Funky Friends Factory

June 12, 2025

The products featured in this post were given to me by Island Batik and their industry sponsors.

For June, the Ambassadors were tasked with making a stuffed animal with a pattern from Funky Friends Factory. We could choose any pattern we wanted, and there are so many to choose from! I finally decided on the Patch Pussy Cat pattern, because, well you know...cats! Funky Friends Factory generously provided me with the pattern, so off I went in search of the perfect fabric for my stuffed cat!

The pattern said I needed 4 different fabrics so I chose 4 fat quarters from the Daisy May fabric collection from Island Batik by Lumin Fabrics, Daily May was designed by Kathy Engle. I thought these fabrics would provide a nice contrast for the patchwork kitty and also give off a happy-vibe!

The first step was tracing the pattern pieces onto cardboard to use as templates, then cutting out the templates and tracing them onto the fabric and lastly, cutting out the fabric. The pattern included cutting diagrams for each of the fabrics as well as suggestions for the placement of the chosen fabrics for the various pattern pieces.

Let the piecing begin! In the interest of full disclosure...this project was definitely a challenge for me! I had never made a stuffed animal before and several times I wish I had heeded the words found on the Funky Friends Factory website, "Patch has lots of pieces so this is NOT a good pattern for beginners". I persevered however, and found the on-line tutorial provided by Funky Friends Factory to be invaluable. Here I am piecing some of the head pieces, lots of pins and fabric glue were needed! As always, I used my trusty piecing duo of a Schmetz Microtex needle size 12 and Aurifil 50 wt thread in #2600 (Dove Gray).

Patch is starting to look like a cat!

Once the head was completed I inserted the eyes. This was my first experience of using craft eyes and once again, I found the on-line tutorial from Funky Friends Factory very helpful!

Here is Patch all pieced and ready to stuff:

Once the piecing was done, it was time to start stuffing Patch! I used Simply Stuffing from Hobbs Batting, which was generously provided to the Island Batik Ambassadors by Hobbs. This stuffing was perfect for stuffing patch because you are able to pull off whatever size of stuffing you need, allowing you to be very precise in where you are placing the stuffing, and also allowing you to move the stuffing around within the cat as needed.

Here is my finished Patch the Pussycat!

Funky Friends Factory Patch the Patchwork Pussycat

If you've never made stuffed animal, I encourage you to give one of the Funky Friends Factory patterns a try! Their patterns are available instantly via download, so you can get started right away!

And check out the other Island Batik Ambassador's projects, you can find each one at the links below:

Brenda Alburl- https://songbirddesigns.blog

Renee Atkinson- https://wordpress.com/posts/pinktulipquilting.studio

Susan Deshensky- www.ladybluequilts.com/blog

Tina Dillard- https://quiltingaffection.blogspot.com/

Brittany Fisher- www.bobbinwithbrittany.com

Kimberly Flannagan- https://www.kimberlysquilts.com/blog