Three Little Kittens

After a big project completion I need a smaller one for instant gratification. I liken this practice to a palette cleanser between courses of a big meal. These three small hand-sized stuffed velvet kittens did the trick after my completion of Fifty Shades of Taupe in my previous post. I bought this kit of a trio of kittens, made in France, from Renaissance Ribbons. The fabric is a heavy duty 100% polyester velvet that is so soft, smooth, and appealing to the touch it reminds me of the silky fur on the tummy of a six-week old puppy. Each kitten comes in its own package™ with a one page instruction card written in French. Luckily the diagrams told me all I needed to know.

Construction is simple. Two sides of the front view of a kitten are sewn right sides together, turned right side out, stuffed, and then whip stitched closed at the base. Because the fabric has a heavy almost rubberized backing and is slippery on the front when the two right sides are against each other, I used Clover Wonder Clips™ to hold the two pieces in place while stitching around the perimeter.

My trusty tools for turning and poking out corners came to my rescue, even for the thick fabric.

The three kittens were given French names: Filou translates to Trickster, Plume means Feather, and Lune is equivalent to  Moon.

My husband has been wanting to get a cat for quite a while so these will need to do in the interim. They feel very much like stroking a real feline. I am sure, though, that he will insist they are far from an adequate substitution for the real thing. I insist they are much, much cuter and less demanding.

Each is the perfect size for a small child's hand. I suspect if a grandchild or two visits, I will be quite willing to have one or more kitten travel home in a suitcase. For now they are decor in my family room since they have such tactile and visual appeal to me.

I confess. I thought I was buying an extra kitten for myself when I actually bought another entire set of three. Maybe I will make them up now or perhaps save them for another between-big-projects break. I do tend to like whimsical pillow type accents in my family room. Linking up now with MCM #183 at Cooking Up Quilts...