GIVE CHARACTER TO YOUR FURRY FRIENDS BY ADDING EMBROIDERED FACIAL FEATURES

NOTES

■ Seam allowances are ¼in,

unless otherwise noted.

■ Press seams open, unless

otherwise instructed.

■ Read pattern in full before you begin.

■ RST = right sides together.

■ Fabrics supplied by Wool Warehouse

(woolwarehouse.co.uk).

■ Debbie used Vlieseline 80/20 cotton

mix batting (vlieseline.com).

FABRICS USED

Fabrics are an assortment of prints and solids from Wool Warehouse.

CUTTING OUT

1 From the assorted clamshell prints cut:

■ Forty two (42) Clamshell templates.

2 From the background fabric cut:

■ One (1) 27in x 35in.

3 From the backing fabric cut:

■ One (1) 32in x 40in.

4 From the fusible interfacing cut:

■ Fifty one (51) Clamshell templates.

5 Remove the selvedges from your binding fabric. Cut diagonally across the fabric using the 45-degree line of your quilt ruler. Then cut 1¼in wide strips, aligning your ruler with the diagonal edge of the fabric. Cut enough so that once sewn you will have approx 3½yds.

MAKING THE BEARS

6 Use the Clamshell template to trace out five shapes onto the right side of your caramel fabric. Make sure to leave a little space between each one, and don’t cut out the shapes yet.

7 Trace five each of the bear snouts and bear noses onto the paper side of the fusible web, leaving a little space between each one. Cut the group of snouts and noses out roughly.

8 Following the manufacturer’s instructions, fuse the snouts to the wrong side of the medium brown fabric. Fuse the noses to the wrong side of the black fabric (Fig A). Cut out each shape along the marked line.

9 Using the Bear Layout Guide to help with placement, layer the snout and

nose pieces on top of each traced clamshell. Carefully fuse in place.

10 Machine stitch around the outer edge of the fused pieces. Debbie used a free-motion technique for a sketched look, but you could also use your walking foot.

11 Use two strands of embroidery thread to embroider French knots for the bear's eyes, and backstitch a line under the nose to make a mouth. Then neatly cut out each clamshell shape.

12 Mark out ten ears using the template, on the medium brown fabric. Then turn the template over and mark out ten reverse ears. Cut each ear out.

13 Pair one regular and one reverse ear, RST. Sew along the curved edges, leaving the flat edge open, and backstitching at each end. Notch along the curved seam allowance, taking care not to cut into your stitching (Fig B). Turn the ear right side out and press. Repeat for each pair of ear pieces.

MAKING THE RACOONS

14 Trace four clamshell shapes onto your grey fabric, leaving space between each as you did for the bears.

15 Follow the process in steps 7– 8 to trace and cut out the racoon appliqué pieces. You will need four racoon muzzles from the grey fabric and four racoon noses from the black fabric. You will also need eight eye mask pieces from white fabric (four regular and four reverse), and eight mask accents from medium grey fabric (four regular and four reverse).

16 Follow the process in steps 9–10 to apply the appliqué pieces and embroider details for each racoon, referring to the Layout Guide. Take care that you layer the eye mask pieces first, with mask accents on top. Then add the muzzle, followed by the nose, covering the edges of the mask pieces in the centre.

17 Make eight ears from the medium grey fabric, following steps 12–13.

PREPARING THE CLAMSHELLS

18 Take one of the prepared bear clamshells. Place an interfacing piece on the right side of the clamshell, with the sticky side against the fabric. Do not press.

19 Neatly stitch along the top curved edge of the clamshell. Notch the curved seam, taking care not to clip into the stitches, as shown in Fig C.

20 Turn the clamshell right side out, and finger press only along the curved seam. Do not press with an iron. It may help to roll the seam slightly between your fingers, so the interfacing is not visible from the front. Baste the layers together along the bottom curved edges (Fig D).