Felt Feather Tutorial

i thought i would share how i made the feathers for the brave headband i made for the birthday powwow.

once made, the feathers can be used for all sorts of projects.

materials:

3-6 different colors of felt (i used light pink, dark pink, white, purple, dark gray)

scissors

sewing machine or needle and thread

for the solid color feather...

first, make a template out of scrap felt measuring 2.25 inches by 6.5 inches. (you can make your feather any size you want!)

next, place the template on the light pink felt and...

cut it out. (i didn't trace around the shape i just carefully cut around it.)

then  place the light pink felt shape onto the dark pink felt.

and cut around the felt shape again, leaving a small .25 inch border.

then take the two felt shapes to the sewing machine (or use a needle and thread). start at one end and...

sew toward the other end slowly and with a slight curve. about an inch before the other end, stop. leaving the needle in the felt, turn the felt around and sew back to the starting end.

to get a cute feather detail, cut out a few triangles on each side of the felt shape. make sure and only cut the little triangles out of the top piece of felt.

for the eagle feather...

 make two felt shapes just like above. one of white felt and one of purple felt.

take the white felt shape and place it on the gray piece of felt.

{the following two pictures would not upload correctly. both are turned sideways. i apologize.}

cut carefully around the white felt. this gray piece will be the feather tip.

now place this felt piece on top of the white felt.

pin the gray felt to the white felt. cut the bottom off at a very slight angle. (this is just a personal preference. i think it gives a little character.)

now, cut out the little triangle details on both sides of the felt feather shape.

sew the felt shapes together the same way as above. making sure to sew onto the gray felt piece.

and there you have it! FELT FEATHERS.

Felt Horses

i made these felt horses as a christmas present for the four-year old. i love how they turned out. the wool felt was so nice to use. and i got better after each one.

the only problem?

he would rather be riding his bike!

that's a good thing too. his dad taught him during the christmas break. and he feels so grown up.



the pattern is the felt horse pattern from beardance crafts. the wool felt is from weir dolls and crafts.

Birthday PowWow

they were supposed to turn out like these cupcakes. they did not.

probably because after i demolished all but four sugar cones, and then having those four sugar cones topple over in the oven, i was done. so they turned out like this:

luckily, the headbands turned out.

and the rock painting.

happy birthday, my brave.

Felt Pillow: Bats

I've made something SPOOKY!

I found this cute batty felt pillow tutorial, and just couldn't resist.

I did do a couple of things differently than the tutorial.

1. my pillow is actually a slipcover with an 18 x 18 inch down/feather insert.

2. instead of cutting the bats from a pattern, I used a bat die-cut.

So what do you think? What fun things are you making for Halloween?

just for fun: can you spot the baby?

Lavandula, my sweet

These plants are some of my very favorite in our yard. They have grown extremely well in the sandy soil and hot, dry heat. The bees seem to really enjoy the lavender as well.

I found this sachet tutorial a year ago and made some of them up for teacher Christmas gifts. Now that the lavender and bees are out again, I wanted to make some up again!

It's always nice to have something pretty and sweet every now and again. So go ahead and make a few for yourself!

Felt Crowns

i said i had more felt projects...


I've wanted to make crowns like these for awhile now. I first saw them in Amanda Soule's The Creative Family. I've since seen them all over the place.


I made these fun little crowns for some of our little girl cousins. I always mean to make things for my children first, but sometimes that just doesn't happen. (Rats!) I AM going to make a felt crown for each of my children. I figure they'd be great birthday crowns, to be worn each year on their special day!


The crowns were made using left over felt.

• I made a simple pattern out of cardstock.
• I folded the felt and placed the pattern on the fold. I did this twice (one piece for the front, and one piece for the back).
• I added different decorative touches to the front piece using ribbon, felt cutouts, ricrac, and buttons.
• Then I sewed the two pieces of felt together, putting some elastic in the back for stretch.

(my favorite is the yellow one. it has an orange and pink butterfly on the front, and some flowers on the side. i didn't get a good picture though before i gave it away. i also made a couple for some little boys. the crown here is what got me started.)

Fun with Felt

So I've been taking an accounting of the materials I have in my home... and it just so happens that I have an enormous amount of felt. ENORMOUS, I tell you. (that is where last week's post came from).

But really, it all started with these little babies!

I had seen Betz White's tutorial for a felted brooch last year sometime. Then I looked it up again and thought I would start looking for wool sweaters at the thrift store. Which I did, but didn't have very good luck.

Then after my materials inventory, that is still ongoing, the thought came to me that I could easily substitute felt. (i know, amazing, huh.) So I did! And with lovely results.

Here's the tutorial again, for anyone that's interested.

Check out the individual flowers here.

I thought I'd try some link parties for fun!

Valentine's Garland

I found this cute little project over on madebyrae, and I just HAD to give it a try.

It was just as simple and easy as she said it would be... some cutting, some sewing, and Voila! A pretty little garland.

Just in time for Valentine's Day!