Flying_V_Goddess

I sort of got an idea for a project when my applique skills are better. I got the idea after watching "My Neighbour Totoro". Right now, the idea in my head is to make a wallhanging of the Totoro...don't have any pictures to show you what a Totoro looks like...the best way I can describe it is its a big furry thing that's like a cross between a rabbit, a cat, and an owl and smiles like a Cheshire cat. Very cute.

Anyways, instead of doing him in regular cotton I was thinking I could do him in fur. Then I wouldn't have to try and applique the jaggedness of his fur. But then again...appliqueing fur sounds kind of hard. Fur is thick and probably not the easiest fabric to sew. If I were to do this Totoro how would I go about doing it (where I can keep the most amount of sanity)?

zyxquilts

I haven't ever tried to sew fur, but my sister makes teddy bears. I remember her saying that the most tedious part of it is after she finishes sewing, she has to pick the fur out of the seams so it "fluffs" out & sort of hides the seams. I don't see why you couldn't do the same if you appliqued the fur. You could use the technique of sewing the applique piece to a piece of interfacing, then you cut a slit in the interfacing & turn it right side out. "Fluff" the edges & sew it in place. Does this make sense?

vicki reno

Maybe simply top stitch it onto the background fabric possibly using pins to hold the fur out of the line of stitching and once the pins are removed, the fur would fluff up to cover the machine sttiching. The concept sounds very interesting and I don't think it would be that difficult. You could use a glue stick, even just to hold the piece in place long enough for you to use a stright stitch on your machine to secure it permanently. I'd love to see photos as you go along if possible.

redrummy

I made a lap quilt out of the fake fur for my DIL. it is fairly easy to sew with, just expect a lot of fuzzies in your machine if you machine sew, or if you hand sew, make sure you are in the material enough, it will pull out easy. I think what you are planning will look great.
Deb :mrgreen:

bj

If the fur seems too hard to work with, you might try making it out of chenile.

jbsstrawberry

I've worked with fur, not for quilting or applique, but for lots of other projects. The secret to sanity is when you cut, just cut the back, not the actual fur, otherwise you'll have shorter fur at the seams. (snip fabric back instead of taking long cuts through the fur and back with scissors) You'll spend A LOT less time picking fur from the seams if you take a second to "brush"the fur towards center of the piece before you pin it, and then sew it. Hope this was helpful, and understandable :)

Tiffany

I am so glad someone else has asked this question. I've been saving some fur to use to make some hedgehog blocks for an exchange I'm in. I haven't gotten as far as attempting to sew with the fur yet. I have been a bit tentative. These tips are very helpful and remind me that I will need to get started on that project soon, as the block exchange is due in June.

Flying_V_Goddess

I didn't think of this until now, but this might be more difficult than I thought. Well...the Totoro has brown fur and a white underbelly with brown upside down "V" marks. Which means if I do this there's going to be two or three layers of fur to applique. That might be a little tricky.

Here's a link to a picture of the Totoro (along with a smaller one and a white one...the one I'm talking about is the biggest one with the white one on its head). Maybe that'll help.

http://www.student.oulu.fi/~markkumu/komero/totoro.jpg

jbsstrawberry

Well, Maybe you could use the fur on the dkr brown part, and fleece on the belly part. And you don't have to make the complete brown part of the body, just underlap it where the fleece part would be. That way he would have a furry body and a fuzzy belly, and you only have to applique one layer of each.

Flying_V_Goddess

Its not a bad idea, but I think it'd look even better if the Totoro was all fur (except for the eyes and whiskers and that sort of thing, of course...haven't decided what I'm gonna do about that). That's just my preference.

Hey, I just thought of something. There was an article in a quilting magazine where they appliqued these turtles out of batik fabric, but they cut out little shapes out of the backs of the turtles so that the fabric underneath would show through. Maybe for the belly I could cut out the V shapes and then the brown fur underneath would show through and fluff it out a little bit so it looked like the belly and the V's were one piece. Think that might work? Certainly sounds easier to sew than the body, the belly, and the V marks layered together.