Kitty Kapers Revisited

Several years ago I had a client ask me to create a replica of Barbie's pet cat from the 1972 Kitty Kapers fashion set. This was part of the Put-Ons & Pets line and today it's extremely rare. Any piece from one of these sets is worth a fortune now and the pets are especially desirable. I made a cute cat with needle felted fur (definitely cuter than the original, which in my opinion looks like road kill). Then I offered them made to order for other people and they were quite popular. I ran out of the original yarn and beads I used so I recently re-designed these cats. I used a new technique, making an armature from wired pipe cleaners and needle felting over it. I think these look more like the original cat. They're also easier to make smaller for Barbie sized and the wire inside makes them more poseable. I made a larger version as well for bigger dolls like Cissy. I have one of each ready-made and they can be ordered from my Etsy shop on the Home page.

These typically take only a few hours but I have a 2-3 week turnaround on them just in case. Today, for example, I was called to pick up my son from school after he tried some kind of Olympic-level jump from one playground structure to another and fell. He sprained his wrists pretty badly and lost consciousness for a while so we are having to monitor him for concussion. Anyway, since I never know when stuff like that will happen I added some extra time. We are also remodeling our kitchen ourselves and that's sucking up a lot of my time. If I can get them made faster I will. I hope you enjoy my replicas. I try to make them smile more than the originals, which are pretty angry looking!