#his name is Anthony J Hamslice

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Making A Scrap-tokitten!

Hello everyone! If you’re a mechs fan, mechs adjacent or just think that 4 legs is not enough legs for a cat then an octokitten is your new best friend. The originals are made by Jessica Law and are fabulous but if you can’t get your octokittens direct from the Aurora then homemade is fine! There isn’t one definite method but this is the way I made mine and I thought it might help anyone with no idea where to start! This method is specifically for using up scraps but if you have enough to cut the pieces out in one here is another v good tutorial!

First of all gather your scraps together. Mine are from a dress I made for the CoS launch, a cape, a Crowley Cosplay and some scraps I’ve had around for ages. It helps that they are all about the same weight/stretchiness but not a necessity. It will just make your job sewing easier and might stop the final kitten from being as lumpy. Sew the larger pieces together (using a zigzag if you’re using stretchy material) to make square-ish shapes big enough for how large you will want Him to be.

Next is making the patten. The body is just a symmetrical shape that is roughly cat shaped. Imagine your standard model quadrokitten is sat upright, that’s about the shape you want. Your housemates bio-science notes are good for patten drafting these. Write on it to cut two or you might forget and check you have enough of the larger sewn together materiel to do so. If not, sew more!

For the leg pattern measure the base of your body pattern and double it. Now search your house for something that is circular and has the circumference that matches that measurement. A smoothie cup you have been using to hold sunflower seed shells is perfect! Draw around it in the centre of your pattern paper.

Have a think how long you want the legs to be. Mark that measurement on a long ruler with a non permanent pen. Realise you can’t find your ruler and use a fork instead. 

Then at 8 points around the circle your drew mark this distance from the circle line.

Now using the box from a tube of henna, mark how wide you would like the legs to be and cut out your patten! You might notice that the patten paper wasn’t wide enough for all the legs but that’s ok just draw it out separately and tape it on. You’ll also need a piece that is a rectangle as long as the fork measurement and as wide as your box for the top of the legs. 

Cut out one base from a larger scrap and 8 rectangles from whatever you have left. Iron any seams you have from sewing scraps together open to limit the amount of layers you have to sew through at once if your machine is weak and bad, then stitch the body pieces together right sides together. Then using a similar technique stitch the tops of the legs on to the bottom of the body.

With the right sides together sew the base onto the tops of the legs leaving one length of leg open. Turn Him the right way round using something pointy that lets you get in all the corners. Chopsticks are good for this or the metal stick you thread a cloth through to clean a flute also works. You’d think a ruler would be good but it’s too wide and anyway we have already lost it earlier on so that doesn't really matter.

Using the stuffing from a pillow your landlord left and you’ve sliced open to use the casing to make a top for larp, stuff your octokitten until He is the perfect hugging durometer to personal preference. Stitch up that last leg by hand.

The last step is to sew His eyes on and name him! He is complete and free to be set loose! Congratulations!

(also I have used He throughout since this is also an account of making my octokitten who is He however all pronouns or even no pronouns is valid for a squamous thing)