Prototyping ideas

This idea has been kicking around for a while – ever since my friend Sue said “you should give your kittens bow ties.”

I liked the idea but didn’t want to change the design of my current range of kitten toys (sold at markets and at The General Store in Christchurch). I’ve also been trying to keep on track making bags for Craft 2.0 but today I let myself prototype the new design.

This is the top I wear to yoga – I love the devilish looking cats on it and were inspired by them today.

I sketched pages of options – most looked crappy. I settled on this design.

Once I’d drawn up the pattern and cut it out I sewed on a beard, eyes and nose. The cut-out legs looked creepy and the eyes weren’t as great as I wanted so I made another prototype.

This is prototype two. It still needs some work –  the next one will have a less bulbous tail end and there’s some stuffing/feet issues to sort out that shouldn’t be too bad.

There will be three types of these cat cushions in a range of colours: hipster glasses cat, hipster beard cat, hipster bow-tie cat. They’ll all be ready for Christmas and I’ll post them online once they’re finished and ready to sell (around the start of December). And yes, Sue if you’re reading this I’ll post you one for free for giving me the seed of an idea.