priced sofa or worse the fragile glass vase you fell in love with at an art show? An evening's sewing project (approx 1 hr.), I made a couple of free zombie mouse kits for April so if you want one, go ahead ahead and pick one up at the studio or if you want to pay the $5 shipping off the blog via Paypal, I'll be happy to send one to you pre-cut while they last. This kit was put together for our Hacker group to practice handsewing for eTextiles. Hopefully you can save your apartment with this small toy. From one cat lover to another.

The Kits Have:
All the pieces of swede fabric pre-cut (red, yellow, or tan)
100% natural cat-nip
cotton filling
button thread
needle
beads for eyes

You will need:
scissors
pencil or basic writing utensil

Step 1: Lay Out the Pattern

             Cut and lay-out your pattern. You should have the following pieces here. Since I was making a lot of these at a time, I stacked up all my fronts and backs, then cut the left and rights together. If you don't have a good rotary cutter, you can trace this pattern, and cut out each piece individually. Alternatively, you can also use an exacto knife to cut several layers at a time. The last picture is of the two extra pieces. If you want to make your mouse nose bigger, cut accordingly.

You will have:

2 front body pieces (1 left, 1 right)
1 back piece
4 paw pieces (2 left, 2 right)
4 leg (2 left, 2 right)
2 paw pads (1 left, 1 right)

Step 2: Pin the Right Arm Together

     Take the right side mates and pin the wrong side to wrong side. The soft fuzzy part should be on the outside.

Step 3: Whip Stitch the Right Arm Together

     Start with your upper arms first and begin to sew around. Whip stitch is a basic beginner stitch in which you sew and lock each stitch as you go. First you sew through the fabric, then take your needle and put it through the loop and pull. Voila, each stitch is locked in place. Make little stitches all the way around the arm until you have roughly a pencil worth of space left.

Step 4: Stuff the Arm

Take your stuffing and with your pencil or pen push the stuffing into the arm. Once you have some stuffing in, push the extra stuffing down into the arm so you some extra space at the top and pinch the top with your fingers. The next step is one, one of my furrier co-workers taught me. Take the point of your needle and push the stuffing down into the arm so that you can't see anything. Thanks Andrew!

Step 5: Repeat With the Left Arm

           Add a couple of stitches to close up the right arm and you're done. Finish theAlright, one arm down, repeat with the left arm the exact same way.

Step 6: Pin the Leg

Pin the leg just like the arm.

Step 7: Sew the Right Leg

              Alright, start either in the front or back of the foot, the back looks better, but that's up to you. Sew from one side to another. until you come to the pad. Take out two dress pins. Pin the pad to one side of the leg. Gently sew around one side of the bottom pad.

Step 8: Stuff the Right Leg

   Just like the arms, go ahead and stuff your leg.

Step 9: Sew Your Left Leg

   Again put in a few stitches to close up the leg and repeat with the other one.

Step 10: Sew the Front

Pin and sew your two fronts together.

Step 11: Mark and Sew Your Eyes

         With your pencil, mark the eyes and then sew your beads on top. You should sew from the back to the front to hide your knot. When you have made your eyes, make several knots in the back and cut off your extra thread.

Step 12: Pin and Begin to Sew the Front to the Back

     Using 4 pins, pin the front to the back. The front will be bigger and that's ok. Sew all the way around the body, stopping when you get to the head.

Step 13: Stuff the Body

   Using your pencil or pen, stuff the body. I like to put in a little catnip at this point.

Step 14: Sew the Head

 Proceed to stuff the head the same way as you did for the body.  Leave a space at the top to put the stuffing in.

Step 15: Stuff the Head

      Just like it sounds like, add stuffing to the head and then stitch it closed.

Step 16: Attach the Limbs

              Start on one side and start sewing the arms to the body. I like to add toes on the hands. For me, I start on one side and simply sew through the fluffing whenever I need to get somewhere else without tying or slowing down, but if you like to stop and do each limb separately you are welcome to.

Step 17: Make the Face

              Alright, you are down to the end. Just 2 steps left to go. Make the face next. Normally people start with the mouth then move to the nose/whiskers. This should be one single thread. Be as creative as you want.

Step 18: Add the Tail

       Poke your needle through the back, begin to sew the tail with a simple running stitch. Don't worry about making it perfect. When you get back to the base of the tail continue, but this time fill in the holes in your stitches so that the tail fills itself out.

Step 19: Voila!

    You're done. Now, to let the cat make off like a bandit with it. Ours thought it was awesome on top of the tv. Also long as our furniture is safe. And so, I live to sew another day. You can see Demi Mew batting it while balancing very demon kitty like.