Felt Food Tutorials

In 2007 I posted a thread on Crafster that caused quite a stir.  It led to quite a few felt food sales a few online interviews or mentions as well as Crafsters Best of 2008 in the Toys, Dolls And Playthings category.  It's been 4 years and I still receive requests for more tutorials and ideas.  With my son turning 2 this last August, I pulled out our felt food collection.  He immediately got started putting things together.  It's amazing how he just knew what to do with it all.  Now my head is buzzing with ideas for new items to make for him.  All that being said I have decided to finally add my short but sweet tutorials that I had posted on Crafster here.  I'm going to update this as I have time to be more detailed.  My ultimate goal is to put it all together in a PDF format for easy viewing and saving.  I will also be scanning my existing patterns and posting them as I have time. Well... on with it already!

For pictures and more ideas just click here.  I'm working on a good gallery, it's just not ready yet.

General directions and materials for all foods.

I used my machine for about 75% of all the sewing.  Detail stitching was done with embroidery floss.  I used polyester stuffing for rounder shapes and some thin quilt batting in things like, peanut butter & jelly blobs, bread (stacked a few layers) spaghetti sauce, pancakes, etc.

Templates and patterns: For the larger circles I use a mason jar lid, small plate, small bowls.... things like that.  And all non circled shapes were just free drawn into the desired shapes. Really it's all about just the general shape of something. Most things in natural are “organic” so really you can't go wrong. Just check out my pictures and you can get an idea of the shapes used for things. For round shapes I found some free fabric all templates and just used those. Or altered them slightly for other shapes.

Wool felt or acrylic felt? I use both. My local fabric store has a very limited collection of wool felts. I buy some only when they go on sale of if I have a coupon. Otherwise I just use cheapy acrylic felt. It comes in about 20 colors and a few times a year it goes on sale for $1.99 per yard. That's when I buy .5 – 1 yard of almost every color.
Basic Instructions For Some Items.

Bread: The bread is just two cream colored “bread” shapes. Rectangle about 5” long and rounded on the corners. Then I cut 1.5” stripes of light brown for the crust.  I then sewed down the strip on one side of the bread, then attached the other side leaving a space for turning. (I left about 4” open so I could lay in batting) I then layed in about 4 thin layers of batting to make them full and hand stitched the opening closed. Alternately you could use polyester stuffing or just add a few layers of felt and make your bread thinner.

Infinity Bread:  I've decided to keep this one a mystery for the time being. 

Meatballs & Hamburger Patti:  Two brown circles sewn together leaving an opening for turning and stuffing. Turn and stuffed to desired shape then sew opening closed.  I added some fabric paint to add detail.  (grill marks on patti and splotches on meatballs) You could also use embroidery floss for details if you wish.

Bacon:  Layer three free form cut pieces of felt into bacon shapes. (2 brown, 1 light brown)  Stitch “fat” blobs in center of bacon.  Cut out just the top layer of felt to reveal the light brown “fat” underneath. 

Eggs:  Cut two free form white egg shapes.  Cut one yellow circle.  Sew yolk to one white egg shape leaving a small opening to stuff. Add some stuffing and sew the opening closed.  Sew both egg whites together.

Bow Tie Noodles:  Cut 1” wide strips of felt. Using either pinking shears of regular scissors cut them down to 1” x 1.5” rectangles.  Then I gathered the centers and ran them through my sewing machine. If you want one continuous length of noodles, dont' cut the thread between sewing them. Sew one , then sew a few stitches without any fabric, then insert your next noodle and make one long string of noodles. This will save you so much mess! They will all stay together and still look awesome in a bowl.

Quesadilla: Three large circles (two cream one orange). Sandwich first the cream, then orange, than anther cream together. Sew all the way round.  Then using either your rotary cutter or scissors, cut the quesadilla into pie shapes like you would if cutting a pizza. Take each piece back to you sewing machine and stitch around the wedge. *Note that my kids used the quesadillas for pizza crusts. It worked great and makes one thing act like two!
Cucumbers were just two green circles and two smaller cream circles all sewn together and detail stitched.

Onion slices:  For these I cut out two large circles (maybe 5-6” round) and I cut the circles in half.  I then started sewing a kinda rainbow (kinda hard to describe) so that I could cut the pieces apart to make it look like a sliced onion.

Kiwis, Lemons & Limes, Cut one circle in appropriate color and fold in half. These have a bit of stuffing in them and were stitched closed.  I detail stitched where necessary.  The kiwis have an extra cream circle in the center and I added black seed beads as the seeds. For toddlers, feel free to makes the seeds with embroidery floss.

Apples & Oranges: These are made with two pieces.  The top “flesh” part  was a circle cut from a mason jar lid.  The rind was a pointed oval.  I used the machine to attach the pieces.  I won't do that next time as I think it distorted the shape.  I'll hand stitch them.  I used embroidery floss on the details in the center.

Strawberries: Cut out circles then cut the circles in half.  Machine stitched the flat side together to make a cone.  Stuff the insides with fabric scraps or any stuffing and gather up the top. I then used green yarn as the stem and attached it to a green square piece of felt.  Then I stitched freehand the green square to the gathered top.  After it was secure I cut off the access green felt into a wavy circle.  Then I stitched on the yellow seed beads. Again, you could use embroidery floss for the seeds for younger children.

Carrots:  For baby carrots cut two free form ovals (the more uneven the oval the better)  Sew ovals together leaving an opening.  Turn, stuff, hand stitch opening closed.  For whole carrots, cut a triangle and stitch up side.  Stuff and free stitch some green on top.

Flat Stuff Including:  Lunch Meat, Cheese, Lettuce, Tomatoes, Pickles, Bananas, Pepperoni, Pancakes, Butter, Tea Bags, Cookies, Chips, Sauces....
- For these I cut out 2 layers of felt in the correct shape of that food.  For most of these I just used a fancy stitch on my machine (you could also use a zig zag) and stitched the two layers together.  Some needed additional detail stitching inside the piece.  The tomatoes and pickles I sewed the two layers together (leaving a small opening) and then turned them right side out.  Then I top stitched and did the detail stitching.  The pancakes, butter, and tea bags have one layer of batting inside.  Sauces are layered pieces of felt free stitched together.

Needle felted items:

The grapes were needle felted into shape.  I then took a piece of hand spun yarn (any chunky yarn would do) and knotted up the yarn a bit then sewed the grapes onto the yarn.

The cherries were needle felted circles.  It then used brown embroidery floss that I pulled through the whole cherry and then knotted up the stem.

The fruit snacks were needle felted into oval shapes and I made them felt bags.  The wool I used I had dyed using kool aid.

Tutorial - Storing Board Puzzles

We've had many a board puzzle in our house over the years.  In between kids and when we move we always seem to loose pieces.  So, I came up with a way to store these puzzles with their pieces without loosing anything!  This will work with any board puzzle with or without the little nubbins.  For puzzles without nubbins just cut the contact paper to size and stick down.

Materials Needed:
Board Puzzle
Contact Paper (any will do... I just have clear laying around so I used that)
Scissors

Step One:  Measure and cut your contact paper to just smaller than your puzzle top.  No photo here...

Step Two:  Starting in the middle of your puzzle, use your fingers to find your first nubbin and cut an X with your scissors.  Slide it down onto the nubbin.  Continue until you have cut all your X's for every nubbin.  Note that the contact paper is right side up!

Step Three:  Starting on on side remove the paper backing and press it down onto the board.

 

Step Four:  Admire your storable puzzle!!

Step Five:  When wanting to use the puzzle again just peel it off and play.

*Please note that my puzzles have been storing like this for about 6 months now and they are still pealing off just fine.  I'm not sure however how these would do for years on end.  I would suggest checking them every so often to ensure that they are pealing away without difficulty.  I also want to note that I've pealed some of this stuff off wooden drawer bottoms that has been stuck down for a decade without it injuring the wood at all... so I would think it wouldn't be any different with these puzzles.

Tutorial - Sleep Sac To Sleep Suit!

Now that my son is standing he no longer wants to sleep in a sleep sac.  During the summer that was fine, but it's starting to get chilly and he needs something to keep him warm and toasty at night.  Looking at his sleep sac I decided to just add some ankle holes to it so he can move all over his crib and stand without getting All Twisted Up.  Here's what I did.

To start you'll need a sleep sac.  Pictured is a fleece one in size 18-24 months.  But, this would work for any size.  Ribbing fabric or any stretchy fabric for the ankles.  And, basic sewing supplies.

Step 1:  Take baby and place him inside the sleep sac.  Mark with a pen where crotch is and let baby roll away and get back to playing.  (no photo of this as he was way to wiggle to photograph and mark at the same time!)  My pins are on the inside back of the sleeper.

Step 2:  Place another pin 3" BELOW where the crotch pen mark is.  You can go further down if want to.  I wanted there to be plenty of room to grow and be loose enough for any jamies underneath.  Then lay the front of the sleeper on top and mark your zipper where your lower pin is.  This is where you will sew closed the zipper.

Steps 3 & 4:  Now you are going to sew together the zipper where you marked it with the pin.  Make sure your zipper is all the way open before you sew it down. In image 4 you can see that I've tacked it down good.  You don't want your zipper pull to come off when you unzip it.

 Step 5:  Now your going to mark where to cut to make the new legs.  I made a rounded top and slightly angled it down the sides.  It's 3" from the zipper on the top and 3.5" from the zipper on the bottom.  I just eyeballed the rounded-ness.

Step 6:  Cut out on your line.  Then cut the very bottom so that it's now open.  Then turn the sac inside out and sew along your legs as shown below.

Step 7 & 8:  Cut out two 6.5" X 6" squares of cotton ribbing.  You could use any stretchy fabric.  Just make sure it's supper stretchy.  Add.5" to the width if it's not super stretchy.  Fold your fabric in half and sew.  Then Turn it half way up so you have a cuff.  Do this to both pieces.

Step 9:  Sew your ankle ribbing into the leg openings to finish.  This was tough to stretch all the way around.  But, it did to and it fits great!

Step 10:  Turn it right side out and admire your handy work.

I also tried this with another sleep sac.  This one had minky on the outside and a layer of jersey on the inside.  It worked great with this one too.

He now has room to move around and still stay warm!

 

Altering The Fattycakes Diaper Pattern To Be Front Snapping

My hubby hates side snap diapers but I love love love the fattycake as a cover. So I altered the wings to be front snapping. Here is a picture of the altered pattern.

It was pretty simple really. I added about 1/2" to the length of the wing then found the center point of the wing. Then I maked 3/4" from both sides of my center mark so the wings would be 1.5" wide at the ends. Then I just tapered down the top and bottom of the wings all the way to the end. It looks a bit funny... but it works great. I then just put a single row of snaps across the front and two snaps on the wings. (I added a second snap to the overnights pictured below after the photo was taken) Let me know if you have any questions!

More pics of finished diapers. These first two are overnights that I made with 4 layers of ZorbII. They are awesome!!

This one is a cover. Love it! I also think this would be great as an AI1. I'm going to try that soon.

Simple PETE 1 Gallon Jar Labels

This is a tutorial for some very very simple labels for your food storage jars. 

Step One:  Measure the place that you want your label to go.  In my case it was the lid of my containers.

Step Two:  Cut out your labels.  For mine I used my circle cutter and cut out white cardstock at 3" circles and a fun paper for the background at 3 3/8".

Step Three:  Label and draw on your labels.  I just used a sharpie and drew some crud pics of what was in each jar.  My daughter then colored them in.  You could print yours out if you wanted.

Step Four:  Place your white cardstock with labeling on your background paper.  I used my handy Zyron sticker maker.  

Step Five:  Use tape, or in my case my Zyron sticker maker and attach your labels to your containers.

Done!  See... Super easy and cute to boot.

The Busy Baby Placemat - Tutorial

 

Sitting in a restaurant over the weekend was an eye opener for me.  My son was sitting in a highchair and he was very very bored.  He kept grabbing everything he could get his hands on.  Needless to say he spent most of our dinner out in either mine or my husbands lap.  On our way out of the restaurant I knew something had to be done to insure a more hormonious dinner out next time.

Enter ... "The Busy Baby Placemat"  A tutorial for all you families that could use some piece and quiet at dinner.  This isn't an "original" idea.  I've seen things like this around the internet.  But, mine has lots of rings and dings that will surely keep baby happy for years to come.  This thing has a chalkboard on one side with two holders for chalk, and an eye-spy mat on the other.  Either way you use it it's wipiable and has 4 rings to attach toys, silverware, etc.  The top of the mat sports two suction cups to adhere it to the table and it has an elastic strap with a snap to keep it all rolled nice and neat in your bag.

Materials Needed:
Basic sewing supplies:  sewing machine, thread, scissors, etc.
Oil Cloth (or any other wipiable fabric)
Clear Vinyl - Mine is nice and thin.  You don't want anything to stiff.
Chalk Board Fabric - You can find this online as well as most fabric stores.
70 2" Eye Spy Spuares - lots of different fabrics here... use up that stash of quilting cottons!
Fold Over Elastic (FOE) - Not necessary, but it's what I used.  You could substitute with regular elastic
4 D-Rings  - Again not necessary.  You could just attach ribbon and then clip on regular toy leashes.
Grosgrain Ribbon
Single Snap or Velcro
2 Suction Cups - Mine have a loop on top so I could thread 1/4" elastic through.  This allows the suction cups to be flipped over so the mat can be used on either side.

Step 1:  Cut out 70 2" quilt squares for your "Eye Spy" side of mat.  Arrange them on a table in a pleasing fashion and then sew them together using a 1/4" seam allowance.

Step 2:  Here it is all pressed.  I added a 3" wide border all around.  The "Eye Spy" side is finished!

Step 3: Time to work on the Chalk Board side of the placemat.  Measure your finished top.  Mine was 12 3/4" X 17".  So I cut my oil cloth to that measurement.  I then cut my Chalk fabric 2.5" smaller than my oilcloth and rounded the corners.  I used my pinking rotary cutter, but it's not necessary. Center the Chalk board fabric on the oilcloth and tuck your FOE (I used two strips of FOE per side so the chalk wouldn't fall out. If using elastic, I would use 2 1" wide pieces on each side)under the chalk fabric. Sewing this down on the oilcloth can be tricky.  I used some clear tape to hold the chalk fabric down and removed it as I was sewing.  You really don't want to use pins!

Step 4:  Gather your ribbon, FOR for closure strap, suction cups, d-rings, and 1/4" elastic.  Thread about 3" of 1/4" elastic through each suction cup.  Fold about 3.5 - 4" of grosgrain ribbon through each of your 4 d-rings and sew it down.  Roll over one side of your FOE and sew it down.

Step 5:  Place your FOE strap half way up one side and sew it down like shown in photo.  Next place your ribbon and d-ring pieces on the bottom and lower sides as shown and sew them down too.

Step 6:  Your doing great!  Almost done.  Now it's time to sew it all together.  Lay your chalk side like photo above. Then put down the clear vinyl cut to the same size as your oil cloth.  They lay down your "Eye Spy" side UPSIDE DOWN!  Don't use pins here.  I used some clips.  Hair clips, paper clips.... anything like that will work.  With a 1/2" seam allowance, sew the sides and bottom ONLY!

Step 7: Measure 2" from your sew line on the sides and make a mark.  This is where your suction cups will go.  Now this part and the next part are a bit tricky...  Sew across one side of the top and insert your suction cut between the vinyl and the oilcloth and sew down.  Do this to both sides.  You want to leave 8" or so open in the center of the top so don't sew all the way across just yet.

Step 8:  Now clip your corners and turn it all around.  This part was a pain!! The vinyl and the oilcloth was sticking to each other and it was hard to turn.  Be patient and it will go.  Top stitch around making sure you close the opening. Sorry, no photo of that.

Step 9:  Prep your chalk board by rubbing chalk all over it really good.  Wipe it off with a dry or slightly damp cloth.

 Step 10: Congratulations!  Your finished.  Find a cute child old or young to play with your new Busy Baby Placemat.  My son won't be using the chalk side for a while.  We'll be clipping toys onto the d-rings and he can look at all those pretty fabrics while we are at restaurants. 

Infant Bouncy Seat Cover Tutorial

This is a tutorial to make a cover and detachable blanket for a basic infant bouncy chair. Basically, it's a oval with elastic around it that slips over the chair. Slits are cut for the safety straps and separating zippers are added so a blanket can be zipped on and off.... Think “Bundle Me” only for a bouncy chair. This tutorial assumes that you have basic sewing knowledge and is really just a very basic tutorial. Please let me know if you have any questions.

Materials:
- Infant Bouncy Seat
- Approx 1.5yrds fabric. I used polar fleece that I found on sale. You will want something with a pinch of stretch that is warm and cuddly
- 3/8” Elastic – but really anything that size of wider is fine
- 2 – 20” long separating zippers – you could do one long zipper, but I like having the ability to unzip just one side.
Step One.
Lay your fabric over the seat. Press it down into the seat and pin in pleats where the bucket part of the seat is. Remove and sew the pleats.
Step Two:
Lay your fabric back on the seat and cut the excess fabric off around the seat leaving at least 4-5” all around.
Step Three:
Fold fabric over in back all around to make casing for the elastic. Thread elastic through and put cover on seat and tighten elastic until it fits nicely.
Step Four:
With the cover on the seat, use your fingers to feel around for the safety straps. Cut slits in the fabric for the straps to go through. Cut the oval for the vibration button to if you want. *note that I'm using a non-fray fabric so I just cut my slits and didn't “finish” the edges.
Step Five:
Lay your zippers on the cover and pin it all the way up. I went up approx 18”. I only wanted my blanket part to zip up to my sons chin so I don't have to worry about suffocation. Once pinned, remove the cover and sew down the zippers
Step Six:
Try it out with baby in. So cute!! Now, that baby is in measure for the top blanket part. It's basically a oval with the top cut off. This doesn't have to be exact. I layed my fabric on top and used a pen to outline the shape of the seat, then I added about 6” to the width and cut it plenty long enough. *note that I cut out two pieces here so that I could have two layers for my blanket and a nice finished zipper.

Step Seven:
Add zipper to top part of the cover. You will need to gather it down near the bottom. This will give baby room to kick legs and give extra room for bulky clothing or another blanket. Once that's done try it on the seat and make sure it fits nicely before you sandwich the zipper with the other side of the cover.
Step Eight:
Add the other side of the blanket and sew it all up.... I made the top of my blanket part have a “u” shape so it dipped a little up top.

Step Nine:
The raw edge of the zipper on the seat cover drove me nuts. So, I cut some 1” wide stripes of my fabric and then sewed it down over the raw zipper edge. Nice and neat now.

Step Ten:
Finished!! Put baby in the seat, zip em” up and oooh and awwww. Our son loves this seat. And, the blanket is so nice and comfy for him and convenient for me!

Sports Bra To Nursing Bra Tutorial

I needed some inexpensive sleep nursing bras for after baby comes. But, at $20.00 a pop, I knew that I would need to come up with my own solution. I was at good ol' WallyMart the other day and saw a wall of different style sports bras in all sizes (even plus sizes!) for $10.00 / 3 pack! I also purchased swim suit / lingerie hooks at the fabric store. For a total of $14.00 for 3 bras. On with the tut!

Materials:
Sports Bra
Swim Suit / Lingerie Hook
Swing Machine (hand stitching would be fine too)
Scissors
Step 1:
Cut straps as low as you can. You don't want to cut so low that you don't have enough strap left to fold over and attach to your clip.
Step 2:
Thread top part of strap through the “loop” side of the clasp and sew down the strap on the back.
Step 3: (This step isn't necessary. I did two of my bras without this step and they work fine)
The lower part of bra strap here was too wide for the “hook” side of the clasp so I made a pleat and sewed it down on both sides of the pleat.
Step 4:
Fold down the top part of the bottom strap to create a “loop” that your “hook” side of the clasp can slip through.
Step 5:
Do other strap the same as the first. And, then your finished!! (finished bra pic at top of tutorial)
In less than 30 min. here is a pretty stack of the 3 finished nursing sleep bras. The top blue one does not have the pleat that the one in the tut has and it works great!
*Note that smaller size bras may need a smaller swim suit / lingerie hook than mine are. They came in 2 or 3 sizes. This tutorial will also work with spaghetti strap sports bras. Just buy an appropriate clasp to attach.