Felt Weather Mobile Tutorial: Assembling the Mobile

UPDATE: this project is now available as part of my Patreon pattern library.

Click here to find the Felt Weather Mobile Tutorial and to sign up to my Patreon. 

Subscribers get full access to a growing library of PDF patterns and tutorials, and emails whenever new projects are added. You can unsubscribe at any time. 

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P.S. Visit my crafty tutorial archive for lots of free projects.

Visit my shop to buy my printable PDF sewing patterns:

Felt Weather Mobile Tutorial: Sew a Felt Cloud or Raincloud!

UPDATE: this project is now available as part of my Patreon pattern library.

Click here to find the Felt Weather Mobile Tutorial and to sign up to my Patreon. 

Subscribers get full access to a growing library of PDF patterns and tutorials, and emails whenever new projects are added. You can unsubscribe at any time. 

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My baby mobile tutorial continues this week with a how to for making a fluffy felt cloud, with or without raindrops.

 

 

 

The weather mobile would make a special gift for a baby's nursery. You can also use the individual tutorials to make cute ornaments (just add a ribbon loop!) or things like brooches or patches.

Remember: as with all mobiles, this is a decoration not a toy so make sure you hang the finished project well out of reach of little fingers. 

 
P.S. Visit my crafty tutorial archive for lots of free projects.

Visit my shop to buy my printable PDF sewing patterns:

Felt Weather Mobile Tutorial: Sew a Rainbow!

UPDATE: this project is now available as part of my Patreon pattern library.

Click here to find the Felt Weather Mobile Tutorial and to sign up to my Patreon. 

Subscribers get full access to a growing library of PDF patterns and tutorials, and emails whenever new projects are added. You can unsubscribe at any time. 

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The weather mobile would make a lovely gift for a new baby. Remember: as with all mobiles, this is a decoration not a toy so make sure you hang the finished project well out of reach of little fingers.

As well as using the tutorials to make the mobile, you can also make individual felt brooches or ornaments. The rainbow would also make a fab patch, or look lovely sewn onto projects like a coin purse or a needlebook.

P.S. Visit my crafty tutorial archive for lots of free projects.

Visit my shop to buy my printable PDF sewing patterns:

Felt Weather Mobile Tutorial: Sew a Cute Felt Sun!

UPDATE: this project is now available as part of my Patreon pattern library.

Click here to find the Felt Weather Mobile Tutorial and to sign up to my Patreon. 

Subscribers get full access to a growing library of PDF patterns and tutorials, and emails whenever new projects are added. You can unsubscribe at any time. 

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This fortnight I've got a very fun project to share with you: how to make a cute and colourful felt baby mobile inspired by the weather. You'll learn to sew fluffy clouds and rainclouds, a smiling sun and a bright rainbow then combine them all to make a mobile!

Today: how to sew a little felt sun. 

 

 

This mobile would make a sweet addition to any nursery or a special gift for new parents. You could also use the tutorials to make individual ornaments or fun brooches - just add a ribbon loop or a brooch clasp.  

IMPORTANT: As with all mobiles, this is a decoration not a toy so make sure you hang the finished project well out of reach of little fingers.

P.S. Visit my crafty tutorial archive for lots of free projects.

Visit my shop to buy my printable PDF sewing patterns:

Upcoming Class: Make a Felt Baby Mobile

UPDATE: this project is now available as part of my Patreon pattern library.

Click here to find the Felt Weather Mobile Tutorial and to sign up to my Patreon. 

Subscribers get full access to a growing library of PDF patterns and tutorials, and emails whenever new projects are added. You can unsubscribe at any time. 

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As you might remember, I'm teaching some sewing classes at The Village Haberdashery in London this autumn.

On Saturday 29th October we'll be making rainbows...

... and happy little felt suns...

... and lots of clouds, then combining them all to make weather-themed baby mobiles!

All the materials you'll need to make the mobile will be provided in the class fee. After learning how to make all the pieces and assemble the mobile, you'll get a copy of the pattern to take home so you can make more mobiles or cute things like rainbow brooches.

(It took me a while to perfect my rainbow-making method - I'm so pleased with how they turned out!)

 

Click here for the full details of the baby mobile class, and to sign up. 

This autumn I'm also teaching classes on making a felt autumn wreath, and colourful Christmas ornaments inspired by vintage baubles - click here to see all the upcoming classes at The Village Haberdashery.

Four Fun Felt Projects for Mollie Makes #69

I got an exciting bit of post this week - a copy of this month's Mollie Makes magazine.
 

Why am I so excited about the arrival of this magazine, you ask?

Well, a familiar face makes an appearance this issue...

 

... yup, you guessed it, it's me! Yay! :)

The cover gift that comes free with Mollie Makes #69 is a kit for making a fabulous felt pom pom necklace, designed by Yoko Minemura Vega.

 
You also get a little booklet that contains three bonus projects: alternative ideas for using the materials in the kit... and those three projects were designed by me! (Double yay!)

 

I had loads of fun making these projects a few months ago, it's so nice seeing them styled so gorgeously by the Mollie Makes team.

You can choose from three home decor projects. A felt bouquet...

 

... a mini mobile...

 

... or a Scandi-inspired cushion.

I also designed a fourth project - a scalloped necklace. The necklace didn't fit in the printed booklet, so the lovely folks at Mollie Makes have shared it as a free project over on their blog. (Triple yay!).
 

Issue 69 of Mollie Makes is out now in the UK and is available in all good newsagents, supermarkets and independent craft shops, or from the official online store.         

Two Very Useful Things

I got two new things this week...

1. A compass.

I haven't owned one of these since I studied for my Maths GCSE which was rather a long time ago! I don't remember throwing my old one out but I probably thought "what would I ever need this for now I'm no longer doing Maths?"... and now here I am designing and making things for a living and drawing lots of circles.

I have a really useful little template (stolen from my dad) for drawing small circles but have (rather embarrassingly) been drawing round circle-shaped things in my house (rolls of tape, small glasses, coasters, etc) whenever I've needed a larger circle for a pattern. Finally buying a compass feels great, and I've already used it a couple of times this week. Next up: getting round to buying a protractor!

2. A "new" mobile phone.

Yes, that is a Nokia 3310. My previous mobile lasted me about 10 years, getting very occasional use when I needed to send texts like "my train is 30 minutes late!" when meeting up with friends. It served me well for many years but recently texted its last text. I ummed and aahhed about upgrading to a smartphone but decided that I just wanted to stick with something simple, not least because I'm already finding it hard keeping the distractions of email and social media out of my non-work time as it is without being able to access the internet on my phone!

Then I borrowed my dad's old Nokia to use during a recent weekend away, remarked to him how lovely and simple and back-to-basics it was and he surprised me with one of my very own. He is the best! This phone is great! I can send texts, check the time, set an alarm, what more could a girl need? :) 

Forget-Me-Not Brooches & a Raincloud Mobile

Thanks to me finishing a batch of them at the weekend... forget-me-not brooches are now back in my shops! You can find them in my Big Cartel shop & in my Etsy shop.

This batch has slightly different colour leaves to the previous ones I've made (a mossy green instead of a spring green), for the simple reason that I cut them out from the wrong colour felt! Oops. I think they still look great though!

I've also added a felt cloud mobile to my Etsy shop. This is the sample I stiched for my raincloud mobile tutorial. If you liked the tutorial but don't fancy sewing your own cloud, now's your chance :)

How To: Wallpaper Snowflake Curtain or Mobile

My plans for ten weeks of Crafty Christmas projects unfortunately had to be abandoned because of my unexpected move, etc this autumn... but I do have a few more festive bits and pieces to share with you this winter!

To start us off, here's a decorating project for the Christmas season - a curtain or mobile of paper "snowflakes" made from wallpaper and silver paper.

This tutorial originally appeared in the winter 2009 issue of UK Handmade, a fab free online magazine celebrating the UK craft scene.

You will need:

- Cups, saucers and other circular objects to use as templates

- Plain textured wallpaper, available from most DIY stores or you might be able to find a bargain roll in a charity shop

- Silver wrapping paper

- Thin cardboard, e.g. from cereal boxes etc

- White knitting yarn and a sharp darning needle

- Scissors, a pencil, and a glue stick or other craft glue

 

1. Using a selection of different sized items from your kitchen cupboards draw lots of circle shapes on the back of your wallpaper and cut them out (the largest circles in my curtain were drawn using a dinner plate). If you’re using a mix of different wallpaper patterns make sure you cut large, medium and small circles from all your patterns so they can be evenly distributed through your display.

2. Take your circle cut outs and glue them to the back of more wallpaper. Leave them to dry, and then cut out again so you’re left with an assortment of double-sided circles.

 

3. Now use cups, saucers and small items like spice jars to draw circles on thin cardboard - e.g. cereal packets and other similar card from your recycling bin. You will need to pierce the card with your darning needle, so make sure it’s not too thick. Aim to make approximately a third of the amount of circles as you made earlier.

4. Cut out all your card circles, and glue them carefully to the back (plain) side of some silver wrapping paper. When they’ve completely dried, cut them out again and repeat this stage so you end up with double-sided silver circles.

5. Spread all your circles out on a large flat surface, like your dining table or a clear bit of carpet, and play around with their arrangement until you’re happy with it. You want to aim for a nice natural-looking mix of circle sizes (and patterns, if you’ve used a selection of wallpaper samples) and for the silver circles to be scattered among the white ones quite evenly.

6. When you’re happy with the arrangement, you can start threading your strands together. Cut a long piece of white yarn for each strand, making sure to include some extra for hanging your curtain, and knot one end. Thread your darning needle, and starting at the bottom circle of the first strand, sew 1-3 large stitches through each circle leaving a small gap between each one so they can spin easily. Repeat this until all your circles are threaded into strands, and use the extra yarn to hang them in your window - tied to a curtain rail/wire or secured with pins.

 

  
To adapt this design into a smaller mobile:

A. Follow steps 1-6 above but use much smaller items for your circle templates and thread all your circles onto four long strands of yarn.

B. Use a dinner plate to cut out a “base” from stiff corrugated card, and cover it with silver paper. Punch four holes in the base with a very sharp pencil, about one inch from the edge and at north, south, east and west on the circle. (Alternatively, you could use the wooden circle from an embroidery hoop as your mobile "base")

C. Thread one of the strands of yarn through one of the holes, make sure the circles are hanging at the height you want them and loop the yarn through the hole several times and tie a knot. Do not cut the yarn at this point! Repeat this for the other three strands.

D. Hold the loose ends together until the card circle is level and the mobile is hanging straight, tie a knot in them (knotting all four together) and use them to hang your mobile wherever you fancy.

Please feel free to borrow photos if you want to blog about this project, but remember to credit me and link back to the original source, and do not reproduce my entire tutorial on your site. Thanks!

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Abstract circles

Gosh I've been such a lazy blogger this week. Many apologies :)

Normal service will be resumed shortly but in the meantime here's a quick snap of what I've been working on this week - lots of abstract circles for a custom mobile. Love all those yummy colours!

How to: Make a Felt Butterfly Mobile

Time for another butterfly-themed how-to, based on the butterfly template I have finally uploaded here. Today: how to make a simple but striking butterfly mobile from felt.

 

 
You will need:

- colourful felt,
- white yarn
- felt beads
- a piece of strong card,
- two large paper doilies.

The felt beads and doilies are optional, and if you don't have any felt you can just use sturdy coloured paper (e.g. sugar/construction paper) or thin card.

The construction of this mobile is nice and simple - four strands of butterflies, suspended from a card circle.

Cut out lots of butterfly shapes from your felt using the butterfly template. You can keep these as single sided butterflies or cut out two shapes per butterfly and sew them together with matching thread to make them more sturdy (the single ones will be more likely to flop!). Alternatively, you could just use card.

In between my felt butterflies I threaded some fantastic felt beads, but small circles of felt/paper (about 1 inch in diameter) would work just as well.

 

To make each strand, cut a long piece of white knitting yarn and knot one end.

Using a darning needle, sew about three stitches through the middle of each felt butterfly, leaving enough room between them to let them spin easily and mixing up the butterflies and felt beads/circles as you go.

You might want to spread out all your materials on a large surface like a table to get a good mix of colours and shapes before you start.

If you're making your mobile using paper butterflies, use an ordinary sewing needle and white sewing thread.

To make the "base" from which the mobile hangs, I used a paper doily as a template to cut out a piece of stiff corrugated card.

Using a very sharp pencil, I punched four holes in the circle of card. Imagine the circle is a compass and make one hole at north, south, east and west. Each hole should be about an inch in from the edge.

I then glued one doily onto each side of the card to make it more attractive and cover the holes. You could use any kind of paper for this - a dinner plate makes a great template for cutting out a large circle!

Thread one of the strands of yarn through one of the holes - you should be able to feel through the paper where one of the holes is, and pierce through easily with the needle (the rest will be much easier to find when you've found the first one!).

Make sure the butterflies are hanging at the height you want them, and loop the yarn through the hole several times and tie a knot. Do not cut the yarn at this point! Repeat this for the other three strands.

Now take all four loose bits of yarn and hold the ends together until the card circle is level and the mobile is hanging straight, tie a knot in them (knotting all 4 together) and use them to hang your mobile wherever you fancy.

If you've used paper butterflies and sewing thread, once you've secured each strand to the circle you can trim the remaining thread and tie on 4 lengths of knitting yarn for suspending the mobile.

Remember - as with all mobiles - to hang it well out of the reach of babies and small children! The design will fade over time if hung in direct sunlight.

 
This tutorial is for non commercial use only: you can use it for as many mobiles as you like for yourself or as gifts for friends but please don't make any for sale. Please feel free to blog about this project, but remember to credit me and link back to the original source, and do not reproduce my tutorial on your site. Thanks!

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