Retro: Six fleur applique designs

Image from Materialistic

Aren’t these the cutest applique patterns ever? Designer Kelly Fletcher of materialistic blog made them into six pillows/cushions. According to Kelly,

They’re all the same size, so would also work well as an appliqué quilt – using one, two or all six of the designs. We’ve used a traditional appliqué technique, but you could easily revert to machine appliqué.

Congratulations to Kelly for having her appliqued pillows featured in the May issue of British Patchwork & Quilting. It shows the pattern and directions to make the Fleur Audrey pillow only, see below.

Image from Materialistic

Go here to get the May issue of the British Patchwork & Quilting magazine.

Go here to find out how to purchase the five Fleur appliqué quilting patterns that weren’t featured in the magazine. One of the patterns is called Fleur Mabel. Mabel was my late Mamaw’s name and she was indeed a beautiful flower while on this earth.

Technorati Tags: quilting, applique pattern, magazine, pillows, cushions

I don’t often share knitting patterns for pets, mostly because I don’t think of it. I don’t have a dog, and I’ve never knit for my cats except a knit couch and a little cat bed I made on a knitting machine, both of which were pretty much ignored.

I have shared some pet bed knitting patterns, and both hats and sweaters for dogs.

But I don’t think I’ve shared a pattern for a cat sweater, until now.

This one is the Bunny sweater by Sarah Zhou, so named because her cat is named Bunny, of course.

It’s a made to measure pattern because cats come in all shapes and sizes, and you can also use any yarn you like and whatever gauge you are getting with that yarn.

The design is knit from the bottom up, that is, from the tail side up toward the head. Pairs of decreases shape the body as you work toward the armholes, which are made by binding off a few stitches. Then the belly and the back are worked flat, then joined and worked in the round for the chest part.

There are some design options in the pattern, from the look of the photos they include using a contrasting color for the edging, working a scalloped edging, maybe a foldover collar? But of course you can add your own embellishments, stripes, make it in team colors or for a Halloween costume. I’m sure they’re quick to knit so you can make a bunch if you have a cat who is willing to submit to such torture.

Bunny looks like a very good and mostly tolerant girl; I don’t think either of my cats would be willing to wear a sweater. But if you make one (the pattern is available on Ravelry) and successfully get your cat to wear it I would love to hear about it!

[Photo: Sarah Zhou]

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