Disclaimer: I just make these things up. I am no where near the center of the inner workings of the craft mafia. For all I know guinea pigs may be the new black. Or it may be the year of the ferret. But if it is raccoons, you heard it here first, okay?
When our fabulous Rachael made this amazing Raccoon Template, whom I have dubbed Rocky, I was instantly in love. I hope you checked out Erin from just plain lovely who posted these adorable Raccoon Gift Tags. Today I'm going to teach you how to make Rocky Raccoon Shoelace Pets.
What you want to do is shrink the template to the right size before you print it. Sounds complicated, but it isn't. The original template is about 3 inches across. The distance between the front two lace grommets on kid's Converse All Stars (aka Chucks) is barely 2 inches. To make a Rocky Raccoon Shoelace Pet that is 1.5 inches wide, divide 1.5 by 3 which equals 50%. Open the template, click print. In the print window you should have an option that says something like "Print to ___%." Change it to 50% and you're good to go.
Cut out all your felt pieces and sew the face together onto the top raccoon piece. Omit the eye ball dots as they would be maddening to try and cut out at 50% smaller. Just make french knots for his eyeballs.
When you sew the top face to the bottom piece, start at the bottom of one ear and stitch over the head to the bottom of the other ear. Knot and clip your thread. Then start at the top of one of Rocky's cheek patches and stitch around his chin to end at the patch on the other side. This leaves a space wide enough to slip a shoe lace through.
Ta da! Rocky Raccoon Shoelace Pets! And they're the best pets too. They don't shed, poop or eat. But they might chew up your favorite shoes. Ha, Ha! Get it? Get it?
