Simple felty foods

Earlier in the year I posted about the felt sandwich toy I made for my daughter's second Birthday.  It proved to not only be a hit with my daughter, but has become one of my most viewed blog posts, so I thought I would share with you my plans for some more felty food toys I'm making my little one for Christmas.

 

I had this idea to make lots of bits and pieces for a kind of shop/market for my little girl.  So far I have been warming up by stitching some simple felt foods mainly from existing patterns which I've saved from old craft magazines.

 

 

Techniques so far have included sewing 3D cylinders, circles which are drawn in and stuffed (similar to making a Suffolk puffs,) and also tubes and cone shapes, both with drawn in ends.

 

 

OK so these strawberries aren't entirely felt, but they were so simple to make!

 

 

The carrots were made using the same kind of technique as the strawberries.

 

 

I particularly like this simplified version of a jammy dodger, from an old Mollie makes magazine.

 

 I do love sewing with felt, it's both easy and satisfying.  None of that stressing over fraying seams and lots of quick and easy whipstitching!  I've already made some felty sausages and bacon since taking these photos and have plenty more foodie makes planned, which I hope to share with you over the next few weeks.

 

Are you planning a handmade Christmas this year?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

An afternoon of sewing

Today I have been busy as a bee, sewing myself into a cross-eyed stupor all of the afternoon. 

 

 

I have made two tiny owl brooches, which I am hoping to add to my new Folksy shop in the next few days. (Need to work out the packing and logistics of the shop before I start selling.)

 

 

The brooches are all made by hand, with lots of teeny tiny embroidery stitches including back stitch, satin stitch and blanket stitch in DMC embroidery silks.

 

 

 

I also spent a pretty few hours on this little squirrel, who is made with a combination of machine and hand embroidery, including back stitch, French knots, satin stitch and a complicated one called battlement filling stitch.  I was going to make the squirrel into a little brooch too, but I quite liked the peachy orange colour against the rose print cream fabric.  I might keep him in the hoop yet and add a little more to the picture. I was thinking...

 

 

 I may applique the speech bubble and hand embroider the text with couching stitch.  Still in the thought process at the moment.  I don't know if its a bit inappropriate now I have a child, but she can't read yet, so I figure I can get away with it!