Hello Kitty Loves Green Lantern

I'm a fan of both Kitty and GL, but never together, somehow this image turned up in my head.  It had to have a real light in the bow- so this is my first attempt with wiring - be forewarned, it's a pretty clumsy set up, but it works!  The pattern I used comes from:

www.groovygames.com/kitty/craft/CRAFTdollhk.html    it is free!

Some of the photos in this instructable might be a little confusing at first.  The fabric I was using during one step might be different from fabric I used in another step even though it's the same part-  Kitty couldn't decide what to wear!

To make the basic kitty:
• whatever fabrics you want to use- the material I used for the head, body, and hands is like t-shirt material- cotton +?- it stretches
• common sewing supplies- I have a machine (totally optional)  and used it on the main pattern pieces, details by hand
• back and green felt for face and mask
• black steel wire for the whiskers- I had it already and was kind of surprised it worked- this could be something else you think of
• 1 9 volt battery
• 1 green led (this one came with wires on it already)
• 1 piece of lamp cord
• electrical tape
• glue- I used rubber cement to glue felt, and some urethane glue for whiskers
• fiberfill
• heavy paper for the pattern
• Misc- for Kitty's GL pendant and ring- ribbon, rhinestone, sml black beads,- the heart shaped thing was something I found-
  This is a really open- i makes lots of stuff and have lots of different kinds of stuff around- you can really use whatever you want

First download the pattern- I enlarged it for this Kitty- and cut out the pieces.  You only need 1 kitty head, this pattern has 2 (probably the second one is there for the face).  It was made bigger by making a larger size grid (my grid was squares 1 1/4"- the size of the width of the ruler I used)  and copying from the original.

Lay out and cut the pattern pieces, stitch up the body. head, and hands.  Trim the seams and make some clips on round/curvy pieces.   A word to the wise- PLAN AHEAD!  I've cut out so many different pattern pieces in various fabric combos- I just couldn't decide or was rushing and cutting all the pieces the same color  Also, this pattern I think is supposed to be made out of felt ( that didn't dawn on me until later on in this project).  The dress and smock were small, so make those two pieces a bit bigger.   Kitty's head needs to be a little rounder- in the photo with the four different pix, there's one of the old head pattern with new outline over it- also changed it to white, not green.

I'm following the assembly instructions that came with the pattern-   It calls for cutting a cardboard circle ( 9cm is a guesstimate for my enlarged pattern)  and a fabric circle for the bottom of Kitty

This is my lighting setup. Originally, the plan was to have all the wires and the battery inside Kitty, with a switch outside to turn off/on.  The bottom right corner is a pix of what I was thinking.  However, a problem arose- the battery got really, really, really hot after the light had been on for a bit.  i was scared if it was inside maybe it would catch fire or something, so in the meantime, we are down to bare bones until I can figure out something else.
I got a piece of lamp cord and stripped the ends off the wires so they would make a good connection when hooked up to the led wires coming from the head.  The lamp cord goes from the head, through the inside and out the bottom to hook up with the battery.   Thats my patch till further fiddling.

Here's where the cardboard circle comes in- put it inside the body as a base.  I put a notch in it to make room for the cord, however since I didn't Think Ahead, the bottom seam had to be oped up to allow for it.  I put an 8 oz can of tomatoes on top of the circle so it would be really stable- dry beans, rice, anything like that would work as well, just bag it up first.  Then stuff up the rest of the body with fiberfill, or probably some soft rags or something if you don't have any fiberfill around- the dress will cover , so the body doesn't have to be totally smooth.  Slip the dress and smock on now, before the head goes on.  Any hemming or trimming or painting or whatever you want to do with her outfit, now's the time to do it.

Getting the bow ready-  cut a long skinny piece of the dress fabric and press down both sides- this is the 'ribbon'.  (Of course you can use regular ribbon, or put on something other than a bow.)  Make 2 loops for the bow and pin it together, cut a smaller piece for the knot part.   Stitch together the bow by sewing a small circle around the center with a diameter about the size of the bead in the picture- the light will fit through a hole in the center.  I used some small pointy scissors to make a hole into the bow and the knot pieces. Any small sharp object will do.

Light up the bow-  I'm using a readymade led bulb.  I made a couple little square washers from card stock- to prevent the bow from sliding off the light.  Put the first washer in between the folds of the knot part and pass the led wires all the way through both pieces, so only the bulb end shows.  Sew the back of the knot piece together around the backside of the bulb.   Decide where to place the bow, then make a small hole there for the wires to fit through.  On the inside of Kitty's head pull led bow wires through, then put on the second paper washer, and tighten up the led washer over it.  

Kitty becomes Hello Kitty!  Stuff the head.  I made the eyes and nose out of black felt- they're eyeballed (start bigger!).  They are stitched on with a couple strands of black floss.  I got a picture of the real GL to check out the mask.  My paper Kitty img is about the same size as the one in this project, so i sketched a mask on it to use for the pattern.  Originally i was going to use that green foil stuff, but just didn't like it, so later went with green felt.  The black mask is slightly bigger than the green one.  The two pieces are stuck together with rubber cement, then stitched across the top, going just around the corner.  Take another few stitches on the bottom of the mask  just over the nose.  When I finished sewing the top part on, I thought it looked like it had a bit more depth with the bottom part mostly loose.

More details- the whiskers are made from some black wire- cut three pieces for each side.  I glued them on with some urethane glue and held them in place for about a minute to set.  The ring is a piece of  gold ribbon and a green rhinestone glued together.

Joining her head and body- The wires have to be connected before stitching the body pieces together.  Clean off any stuffing or threads from the wires.  Join one side of the lamp cord with one of the wires coming from the led in the head and do the same on the other side.  It doesn't matter which side of the lamp cord you use they're the same.  I just wrapped the connections with some electrical tape, so it would be easy to dismantle when I play around some more.  Then stuff the wires inside and sew the head onto the body,

Adding arms and hands- Stuff the arms, turn under the shoulder seams, and pin them into place.  This is when I started thinking this pattern is for felt- it doesn't say anything about setting in the sleeves, or about armholes, or any of that- so I just stitched the upper part of the clothes to the body itself, as the sleeves cover that up.  Turn under the cuffs and pin on the hands.  Sew the arms to the body and the hands to the arms.

At last- the final touches! To make the GL pendant I started with some silver fabric and painted it to look like the color on the magazine photo.  I made a pattern for GL's logo and cut it out of the green foil stuff- it looks o.k. here.  it's outlined with a thin black sharpie.  The logo is glued to the painted fabric and framed with a green plastic sparkly heart that i found awhile ago- It's glued down as well.  The heart already had a hole in the top, so i made a hanger with black wire and hung it on a black bead necklace.  All she needs now is a final check to see if the light still works- and tit does!