Mouse Tutorial Part 3

 

Mr. Mouse would like to interrupt this tutorial to report that I use my seam ripper as often as a mouse uses his whiskers. And while he feels its sad that he doesn't have whiskers, he thinks it is tragic that I gave instructions yesterday that would make a mutilated mouse. So if you followed along, better get out your seam ripper. Sorry about that!

I mistakenly put the left cheek on the right side and the right cheek on the left side. These means that there is a big hole where the shoulders should be. To correct this, you will have to disconnect the nose from the side sections, rearrange the parts, and then resew them. (I will be going back to yesterday's tutorial to take out the offending parts).

 Now let's resume the tutorial by making mouse feet. For these, you will need two 1.5 by 2.5 inch rectangles of the dark fabric, and three 1.5 inch squares of the background. Use two of the 1.5 inch squares to make flip triangles as shown above on the right hand side. Sew along the diagonal, iron the triangle over, and trim away the excess layers.

Now we are ready to assemble the body. Attach the arms to a 1.5 by 2.5 inch rectangle of the light fabric. While you're at the sewing machine, attach the right and left feet to the center 1.5 inch square of background fabric. And finally, sew the arms, tummy and feet together. If you have corrected the nose section, you can attach this on top to complete the center section.

 

 In this next series of steps, we are going to complete the right hand section that includes the tail and some toes. Let's make the toes first. This requires a 1.5 by 4.5 inch rectangle of background fabric and a 1.5 inch square of dark fabric. Sew the square onto the rectangle to make a flip triangle.

Now we're going to make a part of the tail, putting a flip triangle on top of a HST (half-square triangle). First, make an HST using your method of choice. I cut 3.5 inch triangles using the easy angle ruler, but you can use any method that will give you a 3 inch finished HST with one part background fabric and the other part dark fabric. You will also need a 2.5 inch square of background.

Lay the 2.5 inch square of background fabric face down on the corner of dark fabric. Sew along the diagonal and iron the flip triangle over. Trim. Now you have the diagonal piece of tail.

You will also want to cut a 3.5 by 4.5 rectangle of background as well as a 1.5 by 4.5 rectangle of dark fabric.

Now you have all the components to make the right hand section of the mouse. First sew together the 3.5 by 4.5 rectangle of background to the 1.5 by 4.5 rectangle, that is, sew A to B. Next sew a 1.5 by 2.5 inch rectangle of background to a 1.5 inch square of dark fabric. This is where the tail is attached to the mouse body. Sew C to D. Next sew the diagonal part of the mouse tail (E) to C+D. And finally sew A+B to C+D+E to F. Or more simply...sew the parts together as shown above.

The left section is the easiest. It's simply a single flip triangle. To make this, sew a 1.5 inch square of dark fabric to a 2.5 by 8.5 inch rectangle of background fabric.

And if you think back to the beginning of the tutorial, the mouse is constructed in four sections. At this point you should have all four sections finished. Now all you have to do is attach the side sections to the center sections. Iron these. The last step is to sew the top section to the bottom section.  For this part, I would suggest that you carefully check that section between the eyes lines up with the nose. I would even suggest the use of a pin to hold that alignment in place while you sew the top section to the bottom section. I only had to sew it three times before I got it right.

Last but not least, its time to call the exterminator. You have a mouse problem!