Mousie

so here we are 3 weeks from christmas and i am/was? making these very cute stuffed animals for two of the grandkids. There is a girl cat with a dress, shoes, vest and hairbow, and a boy, dog, who will have a complimentary vest (to the cat) and a bow tie out of the dress fabric, so they look like a couple, right?
ok, here is my problem: the 2 cats i made came out great. they are fleece. it's the dogs. they are fur and it's sliding all over the place. i have gobs of stabilizers, but don't know which one to use and how. i tried one last night and my ears still came out whopper-jawed. (his ears, lol)
thinking about trying to purchase some dogs and still make the clothes, but then "nana didn't make them".
If anybody knows how to sew with fur, please share your info. i would be extremely grateful. C

ScubaK

Can you "join" the fabric with a basting spray?
This might help your shifting fabric
K

mary quite contrary

Lots of pins.

Or sew them by hand. I used to sew dogs for a lady. I would do 4-6 dogs per week and I did them all by hand.

Moonpi

Glue sticks will hold them in place til you get the pieces sewn. I haven't done much with fake fur except cat toys, and bend the fur back in the area I am working on, then re-fluff.

pocoellie

The couple of times I worked with the "fur" I hand basted everything before sewing.

Mousie

well i pinned them to death and the first side would be fine, but turn the curve and here we go,...the fur just shrank away from the ear lining, so...my next idea was to baste all seams before machine sewing. it helps to know somebody has done that. boy, this is going to take even longer, but that's what we do for those we love right? torture ourselves!!! lol. will be so cute if i can get them finished in time. thanks, guys!!!!!

Mousie

glue stick...hey, that's an idea i hadn't thought of! i was afraid the basting spray might make them sticky all over or something. why do i try new things when there's a deadline?

mgshaw

years ago I made lots of stuffed animals and my pattern said to trim the fur in the seam allowances before pinning together and sewing. I never had any problems.

Mousie

thanks. another great idea that never occured to me. think i will try on some scraps and maybe i won't have to do all that basting. i would pin a lot and start at bottom of ear and go to center of top and then back to bottom on other side and meet at top again, but somehow this stuff would move with pins down the middle.
i am not new to sewing by any stretch, but this made me feel skill-less! ok, fur...here i come, we'll do this thing till we come out with two doggies, by golly. i've got two five years old that love dogs and nana is not going to let them down, lol! THANKS, everybody. you guys are great! C

Karenmay

My Mum used to make stuffed animals for all her grandkids and she found that the toys were loved much more if they were'nt perfect!!! If they had a crooked ear or the nose was a bit wonky...they were loved even more!!
So please dont make them TOO perfect!!

Karen xx