Have a cat at home that needs some lovin’? Entertain them (and you!) with a homemade catnip-stuffed carrot toy. This simple pattern can be whipped up in under an hour but will provide several hours of fun for your fluffy feline. This simple and quick project can be done with just a few small pieces of wool or felt fabric and some basic hand stitches to make it look pretty.
Materials:
- Download and print the free pattern here.
- Loose catnip to stuff the toy with
- A sheet of orange wool or felt material, approx. 9” x 7” (we used color LN49 Kumquat from the 1/32 Merino wool size packs in Orange).
- One or two colours of green wool or felt material, approx. 7” x 4.5” (we used colors LN14 Periodot and LN16 Pine Needle from the 1/64 Merino wool size packs in Green).
- A top thread for sewing in the machine (we used 50wt Egyptian cotton Konfetti thread in color KT404).
- A bobbin thread (we used 80wt DecoBob cottonized poly in color DB410).
- #8 perle cotton embroidery thread (we used Eleganza perle cotton in colors EZ118 New Spring and EZM1060 Volcano)
- (optional) A wool/acrylic thread to sew the top shut after stuffing (we used Ellana wool/acrylic in color EN49 Kumquat to pair with the orange wool precisely).
Begin by cutting out and tracing the free pattern (downloadable above) and cutting out your carrot pieces.
Use your #8 perle cotton to add some embellishments to your pieces. While you can embellish your them however you like, we used a simple chain stitch to add some accents to each wool piece.
Load your machine with a regular sewing thread in the top and bobbin. Lay your two orange carrot pieces right sides together and sew using a ¼” (quarter inch) seam allowance to sew the sides and tip together. Begin slightly below the corner on one side and end at the same place on the opposite so that you leave an opening at the top. Don’t forget to backstitch on both ends.
Trim and turn your piece inside out so the right sides are facing out again. Now you can stuff the pocket with catnip! Don’t overstuff the toy and ensure the top flap will lay flat so you can still sew it shut.
Arrange the two leaves in the top and tuck in the loose edges. Pin or clip it all together and hand sew the opening closed using the wool/acrylic thread. This thread will blend in significantly better into the wool fibres, especially if you use the Merino wool and Ellana wool/acrylic thread as they are dyed to the exact same color.
