3 More Valentine Kitty Cat Yarn Dolls!

[TheMistressT]

I was in a Valentine swap with some friends.  They're all pet lovers so I made these kitty cat yarn dolls for them.

The first one is for a genuine cat-lady in training  who loves the 1970s, the color orange.



The whole time I was figuring out her outfit I was thinking of Carol Brady.  The button fastening her vest is a bead and the flower "brooch" on her lapel is a couple of beads, too.



Here's her long tail and cute backside:



The second one is for a lady who knows how to throw a party and make everything from the invitations to the desserts.



She wears an apron with a heart shaped bib and carries what must be a 3-layer cake!  There's big pink bow tying her apron in the back.



Pre-made pompon muzzles and noses, felt mouths, sewn-on sequin and bead eyes, felt and wire ears.



The third kitty is for a lady who loves her some western wear and some pink!



She's the Sheriff of Love with a tin heart instead of a tin star, tooled "leather" vest, denim & lace circle skirt, and a big ol' belt buckle.



Here's the only thing: I thought it would be easy to find a small cowgirl hat for her.  It was not.  So I found a tutorial online for making miniature western hats, found some white wool blend felt in town and made it by making a form from a wine cork!



I had a lot of fun figuring out what do to for each friend and spending hours in the craft room/office giggling and making them.  I hope they like them!

[elderflower]

These are so so cute.    I made yarn dolls when I was  a kid of course but these are so advanced.  How do you fasten on the ears? And do you use wire in the tail?  I have a dear cat lady friend that I would love to make one for.

[TheMistressT]

I made them as a kid with my grandma!  I used this bunny that her mother, my great grandmother made, as a reference.  It was definitely more advanced than those I made as a kid.



There is styrofoam of some kind inside the head which was something I definitely didn't learn as s kid.  So, these cats have tiny stryo balls in the head and the ears are attached by sticking the wire that's between the layers of felt into the styrofoam and then using a dot of felt glue at the base to glue the felt to the yarn.  The tail is wire wrapped with two layers of yarn and then tied to the yarn that makes the waist with the wire ends and a dot of glue.

[TheMistressT]

Oh!  One thing that sets these apart from most of  the instructions I saw online is that the arms are a separate thing rather than a section of yarn from the original.  That was the way I learned and I only saw one online tutorial that showed them done this way.

[elderflower]

thanks for all the info.  When I made them as a child we did make a separate piece for the arms. I seem to remember we wound the yarn round a cigarette box one way for the head/body/legs and the other way for the arms.

[TheMistressT]

You bet!  I'd love to see what you come up with.  I'm working on mini versions of my dogs, but having a REALLY hard time finding 5mm bronze or brown sequins for my Beastie Grrrlz brown eyes.   

That's so funny about the cigarette box! We used the cardboard from a Wright's brand trim package and I think we did the same for both the body and the arms.  I used the same for the arms on these and the the cardboard from a different trim that I had saved for the body.

[kittykill]

I love my little cowgirl! I took her up to my craft room to keep her away from the pups. She is so super cute!

[TheMistressT]

Whew!  And YEY!  And during this process I did lose some yarn to dog slobber. I'm lookin' at you, BETTY.