Make your very own Hobbes!

He had even made his very own scrapbook, with his mother’s help. He had carefully cut out the strips from the newspaper, and glued them on a used notebook. His aunt had got him the entire Calvin and Hobbes collection from the US, and he spent all his free time reading the books, and laughing till the tears rolled down his cheeks!

And now that it was his summer vacation, he would pick up a cushion, take a book, and head to the garden to read it. He even tried to perch on one of the branches of the mango tree, but his mother was afraid he would fall. So he would stretch himself under the shady tree, and spend many a lazy afternoon joining the two in their naughty exploits.

“Mom, I wish I had a friend like Hobbes; someone who is always there to play with, and have fun with.” He told his mother one evening. “Calvin always takes Hobbes wherever he goes!” he said.

“Why don’t we make a Hobbes for you?” said Mother, stroking her chin thoughtfully.

“Really, could we make one?” Atulya piped, excited at the thought of his very own Hobbes. “Well, why not? We could. And now that you have your vacations, it won’t take too long, either,” she said. “Hooray!” he said happily. “Let’s start first thing tomorrow morning,” said Mother. “Okay,” he agreed.

So the next morning the two settled down to make a stuffed tiger for Atulya. “We will need orange and white velvet cloth, old rags or sponge for the stuffing, black fabric paint, two black buttons for his eyes, a pair of scissors, and some string for his whiskers. We will also need a sheet of plain white paper, tracing paper, carbon paper, and some pencils and pens,” said Mother. “We’re using white velvet for his tummy, and orange velvet for the rest of his body,” she said. “Okay,” Atulya nodded.

“Let’s first trace out a tiger outline on this sheet of plain paper. We’ll first draw the body, we can add ears and a tail separately,” said Mother. “We draw a 45 centimetres long body, with the arms and legs of approximately 20 centimetres, and a head of 15 centimetres. Now, let us trace it on the orange velvet. Carefully place the carbon paper over the cloth, and place the tracing paper over it. Now draw over the outline with a soft pencil, gently now, you don’t want to tear the tracing paper,” Mother said. Atulya followed his mother’s instructions, and slowly traced the tiger outline on the cloth.  

“Now let us do the same on another side of the orange velvet. We can cut out a portion in white for his tummy later on. There, that’s done. Let me cut it out,” said mother, wielding the scissors. Within minutes, Hobbes’ back and front was ready.

“Let us draw his ears and his tail now,” said Mother. She drew two circles in orange, so that they could be made into cones for the ears. She then traced a long and broad tail on the orange felt. “We can roll it up and stitch it together,” she said.  

“All right, now let us start stuffing Hobbes. First let us sew him together,” and Mother placed the two halves together, inside out, so that the stitches would not be seen outside, and ran it in the sewing machine. She sewed his entire body together, and left the portion below his legs unstitched to add the stuffing. Then, she turned the two halves back inside. “Now put the sponge inside evenly, don’t make lumpy portions.”

Working together, Mom and Atulya put the sponge inside Hobbes. “Now let us sew him together,” said Mother, and carefully sewed up the open portion, putting stitches by hand.

“There, his body is ready. Now for his ears and tail.” She rolled up the circles which she had cut, into cones, and filled them with sponge.

Then, she placed a bit of orange felt as the base for the cone, and said, “Here, you put the stitches here, it’s easy; I’ll show you how to do it. Make another ear, and we’ll sew them to his body.” Mother first marked two spots on Hobbes’ head, and then sewed the ears on. “For the tail, let us roll the cloth that we cut, filling it with sponge as we go.

Now, I’ll sew it across the length, and secure it at the base,” she said. Atulya sewed the tail on Hobbes’ bottom.    

“For his tummy, let us sew this patch of white over the orange felt. I will do these stitches by hand,” said Mother.

All that was left was a pair of eyes and a nose for Hobbes. Mother cut out three pieces of cloth from the white velvet, and stitched them together to make a triangle. “This is for his snout,” she said.

Atulya filled it up with sponge. She cut out a bit of the white velvet for the base and stitched the snout together.

Then, she cut a triangular piece from the black felt cloth, and sewed it on the snout. “That’s for his nose. Attach the buttons for his eyes, I’ll show you how to sew them.” And Atulya sewed the eyes on to Hobbes’ face. “Use the fabric paint to make black stripes on his back. Once you have done that, you can paint his tail.” And he swished the brush over Hobbes, making stripes.

“While it dries, we can make some whiskers for him. Let us use this plastic string and cut out whiskers of even length, maybe four for each side,” said Mom. “How do we attach them to Hobbes?” Atulya asked. “We could stick it on with some glue,” Mother suggested. So they used some Fevikwik to fix the whiskers.

“What is left?” he wondered. “Well, it looks like we are done,” beamed Mother. “Wow! Thank you so much Mom,” squealed a happy Atulya. “And now you also know how to sew a button, and do a simple running stitch,” said Mother, happy that the morning was spent constructively.