Catnip Mouse

The children have been trying their hand at sewing again, spurred on by the arrival of my eldest daughter's new ginger kitten called pumpkin and our own very grumpy cat, who obviously needs a lot of cheering up. They have chosen to make some catnip mice, we have tried to keep the sewing to a minimum as the children are still very young and just learning to sew... you may remember their first sewing attempts earlier in the year, the gorgeous little felt hearts.

We first cut out our mouse shape, from scrap pieces of felt, using a heart shape cookie cutter as a stencil. This shape when folded in half seems to be the easiest way to make a mouse shape and we have used felt as it doesn't need hemming so it is easy for the children to sew with.

We have stitched along the edge using a back stitch with wool as this is thick enough for the children to see and handle easily. A gap was left at one end and the mouse was turned inside out ready for stuffing.

A mixture of stuffing was used, some white wadding and the dried catnip, this gives it a good shape as well as a good smell... if you are a cat! Then all that is needed is to sew up the opening, we decided to stitch a small piece of ribbon in the end as we were sewing it up to give the little mouse a tail.

Little crosses were stitched on for eyes... and these are the finished mice. It is also possible to add little ears but the children were happy with their mice without so we have left them. All ready for some cat play.