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In keeping with the pencil case theme for grandchildren this year, I am making kitty cases or pouches for the girls. So far they are a big hit.
This pattern is for sale on Etsy as Tiger Zippy Critter by Stubbornly Crafty. I have no relationship with this creator other than having purchased the pattern. I have made four versions of this pattern so far. The pattern instructions are easy to follow if you have a little bit of sewing experience. I have tweaked the my versions partly due to what materials I had on hand and partly because I wanted to make softer kittys for young granddaughters.
You will notice I said “kitty.” I don’t have much orange fabric, but found that the zipper pouch looks like a cat, as many cats have a similar striped look.
Here are the other changes I made:
- Using thin quilt batting instead of iron on fleece for the kitties using cotton as the outer fabric. In addition to sewing around the edges, I secured this with a swirl of stitching on the back piece. It was secured on the face by the sewing on of the face add-ons (eyes, stripes, nose, muzzle).
2. More secure stitching around the face add-ons. On the cotton versions, I attached the face add-ons with a straight stitch first, to hold them in place and avoid stretching. Then I used a close zig-zag stitch around all edges that would not be in a seam allowance.
3. On one polar fleece pouch I experimented with hand stitching the face add-ons on with a secure back stitch. (see second photo from the top) It gives a clean look and allowed me to sew while sitting next to dear hubby on the couch, but it just took too long. For the version I used zig-zag edging on, I found that three well placed pins held the face add-ons in place well enough.
4. Adding embroidery details to the eyes. This used techniques I learned for the shark pencil case eyes for the boys.
5. Adding a pink inner ear, but I didn’t try this until I got to the polar fleece.
6. Using polar fleece for a softer kitty. the hardest part of this was working with the thickness of the ears in putting in the zipper. EDIT: Using clips instead of pins was very helpful with the thickness at the stage of sewing in the zipper.
I interfaced the larger polar fleece pieces with lightweight muslin scraps I had on hand (the front and back main pieces, the muzzle, and the ears). Keep in mind the interfacing is different than the lining, which I used a woven cotton for. The interfacing helps the polar fleece to keep it’s shape and be more stable during construction. Although this is my favorite version, I don’t recommend it for beginners.
I am enjoying the stock pile of colorful zippers I got from Amazon. These are the zippers I’ve used for all of the kitty pouches. One of the mom’s pointed out they look kind of like headbands.
It is a very satisfying feeling to have only used fabric scrapes for all of these. It took some fussy cutting to get just the color I wanted for nose, muzzle, and inner ears in particular. I also worked on finding the best place among the patterns on the polar fleece for the faces. The cottons were just overall patterns, so it was not an issue.
Fortunately, I enjoy making them, because I have nine more to make this year! Wish me luck!
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