How to… make Felt “Strawberries & Cream” & Gingerbread Men!

With the Wimbledon Tennis on at the moment, you may want to indulge in some “Strawberries & Cream”, or if that isn’t quite your thing, why not take a chomp out of this Gingerbread man – after Sunday’s World Cup performance, maybe the “England” shirt needs to come of very quickly – why not replace it with a Stars & Stripe one in type for 4th July?!

The lovely Aly from Life’s Laundry shows us how (hop over to see how to make felt cream!). If you like what you see, do go for other craftiness – e.g. she has a great door stop owl or just visit for a great read!

Scroll down to the bottom to see my, erm, attempt. I didn’t actually have any felt in the house….. Recycle away! Now to Aly!

Hi!

I’m Aly from LIFE’S LAUNDRY.Maggy approached me to ask if I would fancy doing a guest post tutorial on felt food for Wimbledon and the World cup.I designed a gingerbread man myself.The strawberries are a smaller version of the large one I did for Get Crafty May 2010.

Strawberries & Cream

You will need:

• Red, green and white felt.
•  3 or 4 circle templates (an egg cup, a mug or a pair of compasses and pencil, anything with a circle).
• Red and yellow thread.
• Fibre fil (or felt off cuts if you want to cut down cost and waste).
• Pins.
• A sharp needle.

Optional:

• Buttons.
• Beads.

1. Cut out as many circles of different shapes as you want.Each circle makes 2 strawberries.Cut the circles in half to make a semi circle.

2.Take a semi-circle and fold in half.Sew along the straight edge using red thread.

3.Repeat with the others.Then turn inside out.

4. Using yellow thread, sew little lines intermittently to represent the seeds.You could use beads, remember not to give the strawberry to a child under 3.

5. Sew a running stitch a little way in around the circle edge.Make sure the knot from the thread is the inside.Repeat with others.

6. Now gently pull the thread until it starts to gather.Stuff with fibre fill/ cloth.Repeat with others.

7. Pull the thread tightly and over sew around the edge.Repeat with others.

8. Now cut out a rough star shape from the green felt to make the leaf on top.Sew on using a large cross.Over sew underneath the leaf to keep it neat.

Repeat until you have done all the strawberries. Click here for how to make felt cream.

Gingerbread man mascot

You will need:

• Mid-brown felt.
• White felt.
• Red felt.
• Brown thread.
• Red thread.
• White thread.
• Buttons or beads for eyes.
• Pins.
• A sharp needle.
• A pen.

1. Using a gingerbread man cutter as a template, cut two bodies out of brown felt.

2. I hand drew the shirt on to tracing paper first using the gingerbread man template underneath to judge how long to have the sleeves and the T-shirt length.I cut out a front and a back, drawing a yoke on the front shirt and a rounded neck on the back shirt.The cross I drew free hand, tidying up with a ruler. 

3. Pin the two body shapes together.Sew all around, except the head using brown thread with a blanket stitch.Draw on where you want the eyes and mouth to be.I stitched the mouth and used buttons fro the eyes.You could use beads if use wish or felt.Lightly stuff the gingerbread man with fibre fill or material off cuts.I used a chop stick to push the stuffing into the arms and legs.Blanket stitch (see drawing) around the head. 

4. Now to make the England T-shirt.Pin on the cross.Using red thread neatly sew a back stitch around the cross. 

5. Now pin the back on top of the front, so the cross is sandwich in between the two body shapes.Neatly sew around using a running stitch with white thread.Do not sew the neck,body and arm openings. 

6. Turn the T-shirt back the right way.Now put it on your gingerbread man mascot. 

I hope you enjoyed my tutorial, and I hope have fun making your own. 

Aly of  

LIFE’S LAUNDRY.

I really do hope that these inspire you to have a go, it is so much fun and so simple. As always, I try (!) to have a go at my Guest Post’s crafts. I didn’t have any felt, so I, erm decided to recycle an old pair of Red Ted’s jogging bottoms (already with holes and splattered in paint). It actually came out quite well (after I decided to sew on the eyes, as buttons made our gingerbread man look like a voodoo doll!). Interestingly, Red Ted LOVED watching, “had a go himself” (I vigilantly watched over him as he “played” with the needle) and ADORED the final product – but I believe only because he watched it being made… Oh and I filled mine with old carrier bags (2.5 to be exact!).  I love it when you combine recycling with craft.

 Ok… and then my felt arrived! So I had a quick go at the strawberry too. My only comment is, that I used a glass as a measure, out comes a lovely strawberry, but a little small for Pip Squeak, so will prob try something bigger next! I do LOVE how tactile mine turned out, I used embroidery thread for the seeds and it feels lovely!!

Now go and Get Crafty!

Previous How Tos:

– How to make a No Sew Tea Towel Kid’s Apron

– Easy & effective Fish Pinata

– Simple but effective paper frames (vlog) 

– How to make a Flower Pom Pom (guest post) – simply gorgeous – use as wedding decor! 

– How to make a Paper Envelope  

– How to make a No Sew Bib (out of an old shirt)  

– How to make a Fabric Mâché Bowl (from old scraps of fabric!)  

– How to make a Paper Flower (from newspapers)  (guest post)  

– How to make a Paper Boat (vlog)  

– How to make a Paper Cup (vlog)  

– How to make Swedish Hearts (Paper Baskets) (vlog)  

– How to make No Sew Bunting   

– How to make a Balloon Poodle (vlog)  

– How to make Seedling Pots (out of newspapers) (vlog)  

– Funky comic party bags