Sew a felt mouse plush toy with children for a beginning sewing project!
Teach children how to sew a felt mouse plush toy with this fun step by step beginning sewing project for kids! A pocket pet mouse softie makes a great lovey or comfort object that kids can easily carry around with them. Cats love to play with a felt mouse toy, too. Fill felt mice with catnip and watch your furry friend go crazy with joy!
Fun sewing projects like this cute felt mouse, a pair of lovebirds, or a narwhal make it easy to join “Sew a Softie,” an initiative that encourages children to learn to sew with a needle and thread. Share your love of sewing with your child, learn to sew with your child, or have your child act as an ambassador to other children learning to sew with “Sew a Softie” this year! Learn more about it HERE!
Mouse Softie Sewing Project for Kids (and Adults!)
Sewing is a wonderful way for both children and adults to exercise the fine motor muscles in their hands necessary for writing and other forms of handwork such as knitting or modeling.
Learn how to sew a pocket pet mouse plush toy with this fun beginning sewing project for kids kindergarten age and up! A felt mouse toy that you can put in your pocket makes a great lovey or comfort object that kids can easily carry around with them.
Sew pocket pet mice with your children, and send them off to daycare, camp, or back to school with a little bit of the love and safety of home right in their pocket.
You can also use this felt mouse toy pattern to make a fun DIY mouse cat toy. Fill a few felt mice with catnip and watch your furry friend go crazy with joy!
Related: How to Teach Kids to Sew with Burlap and Yarn
Mouse Sewing Supplies
The sewing supplies that we used and recommend to sew a felt mouse plush toy are listed below. If you are an experienced seamstress, feel free to substitute your favorite fabric and sewing supplies.
- FREE Mouse Sewing Pattern
- Cardstock
Felt
, wool blend felt
, or 100% wool felt
- Embroidery floss or a high quality 40 weight or 50 weight cotton thread
Wool or cotton yarn
- Organic cotton stuffing or wool filling
and/or catnip
- Sewing scissors
(good sewing scissors make it easy to cut felt, but don’t let children cut paper with them!)
- Fabric marking tools
- Large eye hand sewing needles
and a darning needle
More of our favorite sewing supplies for kids can be found HERE!
Related: Easy Heart Sewing Projects for Beginners
How to Sew a Felt Mouse Plush Toy Step by Step Tutorial
Teach children how to hand sew their own pocket pet mouse with this beginning sewing project idea for kids. Working on creative projects with children is a great way to spend quality time with them.
Felt pets like this cute little felt mice, make a great lovey or comfort object for children, a handmade gift that kids can make, and even a cat toy that can be filled with catnip!
Invite your child to follow the step by step tutorial written below (with your assistance) to make a felt mouse pocket pal! You might also enjoy sewing lovebirds or narwhals.
Related: How to Teach Children to Sew Running Stitch
Step 1 – Download and print the free mouse sewing pattern
Download and print the FREE mouse sewing pattern out onto heavyweight cardstock. Alternatively, you can draw your own felt mouse sewing pattern onto cardstock to use as a template. Cardstock makes a nice thick template that makes it easy to trace each time you would like to cut out the mouse sewing pattern.
Step 2 – Trace the felt mouse sewing pattern onto felt, and cut out the pieces
Use a disappearing ink pen, a sewing pencil, or Taylor’s chalk to trace the mouse sewing pattern onto a peice of felt. Each mouse needs two ears and two body pieces. Cut the mouse pieces out of the felt before moving on to the next step.
Step 3 – Sew the body of the felt mouse plush toy
- Thread a large eye sewing needle
with embroidery floss or heavyweight cotton thread. Use the same color as the felt, or use contrasting or complementary colors.
- Sew the top and bottom of the felt mouse body together with a blanket, whip, or running stitch. Blanket stitch is shown in the photo collage below. To learn how to sew these simple stitches, visit Red Ted Art! Maggy has put together a wonderful post complete with video tutorials of the basic sewing stitches that make it easy to sew a plush animal together.
Note: My daughter and I sewed the eyes on our mouse softie after stuffing it. Another option is to sew them onto the top half of the mouse before sewing the mouse plush toy together. Stich, a french knot into the felt, following the directions in Step 6 before or after sewing your pocket pet mouse together and stuffing it.
Step 4 – Add a tail to felt mouse softie before stuffing and sewing it shut
- Stop sewing the felt mouse’s body together when you have about an inch or two left to add a tail to the felt mouse toy. (See photos below)
- Thread a darning needle with yarn to make the mouse tail. Use the same color, a contrasting color, a complementary color, or a variegated yarn to produce an ombre tail! Check out the tails on some of the mice in the photos above and below to see many fun options.
- Tie a HUGE knot on one end of the yarn to make sure that it can not be pulled through the stitches along the body.
- Insert the needle into the mouse’s body and out between two stitches in the mouse’s bottom to create a simple mouse tail.
- Pull off the needle and trim the mouse tail to the desired length.
Step 5 – Stuff the felt mouse and finish sewing it together
- After adding a mouse tail, stuff the mouse body with organic cotton
, wool, Poly-Fil, or recycled stuffing. Old unloved or well used plush animals make great donors to new softies! Add catnip
if you are making a mouse cat toy for a furry friend.
- Complete sewing the mouse’s body together with the same type of hand sewing stitch you began sewing your mouse with. Again, the photos show a blanket stitch.
Step 6 – Sew the eyes and a nose onto the felt mouse plush toy face
We sewed the eyes on our mouse after stuffing it. Another option is to sew them onto the top half of the mouse before sewing the mouse plush toy together.
- Use a disappearing ink pen or other fabric marking tool to mark where you will put each eye.
- Thread embroidery floss in the color of choice onto a large eye sewing needle.
- Enter between stitches on the side of the felt mouse softie body and come out through one eye.
- Start by sewing one French knot and come out through the other eye, as shown in the photo tutorial below. Check out Maggy’s sewing tutorial if you need more help learning how to sew a French knot.
- Sew another french knot for the second eye and come out through the tip of the mouse’s nose.
- Use a satin stitch to sew the nose. I tried this many different ways, and of course, the felt mouse softie I photographed for this tutorial looks more like a duckbill than a mouses nose! Not to worry, they all turn out great no matter how you stitch them–lol!
- Tie it off on your last few stitches, come out through the stitches in the side, cut the thread, and voila’ a pocket pet mouses nose!
Step 7 – Sew the whiskers onto the mouse plush toy
If you are making more than one pocket pet mouse, I recommend sewing all of the mice whiskers on at the same time to make it easy. Start with a nice long piece of thread and follow the directions below so that you only have to thread the needle once!
- Thread large eye sewing needle with embroidery floss or cotton thread.
- Tie a knot on one end of the thread and enter through the mouse’s side stitches.
- Bring the needle through the nose and out in the direction that you want the whisker to point on your felt mouse softie.
- Trim the mouse’s whiskers to the desired length.
- Repeat steps 2 through 4 until you have 2 or 3 whiskers on each side of the felt mouse’s nose. Of course, the mouse I photographed for the tutorial has my least favorite face!
Step 8 – Sew the ears on the felt mouse toy (can be done before or after whiskers)
Like sewing french knots for the eyes, this step can also be completed after step 2, before beginning to sew the felt mouse plush toy together–up to you!
- Use a fabric marking tool to mark where you would like to put the ears on your felt mouse softie.
- Thread a large eye sewing needle with embroidery floss or cotton thread.
- Tie a knot on one end of the thread, enter through side stitches, and come up where you will place the ear of your pocket pet mouse.
- Use a running or whip stitch to attach the ears.
- Tie it off. If you sew the ears on after sewing the mouse together, come out through side stitches and trim thread so that it disappears into the body of the felt mouse softie.
Related: How to Sew a Button Apple Tree
Pocket Pet Felt Mouse Toy Sewing Project for Kids and Adults of All Ages
Sew a pocket pet mouse plush animal friend with the kids as a beginning sewing project! This mouse toy sewing project makes a wonderful handmade gift idea, lovey for a child, or cat toy. You may also like homemade gift ideas kids can make!
Learn more about Rhythms of Play HERE!
More Fun Sewing Projects
- Teach Kids to Sew Using Burlap and Yarn
- Fall Leaf Lacing Beginning Sewing Project for Kids
- Heart Sewing Projects for Beginners
- Lovebirds Sewing Project with Printable Pattern
- Narwhal Sewing Project with Printable Pattern
- Hand Sewn Button Apple Tree
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ADORE these mice! Will pin now!
Yay! So glad you like them. The little one and I had so much fun sewing them together 🙂
Nell I love your pocket mice!! And the way you’ve photographed all the steps is great and so clear 🙂
Thanks to you and your daughter for joining into Sew a Softie 🙂
Thanks, Trixi! I’m so glad that you are as thrilled about them as we are! We loved joining sew a softie and look forward to the next one. My daughter is excited to bring one with her on her first day of kindergarten in 3 weeks 🙂
Thank you so much!!! These were an absolute hit with all my friends whom I gifted them to! Thanks!
That’s wonderful to hear! I’m so glad to hear that the felt mouse softies that you made were well received. Thank you for sharing that with me. 🙂