Results tagged “Felt” from Fabric.com Blog

Summer Vacation is on us and many of you parents may be looking for play ideas for your kids to stay busy. Dress up is a favorite of many kids and is a great play date or sibling activity to keep your kids entertained while you catch up on the gossip rags, make dinner or take min for yourself. Unfortunately, most store bought dress up is quickly and cheaply produced and won't last the summer. Why not make it yourself and turn one activity into 2. By creating your own Dress Up items you and your kids can work together, picking out the supplies, deciding on the design and creating the final project. You may even find that homemade items are more gently handled than those purchased in a big box store...Naw, I didn't really believe that last one either.

A popular dress up theme, especially in June, is weddings. You can either whip up a super lovely felt bouquet or spend every day with one eye on the back door keeping your kids out of your Hydrangeas. You only need a few supplies to create this darling pint sized bouquet.

Materials:

2 sheets of flower colored felt (I used dark and light pink)

1 sheet of gray colored felt (When my sister married, she gave her bridesmaids Victorian-styled pewter bouquet holders. I wanted to recreate that look)

1 sheet of green felt (for the top)

Small amount of stuffing

Coordinating thread and hand needle

Cut out your pattern pieces and felt pieces. Roll your main piece so the 2 straight side edges meet and overlap by ¼ in. Whip stitch in place. Hands sew your bottom piece onto the main piece (it may help to turn your main piece inside out). Hand sew your top piece ¾ of the way onto the main piece (you will have to make this piece fit. It should look like an ice cream cone when finished. The top needs to be rounded and puffy). Firmly stuff then finish sewing on the top.

Using your flower colored felt create 10-15 flowers using Creative Jewish Mom's tutorial (number of flowers will depend on their size). My circles were 3 ¾ in. (Psst: you can use the top pattern piece for your flowers). Hand sew or glue in place. You are done! Enjoy your felt bouquet with a felt crown or a dino tail for the ultimate wedding!

Bunting: A lightweight cloth material often used for flags and festive decorations

In honor of St. Valentine's Day (or Single's Awareness Day, as I have seen it referred to), I have whipped up a most festive bunting to celebrate love. My history of Valentine's Day has always made it more of a celebration than an anxiety-riddled day of examining single life. My mom would always give up little gifts and cards before we left for school. There was also the huge PAR-TAY in grade school that equated Valentine's day with cute cards, lots of candy and my favorite color at the time, Pink. It wasn't until Middle School and High School that Valentine's became the black mark on the calendar. I decided shortly after a bad break-up that I wasn't going to celebrate it any more. I held to that all through my courtship with my husband and since. However, now with a daughter of my own, I long to recreate the joys of my childhood and that especially includes Valentine's day the way Mom taught me.

This project started with an idea: bunting. It is such a favorite in the craft world, I think, for 2 reasons: insanely customizable, relatively quick. My bunting would be, of course, made of valentine-y colors (pink, red, white) but also some new colors to spice it up. As usually happens as I was assembling my supplies (I should not that I wanted this project to use up scrapes and remnants from other projects) I found out that I was depressingly low on ribbon. I had no pink, red or white ribbon at all! I was too ashamed of this circumstance to even show my head in public. To serve as a ribbon to hold the bunting together, I decided to take strips of my chosen fabric and braid them up. To determine how long I would need it, I cut out my flags (roughly 6 in. W by 8 in. H) and arranged them. I then measured across the top and added a little extra for hanging. To make the braid, I cut strips about 2 in. wide (if you just snip into the fabric, you can rip it the rest of the way down and it will be perfectly on the grain). I then knotted 3 together and braided. When one strip was about to run out, I would knot it together with another. I continued to my desired length, knotted and trimmed the ends. I then cut ½ in. by 4 in. strips and stitched them to the top of the flags and tied the flags onto the braided fabric.

I cut out the letters from various colors of felt and glued them in place. Too late I realized I could have used my Cricut for this. You could also use a blanket stitch to secure the letters or Heat n Bond. I added big hearts at either end because it just felt right.

Materials needed:

½ yd of quilting cotton in various colors (½ yd makes 3 flags)

Three ½ yds of quilting cotton in various colors for the braid

3 sheets of 9 x 12 in. felt for letters

Embroidery floss or fabric glue

I love making wreaths but hate that they don't make it from year to year. Having seen all the great felt delights and crafty wreaths in blogland, I decided that a gorgeous wreath that lasts from year to year is in the cards after all. Deciding on Poinsettias was not hard as they are one of my favorite symbols of the season. Plus, I could easily incorporate buttons as flower centers and holly berries. The pattern is easy and the large flowers mean you only need to make 3-4 of them to cover your wreath. I covered an empty wreath with fleece to give the wreath a cozier look. You can also use sweater knits or minky. Measure around your wreath's circumference and girth and cut a rectangle using those measurements plus 10 in. to the length (this accommodates any tucks needed to make the fabric lay flat around the circle) out of sweatshirt knit. Secure with pins and mattress stitch the knit in place.  

I cut out my patterns pieces (4 petals per flowers and 2-3 holly leaves per berry bunch) out of felt and selected my buttons. I used interesting ¾ to 1 in. buttons for the flower centers and 1/8 to 5/8 in. red buttons for the Holly Berries. Layout your completed poinsettias and holly leaves on your wreath and arrange as you see fit. Once you like the layout stitch each flower and leaf in place and then stitch on your holly berry buttons. If needed tack down the tips of your poinsettia leaves to keep them from flopping forward. Add a ribbon loop to the back and hang from your door. You can call it complete and set up shop by your front door to eavesdrop on all the compliments your neighbors will surely pay on your wreath. When the season is over, tuck it away to be trotted out again year after year!

The Felt Poinsettias and Holly leaves can easily be used to decorate other Christmas projects such as table runners, gift tags, Felt Advent calendar, garland, bunting, pins or headbands. 

Felt_Poinsettia_Pattern.pdf

Materials:

1/2 yd 72 in. wide Craft Felt for background

6 sheets of 9 x 12 in. Rainbow felt cuts in several colors

16 in. wooden dowel

2 yds of Ribbon

Coordinating thread and embroidery floss

Everyone loves a good (I mean GOOD) Advent Calendar and especially when you have kids. There is the token chocolate filled one I receive every year but that is just one chocolate. I wanted something big and full of pockets for my daughter. I dreamed of treat and candy filled pockets ready for sticky fingers every morning, excited to see what each pocket held. The Felt Pocket Advent Calendar was created to be fast and easy, with no hemming, little seaming and plenty of color. The pockets are a big 2.5 in. and all are hand embroidered with a different stitch, color and number for each of the #1-25 that is needed in an Advent Calendar. I made #25 extra special by cutting one square into a frame and stacking it on top of another. You could easily frame it in Rick-rack, ribbon, or felt flowers. Without hemming, this Advent Calendar is hassle free and a great nap time project but a little bit of a blank slate. You and your kids can pick some trimmings to make it yours and add some Christmas spirit. Felt Roses, Poinsettias, or Holly leaves come to mind. Don't forget you can print free coloring pages to use as Christmas stencils for your felt trimmings. If you opt to snazz up your Advent Calendar with embroidery, Sublime Stitching has some awesome pie, cake, and other food patterns that are perfect for bringing the joy of Christmas goodies to your Calendar! I am bringing out my copy to add on to my Felt Pocket Advent Calendar this year.

Don't forget to share your versions on our Facebook page!

Since November is the month of giving thanks, I also like to think of it as the month of giving back and being green. As much as we love the holidays, it is about giving back so why not give a little back to the environment. In an effort to be more green, giving and draw attention to Fabric.com's many eco-friendly products, this month I will be highlighting eco-friendly crafts in honor of Thanksgiving and still bringing the fun or sewing, knitting and crafting in general.

Now- the fun stuff! You may not know but I harbor a secret love of felt food (well, not so secret anymore). This is probably due to my love of cooking coupled with neatness. There is nothing I love more on a rainy day than a good play kitchen full of good looking food! I also harbor another love for donuts. Thus when I found this project by Lilly Bean I knew I had to make it and make it green. Felt donuts look good enough to eat, PLUS with the addition of a simple ribbon loop these tasty felt goodies become great holiday decorations. Bedeck your tree with felt frosted delights or arrange them on a wreath or hang them from a colorful ribbon for a donut-licious garland!

Despite that most of the project is hand sewing, it is pretty quick and instantly satisfying. I nixed the sprinkles and subbed in some yarn swirl to mimic a drizzle of tasty sauce. Maybe some vanilla and raspberry. I used our Ecospun Rainbow Felt cuts from the Eco-friendly & Organic boutique in Cashmere and Walnut Brown: aka Cake donut and chocolate donut. The frosting is Shocking Pink and Peacock Blue: aka Raspberry and blueberry. The instructions were easy and it took about 30 min per donut including making the templates (I used my set of biscuit cutters, the largest one and the smallest), cutting, sewing and adorning. **Tip: for the frosting, I traced the largest biscuit cutter and then free handed the wavy shape using the biscuit cutter as a guide. You can also use I-cord for drizzle, rick rack or use a hole-puncher to punch sprinkles out of felt. I affixed my drizzle with a little fabric glue first and then applied the yarn after. This allowed me to choose the design of my drizzle.

These are a big hit in my house. My husband says they are too realistic and makes him hungry. I am going to make more to grace a cake plate in the kitchen. A whole mound of delicious donuts that will never tempt me!