Crafty Lady Lauren: Awesome Cat Toy that will make your cat very happy (well, high on catnip)

Cats love catnip. Unfortunately, catnip itself is messy so it's best to put it in toys (also, sprinkling it on cat furniture is a really good idea)

Here is a simple catnip toy that will put your kitties in a catnip heaven:

Materials needed:

Some scrap fabric that will be able to withstand a cat biting into it--about 8 1/2 inches long and 4 1/2 inches wide, depending on the size of your cat (which I will explain below).

I used a high-quality quilting fabric scrap and it holds up well as a cat toy.

Pre-washing the fabric is a good idea as it isn't a sound idea to throw a catnip toy in the washing machine.
Catnip. The cat treat will be completely filled with catnip, and as the size depends on the size of your cat, you will need to adjust accordingly. I purchased a 1 oz. container of catnip from Petco, but often small, local pet stores will carry stronger types of catnip, but they tend to be more expensive.

Accoutrements for sewing: sewing thread, scissors, sewing machine, and an iron for pressing the fabric.
A piece of paper

Measuring:

Before cutting the fabric, be sure to press any wrinkles out of the fabric.

Iron out any wrinkles now!

I designed this cat toy to mirror the length of the cat's belly. Beshaba's belly is about 8 inches long...plus a 1/4 inch seam allowance per seam, this will be 8 1/2 inches

Sorry, my cat was not cooperating, so you will have to take my word for it.

Usually, my cats roll on whatever happens to contain catnip (or hug), so I thought it would be nice to have a toy that runs of the length of their belly. Therefore, you should measure the length between their front legs and their back legs. My cat is quite small, so it is only eight and 1/4 inches, so I am allowing for a 1/4 inch seam allowance for the legnth portion of the fabric.

8 1/2 inches long. If you wanted to be super-precise, you could use a rotary knife on a cutting board, but using scissors is ok for the task at hand

For the width of the fabric, cut 4 1/2 inches. This will be folded in half. For bigger cats, I would add 1-3 more inches, depending on the size of your cat

Fold the piece of fabric in half lengthwise. There is no need to iron this--you're done with ironing at this point

Assembly:

Sew the seams together (see picture, below). Leave one of the width seams open.

Allow for a 1/4 inch seam allowance.

Turn the corner without breaking the thread. Be sure to allow the proper seam allowance.

Now, because this is a cat toy, sew over the seams again for added strength against splitting seams.

When going over the seam for added strength, try to stay within the seam allowance


This is where the catnip will go in a bit. No need to iron any seams

Turn inside out

Like this

Use a pen to make sure the corners are turned all of the way out

Once you are at this point, add the catnip. I used a piece of paper to funnel the catnip into the fabric tube.

While adding the catnip, my cat decided to investigate

Fill almost to the top, leaving room to close the seam

Fold seam over on itself. The ideal consistency for this toy would be to pack down the catnip. This will give the cats a better toy to play with.

This is what it should look like at this point

As before, the seam will need to be reinforced. I ended up sewing the seam several times over for strength.

My seam ended up being about 1/8 of an inch, and since it was reinforced with multiple seams, the seam allowance shouldn't be a problem.

Voila! You are done! woo! A simple, easy, affordable cat toy that your cats will love to fight over, like mine do. I tried a variety of sizes and consistency of catnip, and my cats really like this too. It is a good idea to put this toy after awhile so the cats will stay interested in it when it is within their grasps.