Felt Fruit! Felt Ice Lollies! Felt Houses!

The current issue of docrafts Creativity magazine (#61) includes two felt-y projects designed by me...

There's a whole assortment of felt fruit...

 

 ... and phone cases decorated with felt ice lollies / ice creams!

 

I was chuffed to see they both made the magazine's contents page...

 

... and I was delighted to see the fruit popping up in promos for this month's issue on the docrafts Facebook page and the docrafts homepage.

These two projects were both fun to work on but the felt fruit was an especially enjoyable challenge. Making 3D shapes from flat pieces of felt can be tricky! And when you're making felt versions of real things that actually exist in the real world, the shapes have to be just right.

 

Unexpectedly, the kiwi fruit turned out to be trickiest to get right (I was totally expecting it to be the pear). One prototype was too round. One was too long. Then the third was just right. Phew! I did a highly embarrasing victory dance round the house when I'd finished that pattern.

After all that, I think the kiwi ended up being my favourite :)

Luckily for you, you don't need to faff about making prototypes and muttering curses under your breath when the shapes turn out all wonky... as all the pattern pieces are included in the back of the magazine.

Can't find docrafts Creativity Magazine in your local newsagent? You can subscribe here or buy individual issues here.


While we're chatting about magazines, the fun felt houses tutorial I designed for Creativity #58 is now available online here.  There are step by step instructions for making the houses, plus some helpful stitching guides provided by the nice folks at docrafts. You'll need to sign up to the site to download the templates, but it's free to join.

Also, is it too early to whisper the word "Christmas"? If you think it is, look away now!

The felt Christmas stocking tutorial I designed for Tuts+ got a lovely mention in the Bustle & Sew 2015 Christmas collection - a digital magazine jam-packed with festive goodness. "More than just a collection of patterns, there’s lots more to discover between the covers of this year’s Christmas special which runs to an enormouse 85 pages in total!  There are nine lovely Bustle & Sew patterns (all those featured on the cover), recipes and articles too – so there’s plenty to enjoy in between planning your Christmas stitching."

You can read more info about the Christmas collection, and flick through a preview of it here. You can find my free Christmas stocking tutorial here.