International Cat Day lands on August 8, which means you’ve got about 24 hours to either scramble for a gift for the cat person in your life or accept that you’re the cat person and this is for you. Either way, felt cat brooches are the move. No sewing machine, no pattern-drafting meltdown, and you can knock out four or five of them in an evening while half-watching something on TV.
These little pins look deceptively polished for how forgiving the process is. Felt doesn’t fray, so your edges don’t need to be perfect. That’s the whole appeal.
What you’ll need
- Wool-blend or acrylic felt sheets in a couple colors (grey, black, orange, and cream cover most cats)
- Stiff craft felt works better here than the soft stuff you’d use for a blanket ‑ you want the brooch to hold its shape
- Embroidery floss in black, white, and pink
- A needle, small sharp scissors, and fabric glue
- Metal pin backs, the flat kind with the little clasp
- A scrap of cardstock for a simple template, or just freehand it
Step 1: Cut two body shapes per cat
Draw a simple sitting-cat silhouette, ears and all, about 2 to 3 inches tall. Cut two identical pieces from your main color felt. Two layers glued together give the brooch enough heft that it doesn’t flop around or curl at the edges over time.
Step 2: Add the markings before you assemble anything
This is the step people skip and regret. Cut tiny patches of a second color felt for tabby stripes, a white belly patch, or an orange splotch, and glue those onto the front piece only, before you sandwich the layers together. Trying to add detail after the brooch is already thick and glued is fiddly and frustrating.
Step 3: Embroider the face
You don’t need fancy stitches. Two French knots or simple satin-stitch dots for eyes, a tiny pink triangle stitch for the nose, and a couple of straight stitches for whiskers is genuinely all it takes to give these things personality. Do the face on the front piece before gluing the two layers together ‑ it’s much easier to hold flat fabric than a stuffed shape.
Step 4: Glue the layers and attach the pin
Run a thin, even line of fabric glue around the edge of the back piece, press the front piece on top, and let it dry flat under something heavy, like a stack of books, for at least twenty minutes. Once it’s set, glue the pin back onto the center of the reverse side. Give that a full hour before you even think about wearing it. Impatience is how pin backs end up rattling around loose in the bottom of a purse.
A few things that make these better
- Skip perfect symmetry. Real cats aren’t symmetrical either, and slightly wonky ears read as more charming, not sloppier.
- If you want the shape crisper, spray both felt layers with a light coat of fabric stiffener before you cut them.
- Make a small batch as party favors or teacher gifts. They cost pennies each once you have the felt on hand.
If you want to go deeper on the holiday itself and its backstory, National Today has a rundown on how August 8 became the unofficial day to celebrate every cat that’s ever knocked something off a shelf out of spite.
Worst case, you end up with a pile of felt cats and no immediate use for them. Pin one to a tote bag, stick one on a cork board, or just leave a few on your desk. They’re small enough that nobody will question why you have a growing colony of them.
