A Musing Wigi: Sewing with Fleece

During the holidays Joann Fabric always has sales going on. The particular time I was there the store had a sale on Simplicity patterns & fleece and I found the perfect combination for both. You see, we got a cat from the local Humane Society and with winter here on the frozen tundra I wanted him to be nice and warm.

When looking at the different fleece patterns I had originally thought to have a 'pet' theme but they all looked to prissy. Our cat is a tough guy, so I went with the appropriate themed material.

As a side note, it took us a while to name him since I wanted to see what his personality would turn out to be. We ended up naming him TC, why? Well, it was what we were calling him anyway. You know - "The Cat". :-P

So I got the pattern below. I actually reviewed it on Amazon too.

When I selected this pattern to make I thought, "Well, it's simple enough and since it's 'no sew' it should be easy." Ha! Let me just say that once you get the pattern cut out, you have a lot of work to do before you even start putting it together.

You will need:

Fleece material
Scissors
Pins
Awl
Hammer (yes, that's right a hammer)
Marker
Fiberfill

I got some fleece fabric which always is on sale around the holidays. I washed it and then found a place big enough to lay out the fabric for cutting. (Note, I always fuse my pattern to some light Pelon interfacing as the pattern holds up better that way) I pinned the pattern on top and cut out my chosen view. Next I had to mark the pattern and make holes in the fleece. Do you know how hard it is to make a teeny tiny hole in this material? I swear to God it's like steel! You have to punch holes in the fleece so that you can thread it with the fleece strips you cut to draw up the fabric.

What to do, what to do? So I asked my husband if he had any ideas of how to do this without me marking up my cutting surface with little punch holes. He gave me a piece of 1x2 wood to put under the fabric so that when I punched holes in it with the hammer and awl, my cutting surface wouldn't suffer. I also left the wood under the fleece so that my Sharpie marker wouldn't mar my cutting surface either.

Let me tell you that this project (for me) was an experience in patience. It seemed like there were a bazillion holes to punch and mark. Not only did I have to mark the holes, but I wanted to make sure I could see the mark from either side of the fabric. It wasn't a little dot here and there I had to saturate that hole. This paid off for me when the weaving part started. If you think you can skip any part of the 'making a hole or marking a hole' think again. 1) Punching the hole is a 'must do' because you have to weave that fleece strip through it and 2) If you don't mark the hole you punched you will never find it in the fleece. Trust me on this one....

Stuffing the bottom part of the bed after I had weaved the bottom was easy as was the rest of the instructions. For the sides of the bed the instructions had you make 1/2 of the side and then stuff it with the fiberfill material. I did this but it was hard to get the stuffing even, When I did the 2nd half of the side, I stuffed as I went and that went much better.

I think I will draw up the sides more than the pattern said to do, but I believe this is individual taste.

Would I make it again? No, unless someone paid me a lot of money to do it. Am I glad I made it? Yes, very much so.