Part Two: Halloween Mug Rugs, the Black Cat tutorial

This post has instructions for the Black Cat Mug Rug. Check out the previous post for the Jack-O-Lantern.

Are you finished making your Jack-O-Lantern mug rug? Ready to move on to the second fun Halloween Mug Rug? Great! If you haven’t done any fusible appliqué before, you may want to check out the simple instructions on my Appliquéd Gift Bags Tutorial.
 
This pattern, as well as the Jack-O-Lantern posted a couple of days ago, is based on the same techniques as my Lady Bug Mug Rug, so look there for more detailed instructions. If you want to learn to make a more traditional mug rug, take a look at Make A Basic Quilted Mug Rug.

Quilted Mug Rug Tutorial for Halloween: The Black Cat

Click any photo to enlarge it. Refer to Jack-O-Lantern pattern for more details about the process.

Trace and cut two black circles of fabric. Use a bowl or plate about one inch larger than you want the mug rug to be when finished.	Press fusing material to the wrong side of a 1x1 inch piece of red fabric for the nose, and a 2x3 inch piece of bright green for the eyes. Draw out your eyes and nose pieces on the paper side.	Cut out the eyes and nose. You may want to cut them larger than needed and trim to get the right size. To add pupils to the eyes, fold each eye in half the short way and snip out a bit from the middle (do not cut to the edge.) Peel the paper and press each piece in place on one circle of black.
Using the same system as for the Jack-O-Lantern handle, or the Lady Bug antenna, press a 4x6 inch piece of fusing material to a 6x8 inch piece of black fabric. Peel, fold the extra fabric over, and press, Draw out your cat's ears, and cut them out.	Play with the placement of your cat's ears. Once you have them lined up right, put a pin in the front face circle at the base of each ear to hold placement. DO NOT attach the ears.	Place the back circle over, and use a colored pencil to mark ear placement, both top and bottom. DO NOT attach the ears yet!
Turn each ear IN so the point goes towards the center of the back circle, align with your placement marks, and pin in place. (The gray fabric is to show the detail only and not stitched.)	Baste each ear in place as pinned. (You will not have a stray piece of gray fabric, it is used to set off the placement of the black on black ears for photo only.)	This shows the back after both ears have been basted in place.
This is the layering order for assembling the quilt sandwich. Back, with ears turned in UNDER . Face, with eyes facing up. Batting scrap cut to match the circle size.	Layer the quilt sandwich as shown in previous picture. Be sure to align the ears with the marking pins on the front (or you will have a very crooked cat!) Leave a generous opening in the CHIN area to allow for turning.	Before stitching around the face, check to confirm that the ears are aligned, and you are leaving the CHIN open!
With batting side UP, stitch around with 3/8 inch seam allowance. Be sure to leave the chin area open. After stitching, trim all layers of seam allowance back on EARS only.	Turn right side out, smoothing the circle out. To close the chin area, turn the face fabric over the batting. Then fold in the back, pinning through all layers. Press flat.	The quilting will secure the chin area closed. This is the drawing I made to plan the quilting. I used 4 steps to quilt. Click to enlarge for stitching placement ideas.
Stitching Step One: With black thread, stitch close to the edge all around the circle. Use a locking stitch as you start and stop. Press again.	Stitching Step 2. To make the MOUTH, with RED thread, stitch around the nose, straight down chin 1/2 inch, and out to both sides as shown in stitching guide.	Stitching Step 3. Referring to the Stitching Guide, start in the inside corner of one eye, stitch across the bottom, back across the top, repeat on the outside edge, then continue to create the bridge of the nose and stitch the other eye.

Stitching Step 4. Referring to the Stitching Guide, sew the zig zag features that create the implied whiskers and fur markings. Trim the threads, and your Black Cat Mug Rug is done!

What a happy pair of Halloween Mug Rugs!

©2011, The Curious Quilter, thecuriousquilter.net, maryeoriginals.com. These Halloween Mug Rugs are for the personal use of my blog readers only, and may not be used commercially.