Monday, January 24, 2011

Inspiration-Felt Fried Egg




This was my first piece of felt food. I was so excited to try my hand at making something and a fried egg seemed simple enough when I scoured the web for felt food photos and tutorials. This was the first (and so far only) time I have used a blanket stitch and now prefer the whip stitch as it seems less likely to snag. If you are looking for a starter project, this is about as easy as they come. Thanks to Wee Folk Art for the tutorial!

Cut-Out Heart Valentine's Day Felt Cookies

Continuing with my heart shaped food kick, I whipped up this batch of jam filled sugar cookies as a yummy dessert for our Valentine's Day lunch. Cookies are a great beginner project if you are looking for a place to start making your own felt goodies!

The Ingredients:

I'm a big fan of using household objects as patterns and for this project, a juice glass was just the right size for our tea cookie. For 6 cookies you will need:

-12 small circles in cream felt for the tops and bottoms of the cookies
-6 small circles in red felt for the jam. I used a mix of strawberry and raspberry.
-Polyfil or batting for 6 cookies
-A few small bells (not mandatory, but fun)
-Embroidery Floss to match felt pieces


The Recipe:


The first step is to cut out the heart from the top layer of our cookie. I started with a heart pattern to trace but quickly found it was easier to fold the circle in half, cut half the heart, and unfold. Each cookie ends up unique that way and I favor cookie individualism. Make sure to save your heart scraps as embellishments for future projects!

Next, I used a whip stitch to attach the jam circle to the top cut-out layer of the cookie. I also trimmed the jam circle slightly so that the felt didn't quite come to the edge. If you wanted more of a sandwich look with the jam poking through, you can leave the jam circle the same as your top and bottom pieces.

If you want to make seeds in your strawberry jam, you can add French knots or small stitches to the jam piece. I did a little variety of each. If you need help with a French knot, watch this helpful video.


Now, line up your top piece with the bottom and sew 2/3 of the way closed. Add stuffing or batting and continue to sew all the way around the cookie.

After I was a few cookies in, I decided to add a bell in with the stuffing to make for a more interesting sensory toy for my toddler. Careful not to over stuff as it will mute the bell.

And they are done! Be sure to enjoy these with your little cookie monster. Thankfully, felt jam is less sticky than the real thing!

~Brittany



Friday, January 21, 2011

A Heart Shaped Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich Tutorial







Valentine's Day is just around the corner already, with 2011 zooming right along. I'm currently working on a felt lunch gift set for the son of a friend and wanted to do something more fun than a regular sandwich. So here is a how-to for making a sweet sandwich for your little valentine!

The Ingredients:


For a template, I used good ole Google to find a heart image that looked about the right size and printed it out. I'm not much for drawing, but you could make your own pattern if you wished. The heart is about 5 inches across at the widest part and about 4 inches from the bow of the heart down to the tip. Once you have your pattern, you will need :

-4 hearts in tan felt for the bread
-2 hearts in tan for the peanut butter (I used a slightly different color than my bread)
-2 hearts for the jelly (I used red for strawberry, but purple, blue, peach or other fruit colors would work)
-2 strips of dark brown felt for the crust, half inch wide by about 18 inches long (that's likely longer than you need but better more than less)
-Embroidery Floss to match felt pieces

The Recipe:


Starting with one of the bread hearts, use a whip stitch to attach one dark brown strip of crust all the way around the heart. I started at the tip of the heart and worked around. When you get back to the tip, trim any extra dark brown felt and seam the ends of the crust together.


Now you have crust attached to one side of the bread. At this point, I like to gauge how much stuffing to use since polyfil does not lay as nicely as batting.

After removing the stuffing, I attach the second tan heart to the crust, working from the tip of the heart. Once you have sewn about two-thirds around the heart, stuff the bread. Finish sewing the bread closed.



Voila! Now your first piece of heart shaped bread is complete! Repeat this same process for the second slice.


For the peanut butter and jelly, simply whip stitch your two colored hearts together. If I were going to make this again, I would add some French Knots for strawberry seeds to my red heart, but alas I did not think of that until after I was done.


And that is it! You now have a felty Valentine's Day treat for the sandwich lover in your life!


I hope this tutorial was helpful and please let me know if you have any questions or if you make your own heart shaped PB&J!


~Brittany

Thursday, January 20, 2011

Welcome!



Hello, my name is Brittany and I'm addicted to sewing felt food.

It started after I snagged this awesome wooden play kitchen for my son off Craigslist for $50.


Since then, I have enjoyed making an ever expanding food collection to fill Asher's little pantry. I wanted someplace more cohesive than Facebook to post pictures of my creations and have the ability to make tutorials if others are interested in learning how to make felt food for themselves. Hence, Mama's Felt Cafe Blog was born, a hand sewn labor of love!


Please check back soon for a gallery and new tutorial!

~Brittany


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