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Last year I made up some sweet but terribly distressed gingerbread men for my for my favorite Christmas kitties. And since it’s that time of year and everyone I know is totally into the Walking Dead, I thought it was a good time for some felt zombie catnip toys for the kitties. And so my newest little felties, The Walking ‘Bread were born.
The good news is that these suckers are way cheap to make. $1.50 for felt $1.25 for floss and $3 for fresh catnip. I only made four but I still have the supplies to make at least 4 more if I wanted to. Plus, if you’re a regular crafter you probably already have plenty of felt and floss on hand to use!
Every time I make up some toys for the cats they are always so excited. It’s like they can tell the difference between store-bought and something that I whipped up myself. Maybe it is because the toys smell more like me or maybe it is because they actually tend to watch (and sometimes interfere) while I’m sewing up their new toys.
For this project you will need:
- Felt in green, red, white, black and pink
- Floss in complementing colors
- Fresh catnip (the cats will go crazier for them if the ‘nip is fresh)
- man shaped printable
Print off your template and use to cut out your men. You’ll need two pieces for each one. To save time I cut them both out in one go.
Zombify them by removing appendages, and making internal organs visible. Embroider and applique your bits only to the front piece.
Now I’m not much for zombies myself so I had a hard time thinking of ways to zombie these guys up, and I still wanted them to be cute, anyway. I think mine came out pretty hit or miss…
Using the blanket stitch and attach the front and back together. Use a backstitch anywhere the blanket stitch wouldn’t really work.
Leave a space of an inch or 2 open to fill with catnip.
You can fill each zombie with catnip by either making a funnel out of paper or by pinching and shoving inside. Use your fingers or a stick to shove the catnip into the arms and legs to get more stuffed in.
Continue your blanket stitch to close up with the catnip inside.
There are lots of ways you can make your felt zombies more grotesque… with visible spine, intestines coming out the bottom, skull visible and of course, bones sticking out where an arm or a leg should be…
And prepare for your cats to go nuts.
I kept Marla in the office with me while I was making these guys and she got all ‘nipped out during the making of and was pretty sedate during picture time. The others, however were rolling, scratching little terrors making photos a difficult proposition. I wound up taking just under 1000 pictures and, while there are a lot of pics in the post, these are the ONLY good ones that came from them :)
Now doesn’t he look so happy? I hope you’ll be making some catnip filled felt zombies for your kitties, too! It’s cheap, creative and fun and the toys themselves are surely appreciated. Just don’t fork them over right before bed time or you’ll be uber sorry!
Will you be whipping up some kitty crack filled zombies? I’d love to see yours!
Man this is so cute!! This is just what I needed, thanks for this adorable tutorial!
My cat loves a good catnip toy, and my husband would think this is hilarious. I think this project is a win!
Yay! I’m glad that you like it!
Hahah these are so awesome! I loved your gingerbread ones from last year as well!
Thanks, Sasha! They were both a lot of fun to make.
Allison, you’re the most amazing Crafter of all that I read. All your projects i like. It is incredible to me, because I’m very hard on someone else’s art. My compliments to you. Zombies are just super. I have been looked after pincushion as a zombie on your blog. Now my hands are plenty of zombie ideas!
You are so sweet! Thanks so much and I’m so glad that you like the projects here! And P.S. – one last zombie project coming up on Monday :)