How to Make a Critter Sack

Today being Thanksgiving I realized how thankful I am to share my home with a variety of wonderful animal companions. So as a tribute to them I thought I'd give everyone who shares their home with a small animal or bird (and who can sew) a present and share the pattern I created to make a critter sack.

The instructions are for a small critter sack, which is the perfect size for finches and small parrots (such as parrotlets, lovebirds, or those of the brotogeris species). It's also the right size for sugar gliders, "pocket pets" like gerbils and hamsters, small lizards and snakes, and single rats. But with the right math (basic geometry) the pattern can be made large enough for ferrets, rabbits, iguanas, and even cats and small dogs.

If you'd like to make this you will need to know two easy stitches: a running stitch (which is also known as a straight stitch; it's usually first stitch you learn to sew) and a basic blanket stitch (you can get fancier if you want, though).

To make this you will need:

A couple of sheets of paper

A pencil

Tape

Scissors (paper and fabric)

A piece of fabric that is at least 7 1/2 inches tall and 19 inches long (I recommend polarfleece) *

Pins

Embroidery floss

Embroidery needle

Optional items include: 

Ribbon

Thread

Regular needle

String


* A note about the fabric: you will want something that is durable, machine washable, fairly thick, and stretchy. Polarfleece is easy to get in the US, comes in over a thousand colors and patterns, and often goes on sale- so it's cheap. Cotton fleece is a wonderful natural alternative- if you can find it, but t-shirt cotton is much too thin for this project.

To start:

1). Using the paper and pencil, draw a circle that is 4 1/2 inches across (I found that a large pumpkin can is 4 in. across, so I used that to make my circle. If you do that, you just have to cut the fabric about 1/4 inches larger than the paper circle, no big deal), then a rectangle that is 7 1/2 inches X 13 3/4 inches (THAT'S where the tape and the extra sheet of paper comes in- if your paper is too small, simply add another piece from a second sheet to make up the difference and tape them together).

2). Cut out the paper pattern and pin to the fabric.

3). Cut  the fabric around the pattern.

4).  Using the embroidery floss and needle, sew the circle to the LONG end of the rectangle with a basic blanket stitch (I double the floss for extra durability). Remember to leave a 1/4 inch at the end of the rectangle when you start sewing; this will enable you to sew the two ends of the rectangle together. If the rectangle is a little too short or two long, don't worry! If it's too long you can trim off the end, and if it's too short you can stretch the fabric to fit, or sew a pleat into the circle if you have to- your pet probably won't care.

5). When you reach the end of the circle, continue stitching up the short ends of the rectangle so that it forms a tube. Tie it off at the top.

6). Cut a hole just large enough for your animal to fit into (for most animals, that's a little larger than their head) at about the center of the tube opposite the seam (so if you lay it flat, cut the folded edge that is NOT sewn, at about the middle of the height of the fold).

7). Now is the time that I like to embellish it. For the sample bag that meant sewing ribbon just above the stitching around the bottom of the tube as well as around the opening of the hole (if the hole stretches while you're sewing, simply gather the ribbon to retain the hole's original size- I thought the gathering was cute, and so I stretched the hole on purpose). If you choose not to add ribbon, you should sew around the hole opening with a blanket stitch to keep the hole from stretching out.

8). Time to shut the tube: Make a running stitch all around the tube about 1/2 inch below the top using large (about 1/3- 1/2 inch) stitches, then pull the fabric along the thread so it's gathered as tight as you can get it (gathering as you go helps). Tie it off.

9). Almost done! Now you need to sew the ties on top so you can hang the bag. For this I used ribbon that was doubled over and sewn shut, but you can use fairly heavy string or strips of the fabric that you used if you'd rather. I cut mine about 5 inches long, but that's just my preference; just remember to make them long enough to go through the bars of your animal's cage (or around a branch or something) and be able to tie the ends together to secure it. Sew them- with the doubled embroidery floss- about halfway between the front and back (between the back seam and the hole) on either side of the top just below the gathered seam. I sewed about a half inch of ribbon to the bag and used a ton of stitches so it was very secure.

Now it's done and ready to use!

You could embroider patterns or a monogram on the outside if you liked before you stitched it together, or you could put a different fabric on the inside (just remember to keep it practical and safe- animal's claws can get caught on loose threads, and don't add any beads or anything that your companion might chew and/or swallow). The beauty of this pattern is that it's really easy to customize to your taste and/or needs.

October Sale

I'm having a SALE on everything in my Etsy shop! Enter the code "treat" to receive 15% off your total purchase. But hurry- the sale ends on Halloween!

The sale includes:

Felted wool pillows.

Little hand-sewn felt animals and fairy folk.

Potent and delightful little wool catnip toys.

One of a kind needle-felted and beaded pocket dragons.

And of course hand-made Halloween decorations!

There are a ton of great gift items- come and check it out! http://www.etsy.com/shop/sarangus?ref=seller_info

Toy Dogs

It always surprises me when I'm able to turn something that starts out so wrong into something so much better. I had set out to make a Christmas present for someone in my family; I wanted to make a little dog out of wool felt that looked like their own adorable blonde shih tzu. He's a rough-and-ready dog despite his small size, so his coat is kept pretty short year-round.

I make a lot of wool felt animals for my Etsy shop, so I had plenty of wool felt and roving for the project and I wasn't planning on buying any materials for this project. When making a new pattern, I draw it out on paper, then I cut the paper shapes and trace them onto the felt, cut those out and stitch them together. I've been making patterns this way since I was a kid and and generally the finished product looks pretty much as I'd pictured it.

This dog was no exception; the color of the felt was perfect and the shape looked a lot like the real dog if he'd been completely shaved- voila! The trouble started with I started felting on the hair; I planned on adding some tan baby alpaca roving onto the ears and tail and a little on the face and legs...

It looked awful! The tan was way too dark, and the contrast between it and the blonde felt was striking. It looked ridiculous. I set is aside and considered throwing it away. But then (thank goodness!) I was struck by inspiration; I continued needle-felting the alpaca into the dog form, trying to make it look as much like real dog hair as possible. In the end I had a full-coated tan shih tzu!

https://www.etsy.com/listing/110805804/tan-shih-tzu-sewn-wool-felt

I was so happy with it that I made three more right away- each one has a different color coat, but I used the same pattern for all four. All of them are now for sale on my Etsy shop- along with a whole lot of other cats, dogs, squirrels, foxes, and more!

https://www.etsy.com/listing/110804093/maltese-sewn-wool-felt

https://www.etsy.com/listing/110804758/tan-and-white-shih-tzu-sewn-wool-felt

https://www.etsy.com/listing/110805316/black-and-white-shih-tzu-sewn-wool-felt

Fan Page

I finally set up my Autumn Rain Studio fan page on Facebook! This page mostly features items I have for sale on my Etsy shop (http://www.etsy.com/shop/sarangus ), but I'm sure that I will add photos of art projects on there as well.

Please feel free to visit it, leave a comment, and "like" my page if you're so inclined!
https://www.facebook.com/AutumnRainStudio

And while I'm at it, here are some of the things I'm working on for my shop right now:

I set up a nature table to showcase my creations for the shop. I would like to get a piece of light blue fabric (preferably silk) for the background and I will add some more nature- cool rocks, flowers, acorns, etc. before I take the actual product pictures.

New items for the shop. The cats and dogs are ready to list, but I'm going to add beads and props to the witches and wizard.

A close-up of the little dogs for my shop! The first one was a happy accident (an experiment that didn't work out, so it became something else); I thought that it was so adorable when it was finished that I just had to make some more!

Here are the witches (and one of the wizards) in progress. The top photo features a light grey wizard and large and small nature witches. The bottom photo is of two small and one large classic witch. I will be making brooms for the witches and wands or staffs for the wizards, and I will be sewing some glass beads on all of them. I hope to have all of these listed for sale in my shop by the end of the week.

http://www.etsy.com/shop/sarangus

Operation Elephant Restoration is Finished!

All right, I was all prepared to slice open the stitching on the back side of the trunk, stuff in more excelsior, and stitch it back up and I chickened out. Nope, just couldn't bring myself to make the cut. So it's going to continue having a broken trunk indefinitely.

I did, however, make new tusks and an eye!

Judging by internet pictures of other Steiff elephants I'm pretty sure the original tusks were plastic. I'm pretty sure that by the time I had access to my elephant the tusks were already gone; if not I don't remember them at all. I know that the eyes were made of glass because (of course) that's what the remaining original eye is. Since I don't know where to get "friendly plastic" anymore (if they even make it) and glass is not one of the mediums I know how to use, I decided to make all of the replacement pieces out of premo sculpy.

To make the eye look more like the glass one I first painted it with watered down black paint, painted the pupil in solid black, then added a little dark brown around the outside of the pupil. The paint and sculpy were both matte and the glass eye is very shiny, so I used several coats of clear nail polish to give it both shine and depth.

Here's a photo of the side with the original eye for comparison:

The tusks were simpler because they stayed white, all I had to do after sculpting and baking them was to give them a quick sanding.

Apparently the elephant originally came with a red blanket with bells on it; I'm thinking about making a blanket and maybe a headdress for it, but probably something fancier than plain red. If I do, I promise to post pictures!

More Work on the Toy Repair

When I started work on my little elephant the mouth looked like this:

This morning after picking up some apricot colored wool roving from Weir Crafts I got down to work, starting by sewing shut the mouth were the stitching had started to unravel:

Some of the felt had deteriorated (which is probably why the stitching had come undone in the first place) and there were a couple of moth holes in the wool, so a new needle-felted mouth was definitely in order:

While I was at it I repaired the end of the trunk, which was the same color as the mouth:

Now that the mouth is done I'll try to figure out how to add stuffing to the middle of the trunk.

Progress on the Elephant

Today I needle-felted roving to the bottom of the elephant's feet, covering the moth holes. I should be able to repair the mouth and end of the trunk tomorrow.

Childhood Memory

An old friend recently came back to me: a mohair elephant that all of my siblings and I played with at one time or another. My sister, being the oldest, claimed it when she had her own kids, but neither of her kids had any interest in the poor, shabby thing and it languished in storage for almost two decades. I can't say I blame my nephew and niece for not wanting to play with it; by the time we were done with it the elephant had a broken trunk- the end of which was almost completely worn off- and had lost both of its tusks and one eye.

I have actually been itching to restore this toy for years, so you can imagine my delight when it was given to me (actually my sister offered it to one of my brothers, and when he didn't want it she said she was going to give it to charity and I snatched it).

Here are some "before" pictures:

 Here you can see the one remaining eye and the sad state of the trunk.

The holes from the lost eye and one of the tusks.

The mouth is torn at the corner and the hole where the other tusk should be is visible.

Over the years the wool felt at the bottom of the feet was eaten away in places.

Looks like I've got my work cut out for me!

Completed Cat Bed

Sorry I didn't post this sooner- I went out of town, then I came back and finished the cat bed, then I went out of town again... Anyway, here it is!

I added burnt orange and dark brown roving to the tan stripes so it resembled the sandstone on a building in town that I like, and I felted in medium grey, black, and white bits to the pink areas to make it look like granite.                     

And- best of all- it received the kitten seal of approval!

Cat Bed Phase 2

I put another layer of wool on the outside of the cat bed. I decided that I wanted it to look kind of like a metamorphic rock with stripes of different colors. I used wools that resemble those found in rocks around my yard; a bit of rosy granite, some limestone, a bit of sandstone, etc.

I also increased the size of the opening when I observed that it had been too small for a cat to feel comfortable about entering.

Up next: the finished product!

Cat Bed

To those of you who don't know there's been a new feline addition to our house, a female grey tabby kitten. She's been taking up a surprising amount of my time and head space since she came home from the no-kill shelter where I volunteer (Mosaic Feline Refuge- a truly wonderful place for cats!) a couple of months ago. To keep my boys (our two cats that have been family member for just under 3 years now) from feeling neglected I've been making them things. One got a hand-knitted mohair blanket to sit on top of the down comforter on "his" chair (he has wisely claimed the soft cushioned chair in the laundry room as his winder roost- it's next to a window, the cat door, and a heat vent, and is in the warmest room in the house), and the other is getting a felted cat bed.

I started by wet-felting dark brown wool (grown locally) over an inflatable beach ball. After it was felted I realized that the wool wasn't thick enough, so I had to add another layer and felt it again. I'm pretty pleased the way it turned out, though.

I'll be adding several more steps to this and keep you posted as I go...