DIY toy guide
Hand-Sewn Felt Catnip Mouse
Twenty minutes of sewing, months of carrying it around the house
The plush mouse is the toy cats form genuine attachments to — carrying it, yowling at it, depositing it in shoes. Making your own means you can pack it with far more catnip than any shop-bought version and refill it later.
- Difficulty
- Easy
- Time
- 25 minutes
- Cost
- Under £3
🧺 You will need
- Two pieces of wool felt, roughly 10cm × 8cm
- Strong cotton thread and a sharp needle
- Polyester toy stuffing or clean fabric scraps
- One to two teaspoons of dried catnip or silvervine powder
- A short length of felt or cotton tape for the tail
- Scissors and a fabric pen
🔧 How to make it
- Draw a simple teardrop shape on the felt, about 9cm long, and cut two identical pieces.
- Cut two small triangles for ears and a strip roughly 8cm long for the tail.
- Sandwich the ears between the two body pieces near the narrow end, pointing inward, and pin them in place.
- Trap one end of the tail strip between the two pieces at the wide end.
- Sew around the edge with a close blanket stitch or backstitch, leaving a 3cm gap along one side. Small, tight stitches are what make the toy last.
- Stuff firmly through the gap, mixing the catnip through the stuffing as you go rather than adding it all in one clump.
- Sew the gap closed, working the stitches right up to the edge so no filling can escape.
- Roll the finished mouse hard between your palms to release the catnip aroma before handing it over.
💡 Tips
Use wool felt rather than the cheap acrylic craft variety — acrylic pills and tears within days, while wool felt survives being carried in a mouth and dropped in a water bowl. Skip glued-on eyes, beads and glitter entirely; embroidered dots or nothing at all is safer and looks better anyway. Make three at once and keep two hidden, rotating them weekly so the toy never becomes wallpaper. When the catnip fades after a few weeks, unpick two centimetres of seam, top it up, and stitch it shut again.
📝 Notes
Catnip loses potency with light and air. Store the spares in a sealed jar in a dark cupboard and they will still be strong months later.
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