So Stanley and I were at the Los Angeles Zoo in search of other sloths. We searched really hard too, in between looking at the giraffes, catcalling the flamingos, eating a hot dog, munching on kettle corn, visiting the koalas, sharing an ice cream, riding the merry-go-round and sharing another ice cream. I tried to ignore some of the strange stares we received. I mean, come on, this is 2012. It's perfectly normal for a sloth and a human to be hanging out together, sharing an ice cream and just having a fun day. We're not a spectacle to be stared at like a monkey at the zoo. It was then Stanley politely pointed out the trail of toilet paper stuck to my shoe. oh. Anyways, back to searching for Stanley's long lost friend, one who doesn't embarrass him. Come to find out, we were on a lost cause. There are no sloths at the Los Angeles Zoo. No wonder Stanley was so popular. We consoled ourselves with another ice cream.

Regardless, we didn't stay too upset. As I pointed out to Stanley, it just goes to show how special and unique he is. And he is wonderful and I absolutely love him, but here are the thing that one has to deal with in working with him. (And let's just keep this between us. He's a little sensitive.) Number one, hair, hair, hair everywhere. And I don't mean he's hairy, I mean there's hair all over my apartment. During this tutorial, hair kept getting stuck to my tongue, it found its way up my nose and I generally had tufts of it stuck to my face. I definitely recommend doing a cleaning of your machine after working with fur and you can check out our Sewing Machine Maintenance tutorial on that.

The most important thing in sloth creating is paying attention to the direction of the fur when you're laying out your pattern pieces. Grainline is always important, but it's especially important here. I always run my hand over the fur before placing my pattern down so I know which direction the fur naturally lays and then lay my pieces accordingly. If you do that right, then that's half the battle.

In the end, you'll have your own cute little sloth puppet. Maybe then I won't be only one hanging out with a sloth at the zoo. Although, you may find yourself spending a mint on ice cream.