How to Make a Toy for a Cat

It's so much fun to see a kitten or a cat engaged in frisky, physical play. It's also fun for your cat, as well as a healthy outlet for him to release some extra energy and get exercise. While you can easily buy cat toys at just about any store you might visit, you may worry about the cat accidentally swallowing and/or choking on a detachable eye or nose from his "lovey." It's easy to make a delightful toy for your cat while ensuring that the toy will be safe for him to bat around and chew on.

Things You'll Need

• 2 clean tube socks
• Fiberfill stuffing
• Sketches of eyes, nose and mouth for toy "face"
• Embroidery floss, your choice of colors
• Embroidery needle
• Sewing thread

Instructions

1. Choose two clean tube socks. Try to pick socks that are no longer being used by their owner. Sew up any holes or weak spots in the fabric. Cut a section approximately 1 1/2 inches wide from the cuff of one of the socks. This will become the tail of the cat's toy. Stuff the shorter sock into the longer sock and straighten the toes of the socks until they match each other and there is no fabric bunching up.

2. Make a rough sketch of the facial features you want to embroider onto the toy's face. It doesn't have to be artistically perfect; your cat won't care about that. The purpose of embroidering a face onto the toy is to give it added visual appeal while keeping the toy safe for your cat. The eyes can be large or small and they can be any color you choose. They can be "cat" eyes or "mouse" eyes. The nose can be any color you choose, as well. The mouth can be "human," "cat" or "mouse." As with the eyes and nose, choose any color of embroidery floss you like.

3. Thread the embroidery needle with three strands of embroidery floss. Make a knot in the end of the floss. Following the drawing you made, begin embroidering the facial features onto your cat's new toy. If you like, you can use the satin stitch. Put one hand into the double sock to help control the needle and floss as you are inserting the needle from outside to inside and back. Stick the needle into the spot you've chosen for one of the facial features and pull the thread through.Put the point of the needle very near, but not in the same spot where you started from. Pull the needle and floss up and out and proceed to repeat this step as you create the eye, nose or mouth.The satin stitch is very smooth and the points where the floss appears to meet are very close to each other, but they do not come out at the same point where you put the needle down into the sock. If you put the needle in the same spot where you pulled a stitch in, you will pull that stitch back out. Carefully satin-stitch each feature, and again, they do not have to be visually perfect. The point is to make a fun and safe toy for your cat.

4. Once you have finished embroidering the facial features into your cat's new toy, it is time to fill it with fiberfill. Take handfuls of the fiberfill and stuff into the double sock. Don't be shy about using too much fiberfill. You want your cat's toy to be fat and sturdy. You also want the toy to be fat enough that it will bounce and move around when your cat bats it. However, don't stuff the sock so full that it becomes too heavy for your cat to bat around and have fun with. As you are stuffing the socks, pin the edges shut and experiment with the weight of the sock by batting it around yourself. Unpin the socks and remove or add fiberfill until you have made the sock toy as bouncy as possible. Turn the cuff of the outer sock in and, using regular sewing thread, sew it securely together so that no fiberfill will come out. As you are sewing the sock cuff together, catch the remaining cuff of the shorter sock with the thread. This will prevent the inner sock from sliding down and bunching up. For added strength, sew from one side to the other, then sew back to the starting point.

5. Take the portion of cuff you cut off earlier and sew one edge together. Double-sew it as you did the cuff of the toy earlier. Stuff the tail with fiberfill so that it is stiff and fat. Using regular sewing thread, sew the second edge together, double-stitching it so that it won't unravel and allow fiberfill to leak out. Sew one narrow side of the tail to the cuff end of the sock toy. Make several sewing passes back and forth so it will be less likely to come off the body of the toy. Toss your cat his newest toy and watch the fun begin.

Tips & Warnings

• If you prefer, you can add short "arms" and "legs" to your cat's new toy. Take a short length of cuff from the sock you did not cut the "tail" portion from and fashion the "legs" and "arms" in the same way you made the toy's tail.

• If you are feeling particularly artistic, you can also draw and embroider additional features onto your cat's new toy, such as spots, eyelashes, a tongue or whatever strikes your fancy.

• Instead of washing the toy in the washing machine, hand wash it, then dry it in the dryer. Try to get the toy as dry as possible, to avoid the risk of mold or mildew forming in the body of the toy.

• Make very sure your embroidery and sewing are secure, with no loose threads anywhere on the toy. Your cat's claws will pull at the threads, and you want to ensure that threads that get caught on his claws won't become a hazard to him while he's playing. To accomplish this, secure the ends of your stitches by making tight closing (locking) stitches before you cut the thread. Also, cut the thread as close as possible to the body of the toy so no dangling ends can be caught by your cat's claws.