Felt & Felting

Fall is just starting to creep in around here. In the past week we've noticed a few trees in our yard that have leaves that are tipped with gold. Chilly mornings have led to the kids digging deeper into their drawers pulling out long sleeved shirts (although by mid-afternoon these are really too warm to wear) and maybe most noticeably the food requests have started changing. Chili with cornbread and Vegetable Beef Soup with dumplings have made it to the table in the last week. Today after school we plan to switch out our seasonal decor and prepare our nature table for the fall.

This has reminded me of a fun project the kids and I did last year around this time. We made this Felt Fall Leaves Garland together. This was originally posted on Wee Folk Activities in September 2009.

It has been cold and rainy all day. So after we finished up our school activities we raided the craft cabinet for a project. This is what we came up with... a Felt Leaves Fall Garland.

What you need...
Various pieces of fall colored felt (craft felt is perfectly fine here - no need for wool)
Yarn
Yarn needle
Lots of beads with large holes
Leaf Pattern (get one from Wee Folk Art or collect leaves from your yard and trace)
(Embroidery floss or fabric paint if you would like to add the leaf vein details - after trying one, we decided to leave ours plain).

Cut out a bunch of felt leaves (we used 13).

Cut a long piece of yarn (3 to 4 yards) or for multiple family members cut out a yard of yarn each.

Poke the yarn needle through the top of a leaf about 1/2" from the edge and tie a large knot on one end.

String about 12" of beads and then add another felt leaf. Continue until you have strung all of your garland.

We each beaded a one yard section starting with a leaf and ending with a section of beads.

I took all the completed sections, tied them together, added the last leaf so both ends ended with a leaf, then trimmed the yarn to make our one long garland piece.

I think it adds a fun festive touch to our mantle.

Last week we dusted off some of our books, pushed aside the stacks of papers I never got a chance to organize from last year and dove into a new school year. Although I didn't feel totally prepared myself (our library needs some serious purging and reorganizing), the kids were ready for their routine to be re-established and were begging to start school.

This year in history we will be studying the Middle Ages. Bug is chomping at the bit to get into all of our history lessons... he has ear marked many, many pages in our Days of Knights and Damsels Activity Guide. The first project on our list were these Medieval Pockets. Clothing during the Middle Ages did not have pockets sew in and were instead worn on belts.

This felt version was fun to make. The kids helped cut out the pockets. Then they decided that they wanted to embroider pictures on the fronts of their pockets. Bug had a very specific spiral motif in mind, Fairy wanted to add her name and a flower and Pixie had the grandest plans of all... she kept telling us she was making a cow. LOL - squint, stand on your head or well hmmm... not sure I can get it to look like a cow. But she was pretty pleased with her pocket. Gammy joined in and made a beautiful flower pocket. I was busy helping little hands. After completing their pockets, the kids took them outside to fill with little treasures.

 

We haven't started up with everything yet. We will not be starting our Harvest Unit until September... the week of the seventh most likely. And, for everyone who keeps asking, I plan to have my Winter Unit posted in the next week or two. It is all done, it just needs some editing. The Spring Unit will probably not be posted until sometime later in the fall. I haven't even started typing it up. You can start looking for it at the end of September... my personal due date though is Halloween.

Just a gentle reminder of all that we have to be grateful for. Thank you, Irving!

I Got the Sun in the Morning - Words & Music by Irving Berlin
Got no diamond, got no pearl,
Still I think I'm a lucky girl.
I've got the sun in the morning
And the moon at night.
Got no mansion, got no yacht,
Still I'm happy with what I got.
I've got the sun in the morning
And the moon at night

Sunshine gives me a lovely day,
Moonlight gives me the Milky Way.
Got no checkbooks, got no banks,
Still, I'd like to express my thanks.
I've got the sun in the morning
And the moon at night.
And with the sun in the morning
And the moon in the evening
I'm alright.

Got no butler, got no maid.
Still I think I've been overpaid,
I've got the sun in the morning
And the moon at night.
Got no silver, got no gold,
What you've got can't be bought or sold.
I've got the sun in the morning
And the moon at night.

Sunshine gives me a lovely day,
Moonlight gives me the Milky Way.
Got no heirlooms for my kin,
Made no will but when I cash in
I'll leave the sun in the morning
And the moon at night.
And with the sun in the morning
And the moon in the evening
I'm alright.

As always, the Sun and Moon Applique Block were made to fit a 6" x 6" block, but can be enlarged or reduced to meet your needs. Directions for the Sun and Moon Applique Block can be found HERE or with our FREE Appliques.

Excerpt from The Never Ending Story by Michael Ende:

Everyone in Fantastica knew what the medallion meant. It was the badge of one acting on orders from the Childlike Empress, acting in her name as though she herself were present. It was said to give the bearer mysterious powers, though no one knew exactly what these powers were. Everyone knew its name: AURYN

When Atreyu, the little boy hero, accepts the Great Quest bestowed upon him by the Childlike Empresses, a quest to save Fantastica from the Nothing, the medallion is placed around his neck.

"AURYN!" Atreyu repeated with awe. "I will be worthy of the Glory."

A couple of days ago I watched The Never Ending Story with Bug, Fairy and Pixie. They were enthralled. I promised them that the next time they were over I would begin reading them the book. Bug said, "I need a thing to put around my neck like Atreyu.

Well, of course he does! I did an Internet search to see if there were any metal ones out-and-about to purchase. There were, but all of them were pricey. So, I set about making one for him out of felt. When I gave it to him today, I know he couldn't have been more pleased if it were made out of gold. He immediately changed into what he considered appropriate attire (his Pirate Shirt Michelle made for him, although I'm thinking of actually making him an Atreyu costume), and he was more than willing to participate in a photo shoot!  Although I did make this as a medallion, if enlarged slightly, it could be used as one of our 6" applique blocks. Hope you have a little boy hero to give AURYN to! Enjoy!

Materials:
wool felt
embroidery floss
lid of wide mouth Mason jar
1mm satin cording
pattern

Make a copy of the pattern and cut out the necessary pieces. (Directions for cutting out felt can be found HERE.)

Using the pattern as a guide, place pieces on top of pattern, weaving them together following the pattern. Note: It is easier if you make 2 copies of the pattern; one to lay the pieces on and one to refer to for weaving the pieces correctly. Pin the felt together so it will not shift when you move it.

Position the snakes in the center of one of the felt circles. Pin in place. Stitch the snakes to the felt circle following the stitching lines on the pattern. Embroider eyes. (BTW... the pattern calls for a "stain stitch"... this should read "satin stitch"). Note: When cutting out the 2 large sections of the snake, you cut through the snake's body. This is necessary so you can intertwine the snakes. When sewing the snakes to the felt DO NOT sew along this edge because it is suppose to look like one continuous piece of snake. Instead, from the back side, tack this edge to the felt, making sure you do not go all the way through the snake. You do not want to see the stitching from the front but you want to make sure it lays down flat. Instead of tacking it from behind, you can put a little tab of fabric glue under this edge to hold it in place.


Lay the embroidered felt circle on top of the other. Pin in place and blanket stitch half way around the 2 circles.

Slide the wide mouth Mason jar lid between the 2 circles. This will give it body. If you do not have a wide mouth Mason jar lid, cut a circle from a rigid piece of plastic (mayo or peanut butter jar lid will work). The circle needs to be smaller than the felt circles since you need to blanket stitch around the outer edge. Finish blanket stitching around the rest of the circles.

Cut out a piece of felt 1" x 2" the same color as the felt circles.

Fold the piece of felt in thirds creating a 2" long, skinny loop. Sew a running stitch down the middle to hold the folds together.

From the front, mark the top of the medallion with a pin so you can see it from the back side.

Fold your loop in half and pin it to the back of the medallion so the top of the loop is 1/2" from the top.

Sew the loop to the medallion across the loose bottom edges and a few tacking stitches on either side near the bottom of the loop.

Cut a length of cord the desire you want. Make sure it will be able to slide over your child's head. String the cord through the loop and tie off the edges.


You are now ready to send your little boy hero on his own Quests!
 

I have some bad news to share... Last evening I was working on Part Two of Noisy Nora. I was sitting at the computer, banging away at the keyboard, my two Yorkies were curled up on my crafting table, and the two pups... soon to be 5 months old, were running in and out of the house to our enclosed deck and dog run. Pretty standard fair. Tim turned around and started chuckling.

"Oh, look. Now their playing keep-away with a dried leaf."

"Sweet", I said, absorbed in my writing.

I didn't process Tim's, "Oh no" until it was followed by, "I'm so sorry, Kim."

I stopped what I was doing, and reluctantly looked.

There, in his hand, was the leaf they were playing keep-away with. Only it wasn't a leaf... it was Noisy Nora. As a matter of fact, Father, Mum, Kate and Jack were also missing in action. We found pieces; some in the dog run, some on the deck, a random tail or ear on the family room floor, and we have to assume, the rest of the body parts were ingested!

I remained relatively calm considering I'm a woman on the edge right now. I called Michelle. She said, "Oh... you should post of picture of the decimation."

"No", I said. I would rather Noisy Nora was remembered as she was... full of life and mischief, not this broken and almost unrecognizable mass of matted alpaca fur!"

So, it seems for the time being, Noisy Nora has been silenced. Fortunately, I took pictures of the process, and I have her photos from the previous post to remind me of her and to write up the tutorial. I will get Part Two up shortly. Unfortunately, with my unbelievably busy schedule, I may not get back to remaking the mouse family until the Fall, and I can't make clothing for them until I have little mouses to model for me. If you have been waiting to do this project, at least I'll be able to have a tutorial on making the mice, sans clothing, soon.

You know how it is when you get your child's portrait taken and you must go through the agonizing decision of picking 2 or 3 cute poses out of 50?

So you ask a friend... "Which one of these 2 do you like better?"

She responds, "Oh, I thought they were the same."

"Oh, no", you protest, "See, in this one he's just breaking a smile and in this one he's just finishing a smile"!

Well, I wanted to give you a Noisy Nora progress report. I've got all 5 bodies done, with ears and noses, I just need to add arms, tails and face detail. I did finish Nora. Since I couldn't decide which picture I liked best, I included a few. They are different... really :) I've also been working on the clothing patterns for them. Hopefully, I will have Step 2 up in the next couple of days. In the meantime, let me introduce you to Naked Nora!

To begin making our little finger puppet mice for our Book Nook Book - Noisy Nora, I made 5 little bodies. Below are the directions. Before I get to that, however, I want to introduce everyone to a super cool lady and her outrageously cute alpacas! I "met" Maple of North Star Alpacas, when I first started Wee Folk Art. I am SOOOOO glad I did. I love working with alpaca roving, and Maple has the best I've ever worked with. I love how long alpaca fur is, making the roving and yarns supple and smooth and super easy to felt. She has beautiful colors and sells many of her rovings variegated. I love it! (BTW... I use the dyed alpaca roving to wrap around the branches in my gnome home to simulate foliage!)

I contacted Maple the other day after I had made the bodies. I just had to sing the praises of her roving yet again. Since I was going to feature her alpaca roving in this project, I asked her if she'd like to give our readers even more incentive to pay a visit to her Etsy shop. She generously offered for all first time customers 25% all yarns (they are gorgeous) and 15% off everything else in her shop. Trust me, you want to stock up. If you are interested in getting some great roving, don't delay. Her stock changes frequently, and if you see something you like, she might not have the same blend again. If you place an order, mention Wee Folk Art at check out and she'll Paypal you the savings as a refund. We've added her button under our Featured Sponsor so it will be easy to get to her shop.

Having said all that, time to move on to making the little mousey bodies. I used one of Maple's variegated rovings, with brown, gray and off white. So fun. Make the bodies so they reach at least below your middle knuckle, but they can be cut down later. I placed the finished bodies on pencils to dry. Make sure they dry thoroughly before you begin step 2... needle felting.
 
Materials:
roving (see comments above)

Break off about a 6" length of roving.

Pull apart the roving so it is thin.

Pull off pieces and wrap around your index finger, making sure to cover your finger tip well. It works best to always wrap in the same direction. It is better to use many very thin pieces of fiber instead of dense pieces.

Wet your finger with warm water and squirt with liquid dish soap.

Begin squeezing and rubbing your finger, agitating the fibers, to create felting. Add more soap and water as needed. 

Before long the fibers will felt. You will know it is done when the fibers feel dense, hug your finger and have an almost sticky feel to them. Rinse your finger.


Place on a pencil and dry upright. This will probably take 24 hours.

BTW... I just started needle felting faces. Here's a little peek. That will be covered in Part 2!

So, what do you think this is a picture of? Perhaps cat tail tops? Morels? Owl pellets? A cat's fur ball? No to all of the above. Actually, they are the bodies for Nora, Kate, Jack, Father and Mum from Noisy Nora.

Heeding several suggestions, I decided to make finger puppets, but I couldn't decide if I wanted to wet felt, needle felt or sew them using felt. My final decision... do all three! Figures, right? Anyway... I am sharing this project a little differently than I've shared any in the past. Generally, you do not hear about a project until I'm all done. What you don't know is there are some projects I make that aren't exactly blog worthy. Sure, some of them are close, and later I go back and tweak them to the point that I'm willing to share them, but others fall into the realm of dismal failures and I make a few mental notes and move on, never to revisit the debacle!

This project is different. As I told you at the beginning of the season, I was not going to be sharing as many crafts this summer. The gardens, family and a few non Wee Folk Art projects are claiming most of my time. Add to that a few more exciting outside projects, plus the baby shower AND moving my parents into a condo and I have about 17 minutes to myself all day :) (No complaints, BTW... this is all good stuff!) However... I don't want to go another week without sharing anything while I find time to make my Noisy Nora finger puppets, so I decided to share the project as I make it. But here's the rub... I'm not sure if they are going to turn out adorable (hey, they are in my mind's eye!) or if they'll be one of those dismal failures I mentioned, that you aren't suppose to know about.

So, there you have it. I'm inviting you into the whole creative process. Hopefully, at the end, we'll have something wonderful. But, in the event we don't... you can give me sympathetic words :) Oh, yes. I also have an old Internet friend to introduce you to, and she has a special offer for all our readers. More about that in the first part of the project... felting the bodies. Keep your fingers crossed this all turns out well! 

Yesterday Pixie and Fairy had their dance recital. There was talent-a-plenty I can tell ya! This was Pixie's first time on the big stage and Fairy's third... a real professional! Both of the girls did great, and Pixie stole the show, with a prop mix-up, and her grace under pressure. Thought there was going to be a standing ovation for her! Truly exciting.

As in past years, I made the girls felt flowers, presented in a spray of baby's breath. The idea being that instead of giving them flowers that will be thrown away in a few days, they have a permanent keepsake to mark their special days. By the time they finish high school they should have quite a lovely bouquet of memories! Fairy's past flowers and tutorial can be found HERE.

This year I made a Fluffy Felt Flower... perhaps a bit Seussian in appearance... with dense yellow petals and this fluffy thingy in the middle. They wound up looking lovely. Here are the directions for making our Fluffy Felt Flower.

Materials:
gold wool felt for centers
yellow wool felt for petals
dark green felt for leaves
strip of green cotton fabric 1/2" x 36"
3 12" pipe cleaners
embroidery floss
pattern

Make a copy of the pattern.

Cut out the felt pieces as follows:
     1 flower center - gold felt
     3 small petals - yellow felt
     5 medium petals - yellow felt
     7 large petals - yellow felt
     5 leaves - green felt

Twist the 3 pipe cleaners together.

Fold flower in half along fold line on pattern. Using the pattern as a guide, clip beginning at the fold, being careful NOT to clip all the way through.

Place one end of the folded flower inside over the end of the pipe cleaners. Tack in place using 2 strands of gold floss.

Continue twisting and tack the inside around the pipe cleaners. NOTE: I often slip my needle between the pipe cleaners when tacking the flower inside to the pipe cleaners. Tie off the end of the thread and clip thread.


To add petals, begin with the 3 small petals. Attach 2 strands of yellow floss where the flower center touches the pipe cleaner. Sew a running stitch along the bottom of a petal. 

Push the petal up against the pipe cleaners, gathering the running stitch, and tack.

Continue adding the other 2 small petals, spacing them so they surround the flower inside.

Do the same thing for the other 2 layers of petals, adding them slightly below the other layer of petals.

Switch to green thread and sew on in the same manner, gathering, placing and tacking.


At this point I embroider the girls' first initial and the year with 2 strands of floss. You could embroider something more elaborate if you wish, just make sure you hide the stitches on the inside of the felt because the backside is visible.

To wrap the stem, rip a piece of green cotton fabric 1/2" x 36". Remove any loose threads.

Beginning directly under the leaves, tack the strip of fabric to the flower, slightly overlapping the bottom of the leaves. None of the pipe cleaner should be showing. Begin twisting and tacking the strip in place, overlapping the strips as you go.

When you get to the bottom, clip off any length you don't need, turn the end under, and tack in place. 

To present the flowers you will need:

baby's breath
a cellophane flower sleeve
wide ribbon.

Nestle the flower amongst the baby's breath.

Place the flowers in the cellophane sleeve and tie a bow with a wide ribbon.

They flowers are now done and ready to be presented to your tiny dancers or place them in a vase for their play kitchen.

Monday evening Michelle called me up and said, "Hey, Mom. Can you do me a favor?" Experience has taught me 2 things... first, I seldom say "No" to my children, and second, no matter how busy I am, I am going to get busier. "What do you need?" I ask. "Well", she starts, "Wednesday is the girls' last day of dance class for the year, and I want to make something for Miss Jodi. When I was looking at our projects, I was thinking, I bet lots of people would like a ballet slipper book mark. Do you think you could design one for me? I'll make it, but I don't have any of the supplies at home. So if you design it, and put together a kit of the materials, I will make it. Of course, you could blog about it, and you'll probably want to make one yourself so you can take pics for the tute..." Well, you get the picture!

So, Monday night I designed a Ballet Slipper Book Mark, and Tuesday I made two. I think they turned out adorable, and Miss Jodi loved it. Although the girls gave 1 to Miss Jodi to use as a book mark, you certainly could make 2 to use as decoration. Enjoy!

  

Materials for 1 slipper:
Pink felt
Tan felt
White felt
Pink grosgrain ribbon - 1/4" x 48" for lace and 1/4" x 6" for ribbon
Embroidery thread
Pattern

Make a copy of pattern.

Cut out ribbon and felt as follows (Hints for cutting out felt can be found HERE):
     2 pieces pink for ballet slipper
     1 piece tan for sole
     1 piece white for inside shoe
     48" of 1/4" pink grosgrain ribbon
     6" of 1/4" pink grosgrain ribbon

Note: Since the slipper is not perfectly symmetrical, you will want to stitch them together in the way they were cut out. When you are done appliqueing pieces to the front and back of the slipper, the 2 pieces will be blanket stitched together with the appliques on the outside. When appliqueing pieces to the slipper make sure you are sewing the appliqued pieces on the right side of the pieces. 

Using pattern for placement, sew sole to slipper back using a running stitch and 2 strands floss. Set aside. (Note: I forgot to take a pic when I was sewing on the sole, so this pic shows the sole when the slipper is all done.) 

Using pattern for placement, pin the inside of the shoe to the slipper front.

Lay the pattern next to the slipper. Fold the ribbon in half to find the center. Slip the center under the white inside of the shoe following the pattern placement. Pin the ribbon in place.

Beginning directly above one of ribbons, and using 2 strands of floss, sew the inside shoe and ribbon to the slipper using a running stitch. Sew until you catch both ribbons at the front of the shoe.


Fold each ribbon diagonally on the front of the slipper, overlapping in the center, following pattern placement. Pin in place.

Fold each ribbon diagonally behind the inside of the slipper, overlapping under the inside slipper piece, following pattern placement. Pin in place. 


Finish sewing the inside to the slipper. When you come to the 2 side crossed ribbons, slide your needle to the back, and tack in place from behind so you cannot see the stitching on the top of the side ribbons. Continue stitching around the top, catching the top ribbons in place between the the side slipper and the slipper.

Using the 6" of ribbon, tie a small bow. Cut the ends on angles and flatten the bow between your fingers.

Pin bow to the slipper using the pattern for placement. Pin in place. Tack the bow to the slipper from behind. Keep your stitches hidden so they cannot be seen on the front.

Place the wrong side of the slipper front on the wrong side of the slipper back. Pin in place. Blanket stitch the 2 pieces together using 3 strands of floss.

Cut the ends of the ribbons on angles to prevent fraying, and tie the ends together in a bow. It is now ready to be used as a book mark. If you wish to make a pair of ballet slippers, tie the two slippers together.