More felt crowns, fairy wands and a skirt!

It was Hazel's very good friend Suzie's fourth birthday today so I made up this set for her.



She loves dressups and I'd been thinking this might be a good idea, so when she liked Hazel's crown and wand last weekend I knew I was on to a winner! Like Hazel's, the crown pattern is from Koala Brains and the wand from Little Birdie Secrets, the skirt is my own invention having seen a few with petals trapped in a tube before. It went down very well although I have to make the crown a bit smaller and return it at creche on Monday. She was a bit reluctant to let it go but even at four could see the sense in it not slipping over her eyes every 5 seconds!



It's fun dwelling in fairy-land, I hate to leave!

Birthday preparations

Let's pretend I actually blogged about this before the party shall we? Great.

I decided that Hazel, being a four year old girl, needed a crown and wand for the party and duly constructed them.



The crown was made from the pattern at Koala Brains, with embellishments inspired by Woodcraft's felt crown and another one that had cute embroidery on it but I'm darned if I can find it again to credit it! I started with the big felt flower, and then had the idea with the button flowers, and then decided to round it out with some little plain plants similar to the ones I've been loving over at Tiny Happy. I don't often do things in that sort of organic way, I tend to be more planned, but I really enjoyed the process of just adding things until it looked right.



For the wand I followed the instructions over at Little Birdie Secrets and I think it came out ok, but perhaps would have been better with shorter ribbons and more of them.



Whatever, I think it looks pretty good and I'll be doing another one for her friend Suzy so will get a chance to get it more to my taste. The best thing about making the wand was curling the ribbons - it's like magic! The only issue I had is a couple of my dowels exuded resins during the baking which soaked into the ribbons and ruined them. Next time I'll cover the dowels with foil before wrapping the ribbon around and that should solve that problem. Made the house smell nice though, like a pine forest on a hot day!

Hazel being four though, didn't really want a bar of either item! She spent most of her party tearing around the house holding model dinosaurs. This created a conflict in my heart - on one hand I was a bit crushed that she didn't appreciate all that hard work, but on the other hand I'm really pleased that she's into dinosaurs! Archaeologists don't dig up dinosaurs, but they really are the next best thing (or possibly even better to be honest) so I'll cross my fingers she becomes a palaentologist and takes her old mum on excavations sometimes.

Sewing Green Slippers

Sewing Green Slippers, originally uploaded by Ansis68.

I made these slippers from a felted wool sweater on Friday - and then did another pair for Mat that evening! They still need suede on the bottom though. Then I finished sewing one of the pencil rolls so I truly felt like some sort of project queen. They're lovely slippers and it's a great pattern. I altered the sole shape a little to suit my foot which has a big big toe and small little toes (perfectly adapted to the stiletto shoe!) and I did the whole sole with suede on the base. The pattern calls for two circles, one on the ball of the foot and another on the heel, but I figured that this was a bit more practical although not as cute-looking! I'm having a bit of trouble with the insole though. The pattern says to "slip" them in but they shift around something chronic so I'm going to have to tack them down. Otherwise I'm totally and utterly thrilled with them - so comfy and soft!

The Hazelnuts Felt Bunny Tutorial

Periodically, people have trouble printing the pattern off from Scribd. Scribd told me a couple of years ago "This was a known issue that our development team has recently resolved. If you continue to encounter this issue, please let [us] know. " It appears that a few people are still not able to print so they have asked me to say that if you do have trouble please contact them directly so they can help you and/or email me at the address listed in my contact details, specify if you want A4 or US letter, and I'll send you the file asap.



The Hazelnuts Felt Bunny

This pattern is my attempt to recreate two felt bunnies my brother and I were given back in the early 1970s. Apparently my grandmother also used to make similar bunnies in the 1950s in New Zealand, so I was keen to resurrect this pattern and make it available to others. The pattern and this tutorial are protected by an Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 New Zealand License, details can be found at the end of this tutorial.

A4 paper: Tutorial and pattern 464KB
US letter: Tutorial and pattern 470KB

MATERIALS

• One piece of darker felt approximately 25cm (10”) wide and 23cm (9”) high for main body.
• One piece of lighter felt approximately 15cm (6”) by 18cm (7¼“) for tummy and inner ears.
• Embroidery thread
• Stuffing
• Thick yarn for pompom tail
CONSTRUCTION STEPS

1. Print out the pattern. Make sure your printer isn’t scaling it to fit the paper and that the square on the pattern measures 1cm square (just over 3/8”)

2. Cut out the following pieces (I find it easiest to trace around the pattern pieces and then cut):
Darker felt
2x Body
1x Head gusset
2x Ears
Lighter felt
1x Tummy cut on fold (or retrace with two halves together to form new pattern piece)
2x Ears


The more accurate you are at cutting, the better the bunny will fit together. If the pieces deviate during stitching, just trim any excess away to get a good match between pieces.

If you want extra embellishments on the bunny (see last step for one idea), do this now before sewing it up.

3. The cross stitch will hold the two pieces together securely, although the distance you set it back from the edges will depend on how sturdy your felt is. Pure wool felt is less likely to rip out than a blended or purely synthetic felt, so judge accordingly. For this demo rabbit, I’ve used pure wool felt and the stitches are generally 2mm from the edge (just over 1/16”) and 3-4mm wide (approx. 1/8”). I do half the cross all the way up one side…

…and then complete it by stitching back the way I’ve come. I find this helps me keep the stitches evenly spaced. Use three strands of standard six strand embroidery floss. I try and select a colour that is a shade or two off the lighter tummy colour and that also tones well with the darker body, in this case a peachy pink.


4. Begin by stitching the darker body pieces to the lighter tummy, one side at a time.


5. Stitch the two body pieces together at centre back from the bottom, ending at the point marked on the pattern for the stuffing gap (see photo on right below).

6. Then attach the head gusset beginning at the insertion point (A) marked on the pattern. In this example I started on the left side but it doesn’t really matter. Begin at Point A and stitch half crosses all the way to the end of the gusset piece and then return (steps 1 & 2). When you get back to Point A keep going down towards the top point of the tummy and then back up (steps 3 & 4). Stitch up the other side of the gusset and then back again (steps 5 & 6).

For steps 5 & 6 continue past the head gusset to the top point of the stuffing gap, sewing the two body pieces together at centre back. See photo below.


7. Place the dark and light ears together and cross-stitch around the edges, leaving the bottom free. Fold the ear in half lengthwise with light felt inside. Using sewing machine thread that matches the darker body felt, whip stitch the cross-stitched edge at the base up to the dashed line on the pattern (1cm), as well as the bottom edge. Make sure that the outer felt is level with, or slightly longer than, the inner so that it’s not sticking out when you sew the ears on. For example, I trimmed off the excess white at the bottom of the left ear.


8. With your fingers, gently pull the felt apart on either side of all the seams to flatten them out. You can also press the seams between your fingers. The seams will inevitably be ridge-like initially, but as the bunny is played with, squashed, and generally loved, they will work themselves flatter and flatter.

9. Stuff the bunny firmly with your choice of fill. Be careful not to stretch out the felt around the gap as you stuff. I’ve always used polyester fibrefill, but I suspect that wool rovings would be ideal in achieving a firm stuff. Pay particular attention to getting the paws and legs full. The initial firmness is essential because as the seams flatten out and give a bit the bunny will soften up. Sew up the stuffing gap, matching the stitches to those already there for a seamless look.


10. Attach the ears on using the same thread you sewed them with in Step 6. I position them so the ear’s folded area ends at the head side seam so I can attach them really firmly at this point. The rest of the ear is whip-stitched through the head felt and some of the stuffing if I can catch it (for added stability). The actual ear position is up to you – this is where your bunny starts to express its personality!


11. Cut out eyes from scraps of felt, I’ve used pure white and black. I used a regular hole punch for the black and cut the white slightly larger. Sew the black pupil on to the white, ad then both onto the bunny. Again, the eye placement is up to you, where you put them really gives the bunny its character so play around for awhile to get them just right.


12. Embroider on nose and whiskers. I’ve used the same embroidery floss I did to sew up the bunny. The nose is a simple satin stitch over the V formed by the head gusset and body pieces. To do the whiskers make a small knot at the end of a good length of floss and insert the needle into the seam near the nose, pushing it between the two layers of felt and out at the beginning of the first whisker. With a bit of gentle pulling the knot should pull through, get caught in the stuffing and hold firm. Sew the whiskers as desired. On the last whisker, determine the desired length and tie a small knot in the floss just fractionally past that point. Insert the needle at the whisker endpoint and down into the stuffing, emerging from the felt a distance away. Gently pull on the floss until the knot pops through the felt. Keeping tension on the floss, trim it close to the surface and it will slip back beneath the felt.

13. Make pompom for tail. I’ve included the template for the tail on this bunny, but it is a big one, so if you want a less luxurious version, adjust accordingly. If you weren’t a kid like me who made, what from memory seems to have been endless numbers of pompoms (Why? What for? Where did they go? It’s a mystery), I suggest this little tutorial over at Kid Craft Central. If you were like me don’t worry, it’s like riding a bike and it’ll come back as you go! Leave long tails on the wool you use to tie it off with so you can attach it easily to the bunny.

14. Attach the tail to the bunny butt. The tail is not only bunny’s pride and joy, it helps to keep it sitting up straight, so needs to be in the right spot to stop bunbun keeling over backwards or tipping forwards. That position will depend on your individual bunny and the pompom size. Once you’ve got that sorted thread a needle on to one of the long tails of the pompom and push it through from one side of the central seam to the other. How far out from the seam you start really depends on the size of the tail, but you want to make sure you’ve got a decent amount of felt and stuffing included, but not so much that when you pull tight the felt puckers. Do the same for the other long tail, putting it through just above or below the first one. Tighten until the pompom is firmly against the bunny and tie the two tails together with a granny knot or two, and trim the ends.

Congratulations! You’ve finished your bunny!

15. Extra embellishments

One of the original bunnies had felt flowers appliquéd on its back, reproduced here on another bunny I did.


I cut the petals and flowers freehand, you can see the various shapes and embroidery in these photos. The single flower on the right was attached all the way around with blanket stitch, with a stem stitch stem and satin stitch centre. It sits in the lower half of the left side of the back (sorry I don't have a photo of it in situ). The multi-petalled flower had petals held down at the base with a triangle of straight stitches and French knots in the centre. The leaf was done the same as the petals. The other type of flower, seen only on the top of the left photo and on the bunny above, were cut from one piece of felt and had a few straight stitches in the middle to hold them down.

If you'd like to customise your bunny eyes a bit more, see my post on it here

Final note: If you don’t feel like all this hand sewing, the pattern would also work well if you added a seam allowance to all the pieces and used a sewing machine. Use lighter fabrics than felt, and clip the curves religiously.

Please share a photo or two of your finished bunny at the Hazelnuts Felt Bunny Flickr group

I’d love to see what you come up with.

The Hazelnuts Felt Bunny by Jacqueline Craig is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 New Zealand License.
Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at http://www.hazelnutgirl.blogspot.com/.

To paraphrase the CC explanation: This licence lets others remix, tweak, and build upon my work non-commercially, as long as they credit me and license their new creations under the identical terms. All new work based on mine will carry the same licence, so any derivatives will also be non-commercial in nature.

Child's Felt Mask Pattern and Tutorial

This is my first attempt at a tutorial so I'd love feedback and constructive criticism (and I do mean that!) Please let me know if you have any problems with downloading the files, it's all new territory for me!

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CHILD’S FELT MASK

This is a very quick tutorial and pattern for a child’s felt mask.
Get the full tutorial and pattern as a .pdf here, or just the pattern here.

There are lots of great mask inspirations on the internet so I highly recommend it as a resource. I got the idea for star eyes from Creative Kids at Home and their paper masks, as well as ideas from googled images of felt masks, some of them are quite wonderful! Tutorials on making felt crowns, such as the one at Juicy Bits are also a great source of ideas for embellishments and construction techniques.

MATERIALS

• Two pieces of felt approximately 20cm (8”) wide and 9cm (3 ½”) high. Iron before cutting to avoid shrinkage when fusing together
• 1 piece WonderUnder (or similar) to fuse felt together (optional)
• Elastic (I used approx. 37cm of 5mm elastic (14” of ¼”))
• Thread for decorative stitches

CONSTRUCTION STEPS

1. Print out the pattern and test for size on your child. You may need to move the eyes further apart, closer together, make them bigger, or make it a bit wider. Test this with paper first before committing to a felt version.
   
   
2. Note: the pattern is designed to print out on A4 paper size. If you are printing on US letter it should be fine, just make sure your printer isn’t scaling it to fit the paper and that the square on the pattern measures 1cm square (just over 3/8”)
   
   
3. Decide which colour felt will be the bigger outer piece and cut it out approximately 5mm larger than the pattern all the way around, curving it in at the temples to match the pattern (see image above). Having two even layers of felt at this point provides more stability for the elastic. Do not cut out eyes at this point.
   
   
4. Cut out smaller upper piece of felt, following pattern exactly. Optional step if using WonderUnder: In order that the felt of the smaller upper section fuses well along the edges, iron the WonderUnder to the whole piece following manufacturers instructions and then cut out the pattern. You may cut the eyes out at this time, or cut through both layers of felt together later when they are fused together. If you would like to make the mask reversible, leave the temple sections free of WonderUnder so you can insert the elastic between the felt layers.
   
   
5. Position the two layers of felt together and fuse well, or pin together if not fusing.
   
   
6. Cut out eyes through both layers and check for size, enlarge if necessary. If you haven’t fused the layers together you may wish to cut after sewing around the edges in Step 6.
   
   
   
   
   
   
7. Sew around outer edge of inner piece using either a decorative stitch, zigzag or plain straight stitch (see image above). This step prevents the felt from stretching when pulled tight by the elastic. Do the same for the eyes, particularly if you’ve gone for the stars, as they seem prone to being pulled out of shape. Next time I will draw in the stitching line around the stars instead of trying to do it freehand, and practice my decorative stitches around curves.
   
   
8. Sew elastic in place on one side, adjust length to suit the desired head size, and sew the other side in a similar manner.
   
   
9. Stand back and let your hero get on with saving the universe!

Another bunny

Finally finished the felt bunny I've been documenting for the planned tutorial. It's also the first one Hazel gets to keep! I'm content with the pattern now, it looks enough like the originals to satisfy me without the law of diminishing returns kicking in!



I'm taking my sewing machine in to be serviced tomorrow so hopefully this will force me to sit down and do the tutorial and get it up and out of my brain. And the mask one too, which is sitting half finished because I need to make some changes to the pattern.

I recently started subscribing to the Pioneer Woman full feed instead of just her cooking section (my god when does that woman have time to do anything?!) and was reminded of her Photoshop action sets (and here) which I've never bothered to download. I did this time just for interest's sake and had a quick play on the bunny photo. Probably not the best subject but I thought this 'vintage' one was kind of fun in a "now hold that pose for 5 minutes sir, and don't blink" kind of way.



It renders his slightly bug-eyed desperate look more historically accurate! I think I need to redo the eyes actually - Mat keeps picking him up, looking at him, and then staring wildly around the room with his eyes open as wide as they'll go. Oh yeah, I live in a supportive atmostphere ;)

Hazel hasn't named him yet, although he's passingly referred to as 'Bunnywunny' which is a tribute to one of her favourite books at the moment That Rabbit Belongs to Emily Brown by Cressida Cowell

Felt mask for a little superhero

I've just discovered that Hazel is simply the mild-mannered alter-ego of Super Hazel!



She was running around with a little mask she'd made herself out of paper so I offered to make her a bigger one. And of course I couldn't just do a paper one could I? Oh no, it had to be a felt one. I managed to finish before she completely lost interest in the whole operation, so probably in under half an hour. Hazel was dead keen on the star eyes on the paper masks at Creative Kids at Home , but they were too small so I made them bigger as much again. The mask itself is just two layers of felt fused together with Underwonder and reinforced with stitching. We went through every single stitch my machine does before settling on this one - thank goodness I have a fairly basic machine! I've put up a tutorial for the mask in another post, or you can download the full tutorial and pattern here or just the pattern here



I'm quite pleased with how it turned out, and she really likes it. I'm still not sure about those star eye holes, but she assures me they're the right size and she can see out fine so who am I to argue?

I often feel like a bit of a fraud putting up photos of Hazel because of course I choose the nicest ones, and while she's really very photogenic, it doesn't really give a true representation of the range of dreadful photos I have of her as well. So here's one to balance things up a bit:



How typical that this one has much better lighting! I must admit the awful photos are becoming more frequent because she assumes these odd expressions for photos these days - grimaces, frozen smiles, tongue sticking out etc. etc. It's at the point where I have to trick her and take photos when she's not expecting it. Bring back my smiley baby!

Life must go on

I know that life after the SMS give-away does exist, but it seems strangely empty and without purpose. ;) I was so excited to finally be able to draw a winner for my bunny, and even more excited to win something myself! Oddly enough it was the first give away I entered, and I was the first commenter on it too! I won a lovely linen pouch with a wee orange square on it from Pascale over at //Between the lines//, one of my favourite blogs.

One of the huge benefits of having my giveaway, was that I included the little note that I was going to turn the bunny into a tutorial and now lots and lots and LOTS of people know this so I have to actually do it! I'm sure I would have got around to it sometime, but there's something very motivating about sharing your plans with a crowd. I don't know, maybe something to do with the fact they actually expect you to do it. :D It works wonders for other aspects of life too - like inviting someone over for dinner if you really need to get the house clean but lack the motivation. So anyway, I've begun the bunny tutorial - look!


Bunny pattern WIP, originally uploaded by Ansis68.

I'm reasonably confident I've got the pattern right so I've committed to using some of my very small stash of pure wool felt. Ooooo I know! It's like gold down here, and just about as expensive! Mat's said he'll help me draft the pattern up in Illustrator (or irritator as he calls it) and then I'll have to figure out where to put it up. I don't think Blogger hosts anything other than images?

Felt Crown

I'd been planning on making Hazel a felt crown for her birthday party, and had several tutorials and posts on making them bookmarked when my friend Rebeccah asked if I could make her son Alexander one for his first birthday. At first I was all "oh no! pipped at the post in the cool crafty mum" stakes but then I cunningly realised it was the perfect opportunity to practice making one first :)

I mostly used the great tutorial and pattern at Balancing Everything, along with the tutorials and pictures at Woodcraft, Juicybits and Koala brains with a few modifications of my own. I think Rebeccah's decision to use red as the accent colour was inspired, I just love how all the colours work together.




Unfortunately all we had to work with was the wool blend felt, which compressed like crazy when ironed, so the crown lacks thickness. I ended up with with two layers at the tips, and three at the bottom. I did the embroidery and the zig-zags through two layers of felt (small and large pieces) and then backed both with another large piece and attached the ribbon at the bottom for stability. The points have a tendency to get bent, but an iron will straighten them out easily. I'm sure nice thick pure wool would be soooo much better!




I extended the sides back a bit on the Balancing Everything pattern and I like the curved effect, although I obviously needed to bring it down a bit narrower to match the width of the elastic I used.

Hand sewing and embroidery

One of the reasons I like working on these felt bunnies is that it's all hand sewing and embroidery and there's something so relaxing about keeping your fingers busy and your mind elsewhere. I know there's actual physiological/psychological reasons for this, and it also encompasses knitting and straight embroidery (I find cross-stitch or tapestry to be particularly good). It's also highly transportable so you can move from room to room as child and/or shifting sunbeams require.


embroidery, originally uploaded by Ansis68.

I've never done felt applique before and it's surprisingly easy - I like working with felt more and more, even the wool blend stuff lends itself to this kind of technique. And I love this red, what a fabulous colour to handle and look at - bright and cheerful and brave. I think I feel a red bunny coming on! :D

Cookie?

Or - 'How I was forced to recognise I like really girly things for myself and not just because my daughter does'

I spent yesterday afternoon sitting on the couch finishing up these and feeling sorry for myself because I have a cold that both Mat and Hazel threw off in a day or even less. Hazel "helped" by putting in a bit of stuffing and hovered around announcing that this one or that one was going to be hers (ie most of them).

The idea came from Chasing Cheerios but I have to give a mention to Emily at Little Sister Handmade who added extra sprinkles which I'm obviously into as well! My big chocolate one bottom left ended up being somewhat, just a little, (mostly) identical to hers. I was limited in my felt and sprinkle options to what I had already, but having said that I'm really very pleased with how they turned out! And super fast and easy too.


I've got a few more to make up, and will ponder sprinkle variations. So far I've got beads, straight stitch and french knots (for ones going to houses with little babies). I can't make up my mind which I like best, the chocolate or vanilla! I think the vanilla appeals to the girly-girl in my nature but mmmm... chocolate... I used to have the same problem with Girl Guide cookies - I liked the vanilla ones best when I was eating them and ditto the chocolate. I never did make up my mind on that one!

Mat wandered by occasionally and had a look at them but was startled when I said they were cookies "really?" he said with a doubtful look on his face. Followed by "...and what exactly are people going to do with these?" I suggested tea parties, or decoration, or whatever kids do with felt food (not entirely sure myself but Hazel loves the two little cakes she has). I think what we have here is the perfect illustration of craft and men and women. I might be totally wrong on this but I think most women would just think "pretty!" and like them because they're "pretty! with beads! and pink!", guys need a function or a reason. He doesn't get pretty, pink or beads on anything other than Hazel :)