Making Realistic Fake Cat Whiskers

Sometimes you want to put cat whiskers on something, maybe as an embellishment or just because you want whiskers on them.  The easiest thing to use is fishing line. Yes, that plain old fishing line you use on poles to catch fish. ANY store with fishing equipment will carry this - K-Mart, Target, WalMart, Ace Hardware, etc.

 

The line comes in clear, blue, gray and green. Use any color but the green, that shade just looks 'off'.  I prefer the clear. 

 

Line comes on a roll, you get 700 yards.  Technically it's called Monofilament Fishing Line. It's pretty cheap too. 

 

What's important is to get the right thickness.  I use 8 lb. test, which works best for me.  Thinner and you'll break it when you tie it off. Thicker and the knots don't stay tight, they come open.

 

To use, pull off twice the length you'll need plus another inch or two more.  Thread it onto a needle, but ONLY the last 1 inch of it, the needle eye puts a kink in so you don't want kinks where they'll be seen.  Sew a small 1/4" stitch where you want the whisker, take the needle off the end, pull the fishing line through till both ends are even, and tie two knots.  Rethread the last 1/2" back onto the needle and take a stitch again, very close by and pull the fishing line through.  Repeat twice more with newly threaded needles so you have 6 whiskers on one side.  Then do the same on the other side of the muzzle of whatever creature you're making. 

 

When done, grab all the whiskers together and pull them in front of the toy's head, and trim the lengths all at once with a scissors. This keeps all the whiskers even and you'll take off the kinked parts.

 

It works pretty good. I've used up two spools of monofilament line in the past and am on my third spool at this point.