pointysticks.net

First, a little about maneki neko. Sometimes called lucky cats, maneki neko translates to beckoning cat. Maneki neko are depictions of a Japanese bob tailed cat with one or both front paws raised, held to attract prosperity or protect it (depending on which paw is raised– when both paws are raised one can assume all bases are covered.)

My maneki neko has a big orange fish. Why? Because I like fish, that’s why.

I’m going to assume that you’re familiar with the basic techniques and stitches used in machine and handsewing, there’s nothing complicated about this critter. You’ll need to know basting/running stitch, back-stitch (only if you are only hand sewing) or straight stitch (only if you are going to mix hand and machine sewing), and ladder stitch as well as a few embroidery stitches (or fake the embroidery with fabric paint or markers) and a little (teeny tiny) bit of needle sculpting.

Materials: Cheap (unlined) stretch knit gloves, the size of the gloves will dictate the final size of your maneki neko. Baby gloves will make itty bitty kitties and adult gloves can make a nice 4-5 inch tall figure.
Tatting thread, it’s very cool stuff– it doesn’t stretch, its smooth, strong and can withstand knotting and unknotting (with the point of a handy sewing pin) for adjusting gathers, tacking pieces into place and I hear if you’re really talented you can actually use it to make tatted lace.
Embroidery needle, various colors of embroidery floss, and embroidery scissors. If you are not confident with embroidery I think you can get by with fabric paint– I won’t judge.
Machine sewing thread that matches gloves.
Disappearing ink or mark-be-gone type pen. Use the white pen on dark background fabrics.
Polyester fiberfill.
Sewing machine with a fine ball-point needle (should say “suitable for lightweight knits” otherwise use your best guess and fake it, if the glove gets sucked by the bottom thread into the feed dogs then use a finer gauge needle, otherwise you should be okay.)
Hand sewing needle.

Turn your gloves inside out, if there are sewn cuffs use the embroidery scissors to liberate the stitches around each cuff.

Most of the cuff will be cut off later, but leave it be for now because it makes the glove easier to wrangle through the next couple of steps.

If you nick the fabric a little don’t worry, it’ll be concealed later on. If you accidentally nick yourself try not to bleed too much on the fabric and seek proper medical attention.

This is going to seem a little backwards but play along with me for a moment: Using your tatting thread and embroidery needle baste a nice curved end at both the ring finger and the thumb of one glove, just next to the ring finger and under the index and middle fingers nearly to the join of the thumb, and on the other side of the ring finger under the pinky to midway to the side of the palm.

Once the basting is out of the way, go ahead and mark your sewing lines (not right over the tatting thread as I have done, that was just silly of me.) If you are machine sewing use a very small straight stitch and (this is vital so pay attention) let the darned feed dogs do their thing! (Of course, you know that pushing and pulling the fabric through the machine will result in chaos– I totally wrote that last bit in italics for someone else.)

If you have a purple thang, you might want to get it out to assist in steering the fabric.

If you’re hand sewing use very tiny back stitches and put fray check over your cut lines.

Now cut! Cut close to your stitching at least within 1/8th of an inch, and turn. Run your fingers along the inside of the new seams to turn them fully, and use a knitting needle or purple thang for any bits you can’t quite reach.

Now it’s time to stuff the body. Grab a bit of poly-fil and pull it apart into a smallish light cloud, carefully shove that in the ring finger (now kitty arm), once that’s full, do the same to the thumb (now kitty’s other arm) and then the body. I cannot stress the importance of making nice fluffly little clouds of poly-fill enough, unless you’re really into the lumpy bumpy look it’s better to go slow and pack gently.

Once both arms and body are filled, grab your scissors and carefully cut off the cuff of the glove, leaving it about a scant 1/4 inch longer than you think you should. Grab the tatting thread again and make a nice even running stitch just inside of that 1/4 inch leaving a nice tail at the beginning and end. Pull the ends together and use the running stitch to gather the fabric so it holds kitty’s guts inside. Distribute the gathers more or less equally around the body and tuck the extra 1/4 inch of fabric inside the hole (this will be covered later.)

The game plan for the head is the same as the body: Baste first, make neat disappearing marks with your pen, sew over marks, trim close, turn, stuff, running stitch, pull, tie and tuck.

I freehand my basting and marks. You can make a pattern if you’re really into symmetry and trace it onto the glove. Either way, remember to leave a bit of a neck for gathering and tucking.

Now your maneki neko should look a heck of a lot less like a glove and a whole lot more like a lucky cat. Or like a unlucky cat, at least until we get the head on tight.

Take some time and try different placements and positions for the head, have a couple of long quilting pins handy so you can really take your time and try different positions and angles until you feel the tilt of the head really conveys the right amount of cute or comic charm you’re after. Once you find that position tack it firmly into place with the tatting thread.) Anchor your matching sewing thread where it will be hidden and start ladder stitching that sucker into place.

The nose and bottom feet are tips from those amputated fingers. I chose a pinkie tip for the nose and two index fingers for the feet, they go about the same, except the feet should be somewhat longer and less firmly stuffed as the nose.

Try the nose on changing orientation and position until you find just the right spot as you did with the head. Keep in mind that you’ll be needle sculpting the actual nose and mouth onto this piece after it’s been sewn into place.

I think the nose is the most awkward thing on this maneki neko, it seems like my sewing thread wanted to wrap around one arm or the other or around an ear. I was definitely using too long of a thread at this point, but I managed to get the nose on in the right place– eventually.

When I shortened the thread life got a little easier.

Next, the feet: Same as the nose, only slightly larger and not quite so fussy.

Sewing the feet on is a breeze using our new favorite stitch: The ladder stitch.

Now there’s the issue of the unsightly tushy of our maneki neko.

I sliced up one side of a middle finger (this is part of the project that really deserves a middle finger too) and cut a bottom piece to cover the tush and the bottom of both feet.

If your kitty is a little drunken looking, this would probably be a good time to slip a penny or other weight in so that gravity can help keep him up and waving.

Now it’s time for the details on the nose and paws. For the nose sink the needle through the back of the head and make a couple of tiny stitches in the center to lock the thread down. Make a roughly equilateral triangle (point down) on the top of the nose with your stitches and pull tight, only tight enough to pull the stitches into place, too tight and the thread will snap.

Come down from the center of the nose with the next stitch, and over on both sides to make the mouth. Don’t worry if it doesn’t quite stand out as a face just yet, once the embroidery is done it will.

Toes are easy. Mark out the dimples of the paw and loop your thread from back through to the front a few times for each toe keeping.

Carry the needle through to the next toe inside the paw. The toes are subtle, not nearly as pronounced as the nose (which is pretty subtle) so while the tension needs to be firm, it doesn’t need to be super tight.

Finally its time for the embroidery! Knock yourself out here, I use satin stitches for the eyes and feet on this one. She’s almost (but not quite) ready.

You can make/find a scroll, fish, lucky money hammer, orb, or koban for your maneki neko. I like fish though. This one I free handed on quilting cotton and stitched (very small machine stitches) with matching thread, leaving the top fin open for turning.

I cut away, close to the seams the excess fabric and turned. There’s no need to stuff the tail (which is good because the tail is a pain to turn.)

Attach to the paw with a couple of stitches and…