22 animal sleeves

You can wear more than just your heart on your sleeve.

How about a raccoon or a bear or even a fox? I was inspired by Jennifer of Parrish Platz who made a panda sleeve shirt for her little one. Check it out over here.

The hardest part of the creating process was figuring out an animal. 

*think*think*think*

A-ha!

A raccoon!

I remember Rachael from Imagine Gnats did a series called, "Raccoons The New Black". It was really cute. So I thought I'd give it a go.

Since the raccoon was going to be on the sleeve I didn't want to have too many layers as it might be too stiff for movement and comfort. First, I cut the sleeves out and marked the centers to help with placement of the faces. Then I cut out pieces for the face using black flannel with fusible web on the backside. Next, I placed the eye detail and nose onto the sleeve and ironed it. Once it was fused, I did a decorative zig-zag stitch along the edge of the nose and around the eyes. The eyes are buttons and the ears are black flannel with white piping that was sewn into the seams. Quite a few steps, but it came together fairly easy. The blouse is a pattern I have used before (seen here) from this book.

The vest is a pattern from Cucito Babies And Toddlers Magazine, 2011 Winter and Early Spring volume. I tried to locate it for you if you were interested in purchasing it, but I can't seem to find it anywhere. Sorry. The fabric is this suuuuper yummy sherpa fabric I had bought from Fabricworm last year. I had originally wanted to make a throw blanket, but now that we're getting into warmer weather, I opted for a vest. At least now she can wear her blanket, right?

Now the pants...

Okay this deserves it's own post. I'm sooo in love with the harem/sarouel pants at the moment. I've already made quite a few and I promise to talk more about it later. I know... I'm such a tease...

*wink*

So are you ready for a little animal love?

What would you wear on your sleeve?

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