Cats and tigers… they clearly appeal to my imagination! I came across this book, Sew Cute to Cuddle, where I found a great sewing pattern of a tiger. For this one I ordered a fat quarter of orange quilt fabric online and gathered smaller pieces of black and white fabric and black felt.
Usually I like to sew with fluffy plush fabrics so this was kind of new to me. Working with non-plush fabrics means that you will need to sew more precisely: fluffy plush fabric will mask it more or less if you are 1 mm beside the intended sewing line. With this graphic quilt fabric all mistakes will show.
After getting all the fabrics together, I actually found out that this tiger was the most laborious from the whole book, but never mind, it was worth the effort.
For this pattern you need to cut out a lot of pieces. The black stripes I embroidered manually which took me a couple of evenings. The snout was the most complex part and I really like it since it gives the tiger its character. After the stripes were all embroidered in place and the cutting was done, I spent an additional Sunday afternoon to sew it all together. Our tiger cat Alobar always enjoys it when I sew and wanders around playing with my stuff. I enjoyed sewing Tyler, it felt like a well spent Sunday afternoon.
In general, the book is richly illustrated (Mariska Bolman’s background as graphic designer shows off) and each step is very well explained with clear visuals. The pattern I used also had some tips and tricks do it easier and I learned a couple of new techniques. The only thing that was not perfect was that the white belly seemed larger than needed for fitting the orange back but I got that easily corrected.
In the book there are 12 different patterns of which there are easier projects which can be finished within a couple of hours and more extensive ones, for which you need a bit more time, like 4-8 hours, like the tiger in this example. I also like the designs of the dragon and the monkey so stay tuned for more examples!
This book is available via e.g. Amazon.com and patterns are available via the website of DIY Fluffies. The fabric I ordered is from an online Quilt Fabrics shop in the Netherlands, QuiltKompas, which has an extensive collection of interesting design fabrics.