Here’s how to make an adorable rag mouse like this one:
Cut out the main head and body piece for your cloth mouse. I used a rectangle, folded in half. With right sides together, stitch around the edges, leaving one end open for stuffing.
Choose a different fabric for your arms and legs. Cut strips about the same length as your main piece, as wide as you want them, with room to spare for turning back the right way around after sewing.
Fold it in half (right sides together) and sew, leaving an open end to add stuffing.
Make another one, then turn them right side out. 😀
Then make legs. You can make long legs, the same as the arms, or little legs. Either way is fine, so do whichever you fancy. I’ve done little legs this time.
Stuff them all with kapok. If you don’t have kapok you could use old socks to stuff them, or fabric cuttings. I have done this with some of my mice, it just makes them a little bit heavier, and somewhat lumpy. When they are stuffed, sew them together! Remember that your main piece is head and body, so the arms go a little higher than half way down, depending on how big a head you want your mouse to have. 😀
Next cut out some fabric squares to make the ears. Sometimes I make very tiny ears, this time I made big ears, then I sewed them right sides together, trimmed the edges, and turned them right side out. Make two. (You probably noticed that I have used pinking shears to cut my material. You don’t have to do that but it’s good for preventing the fabric from fraying).
Then tuck the ears over the top corners of the mouse’s head and sew them on, like so:
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Next you need to make a nose for your mouse. Cut three triangular pieces and then, putting their right side edges together, sew them together lengthways, to their points – I’m not explaining this very well – look at the diagram below 😀 Leave the base ends open, turn right side out and fill with stuffing.
Then tuck in the edges, and sew the nose onto the mouse’s face.
Next your mouse will need some eyes. I sewed over and over in one place to make these eyes, but you could sew circles of fabric on, or use buttons.
Now your mouse needs a tail 😀 This time I folded a length of fabric up so that the edges were tucked in, and sewed it over, but I have also used ribbons and oddments in the past. Attach the tail to the back of the mouse’s body.
Now your mouse is finished! I bet he’s cute 😀 Send me a photo, I’d love to see him or her ❤ Here’s some I made earlier:
You can make lots of friends for your mouse, in all shapes and sizes. Here are some I made earlier:
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So there you have it 😀 A word of warning – once you start making rag mice, you may find it difficult to stop 😉
It’s that time of year again and, for those who haven’t read it before, here begins our Christmas Story: Big Blue Sky. I will share a little of it every day this week, but if you want to read it all at once, here it is 😀
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Story continues tomorrow ❤
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Violet’s Vegan Comics – creating funny, enlightening and sometimes action-packed vegan children’s books for readers of all ages since 2012.
If you’d like your own Megan doll (from the Megan & Flos vegan science fiction comics), here’s how to make one 😀
First, find a pattern. I used Jean Greenhowe’s “ten of the best” pattern which is from this book but there are plenty of others to choose from, including lots of free ones you can download.
So, I won’t give you pattern details, you can just download whichever pattern you fancy and then make her look like Megan. If you don’t know how to knit yet, you can either learn, or sew a ragdoll instead 🙂
Anyway, this is what I did:
I used DK (Double Knitting thickness) acrylic yarn from my bag of oddments – no need to buy anything new. Her clothes don’t have to be blue, you can choose what she wears, and if you don’t have a bag of oddments, they often sell bags of leftover yarn in charity shops. I used UK size eleven (3 mm) needles.
The pattern I used starts at the ankles and works up to the top of her head (working in stocking stitch – one row knit, one row purl). I started in dark blue, for her jeans, then I changed colour, and knitted her light blue top, up to her shoulders,
then I changed colour again, to pink for her head. Then I cut the yarn, leaving a long length to thread through the stitches. Hey – didn’t I say I wasn’t going to explain the pattern? Sorry – I guess that’s useless information if you don’t have the pattern, and superfluous if you do. Oh well 😀
Excuse my photos by the way, my camera phone is very old. But you get the idea with that 🙂
Arms
Feet
Then I knitted the arms and the feet. Megan is wearing baseball boots, so I knitted the feet two thirds white, one third red. As you can see from the photo of the finished doll, they are proper red. I don’t know why the photos here make them look brown 😀 Then I sewed laces into the red part.
Then it was time to sew her up and stuff with kapok (natural organic fibre harvested from kapok trees, used for centuries – probably – for stuffing pillows and soft toys). But if you don’t have any kapok, you could fill your doll with cut up strips of old T-shirt. Any soft material will do.
Before stuffing, it was necessary to sew down the middle of the dark blue legs section, to create two legs, and after stuffing I tied a length of yarn around the base of the pink section, to make the head 😀 The boots were folded, sewn and stuffed before being attached to the ankles; and the arms sewn, stuffed and attached at the shoulders.
Next she needed a face! I just sewed her features on, and not very well at first – embroidery is not my strong suit – so I unpicked it and tried again. And again, until I was happy with it 😀
She doesn’t look like Megan yet does she? That’s because she needs hair!
So I made the hair by cutting lots of long lengths of yellow yarn, tying them in the middle, and sewing them from top to bottom of the back of Megan’s head. Ouch! Your pattern will show you how 😀
If you only have a little bit of yellow for her hair, the pattern shows you how to make a hat or a hood for her, and then you’ll only need a little bit to stick out the front. 🙂
Now she looks very Megan-ish! But there’s still one more thing she needs – do you know what it is?
Her solar-powered gravity-adjusting belt of course!
For this I cast on five stitches of purple and worked in moss stitch (every row knit) until it was long enough. I kept measuring it up against the doll as I went along, until it was the right length. Then I cast off, sewed the ends of the belt together, and added the gems. Or did I sew on the gems first, and then sew the ends together? You decide 😀
Ta-daa!
She looks ready for adventure doesn’t she?!
Why don’t you make yourself a Megan doll? Or a Reflecto Girl doll? Or any of our heroic vegan characters. And do send us photos if you make any, we’d love to see them 😀
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Violet’s Vegan Comics – creating vegan comics, vegan stories, vegan nursery rhymes, vegan children’s books and vegan things to make and do, since 2012.
What will you read next? There are tonnes of vegan children’s stories, with lovely vegan characters, to choose from on our stories and comics page. Read them for free, any time you like. 😀
Marvellous Mildred and the Girl Scout Twins, Episode 4 – Serious Trouble for Sindy Snowdrop – continues from Wednesday. For the story so far, click here 😀
Sindyyy!!!!! 😮
Why is the Flat-Capped Menace taking baby Sindy to a ship?! Will our heroes get there in time to stop him?! These questions and more will be answered when this story continues, which will happen as soon as Miranda finishes drawing it.
For now – have a great weekend! 😀
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Marvellous Mildred, the Girl Scout Twins and the Flat-Capped Menace are characters from the vegan comic by Miranda Lemon.
Marvellous Mildred and the Girl Scout Twins, Episode 4 – Serious Trouble for Sindy Snowdrop – continues from Monday. For the story so far, click here 😀
Blast that Flat-Capped Menace and his robots! Hurry Mildred – they’re getting away!
Come back on Friday to see if our heroes can stop them before they reach the ship 😀
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Marvellous Mildred, the Girl Scout Twins and the Flat-Capped Menace are characters from the vegan comic by Miranda Lemon.
Marvellous Mildred and the Girl Scout Twins, Episode 4 – Serious Trouble for Sindy Snowdrop – continues from Friday. For the story so far, click here 😀
Uh oh. This is not going well at all. Poor Sindy Snowdrop is getting further and further out of reach! Come back on Wednesday to see what our heroes do next! 😀
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Marvellous Mildred, the Girl Scout Twins and the Flat-Capped Menace are characters from the vegan comic by Miranda Lemon.
Marvellous Mildred and the Girl Scout Twins, Episode 4 – Serious Trouble for Sindy Snowdrop – continues from Wednesday. For the story so far, click here 😀
Bungee cord? Whatever next?!
Find out what’s next by coming back here on Monday 😀
Have a great weekend 😀
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Marvellous Mildred, the Girl Scout Twins and the Flat-Capped Menace are characters from the vegan comic by Miranda Lemon.
Marvellous Mildred and the Girl Scout Twins, Episode 4 – Serious Trouble for Sindy Snowdrop – continues from Monday. For the story so far, click here 😀
Uh oh 😮 Plan B?
If at first they don’t succeed, they’ll try and try again – on Friday 😀
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Marvellous Mildred, the Girl Scout Twins and the Flat-Capped Menace are characters from the vegan comic by Miranda Lemon.
Marvellous Mildred and the Girl Scout Twins, Episode 4 – Serious Trouble for Sindy Snowdrop – continues from Friday. For the story so far, click here 😀
Oh my goodness! So close! 😮
Will they be able to rescue little Sindy? Come back on Wednesday to find out 😀
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Marvellous Mildred, the Girl Scout Twins and the Flat-Capped Menace are characters from the vegan comic by Miranda Lemon.
For previous episodes of Marvellous Mildred and the Girl Scout Twins, click here. Episode 4 – Serious Trouble for Sindy Snowdrop – continues from yesterday:
😮 Pedal fast girls – that baby’s life depends on it!
Have a great weekend but don’t forget to come back on Monday to find out what happens next 😀
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Marvellous Mildred, the Girl Scout Twins and the Flat-Capped Menace are characters from the vegan comic by Miranda Lemon.
For previous episodes of Marvellous Mildred and the Girl Scout Twins, click here. Episode 4 – Serious Trouble for Sindy Snowdrop – continues from yesterday:
Hurry girls! Will our heroes get there in time to save Sindy Snowdrop? Come back tomorrow to find out! 😀
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Marvellous Mildred, the Girl Scout Twins and the Flat-Capped Menace are characters from the vegan comic by Miranda Lemon.
For previous episodes of Marvellous Mildred and the Girl Scout Twins, click here. Episode 4 – Serious Trouble for Sindy Snowdrop – continues from yesterday:
That evil kidnapping fiendish villain! Where on Earth are Mildred and the girls?! Come back tomorrow to find out! 😀
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Marvellous Mildred, the Girl Scout Twins and the Flat-Capped Menace are characters from the vegan comic by Miranda Lemon.
And the most popular story for 12 and up – Maddicts!
Have you read them yet?
What will you read next? There are tonnes of vegan children’s stories, with lovely vegan characters, to choose from on our stories and comics page. Read them for free, any time you like. 😀
For those who’ve never met Megan & Flos, Megan is an ordinary vegan girl and Flos is an ordinary Summum Esse (from the planet Summum). They’re telepathic, have telekinetic powers, and wear gravity-adjusting belts which enable them to get around on dry land. Pop over to their page to catch up on the history of these extraordinary eco-warriors before Monday gets here. You don’t want to miss this – there’s trouble ahead!
Megan & Flos is a vegan adventure comic for kids by Violet’s Vegan Comics.
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Violet’s Vegan Comics – creating funny, enlightening and sometimes action-packed vegan children’s books for readers of all ages since 2012.
What will you read next? There are tonnes of vegan children’s stories, with lovely vegan characters, to choose from on our stories and comics page. Read them for free, any time you like. 😀