Connor was born in the Year of the Rat, and has embraced all things rat. So naturally, Margaret wanted to sew him a rat, and she made a sketch of what she thought it should look like. Her rendition looks a bit overfed, but I sketched a variation just below that I thought would work if we made it from felt, and she approved the design, "as long as there could be stripes on the tail".
I started by searching the Internet for an already-available pattern, but we found nothing that Margaret considered suitable. So, at last, I was forced to make a paper mock-up, and then deconstruct it to create a pattern that would be as similar to Margaret's concept drawing as possible.She chose the fabrics and buttons, did most of the cutting out, and some of the hand-sewing, though pushing the needle through the felt proved to be harder on her fingers than she'd anticipated. I helped her out, trying to keep my stitches similar to hers, to preserve that made-by-a-seven-year-old look.
Although Connor is too old to play with stuffed animals, he was pleased and surprised to receive his Christmas rat, and it has a place of honour on the window sill beside his bed.
As you can see, he does, indeed, sport a great many hand-drawn stripes on his long pink tail.
