Tag Archives: Quiet Book

Solar System Quiet Book Page

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I’ve had this page started for quite a while, but other projects needed to be completed for me to stay on schedule with my sewing. I know a lot of you were waiting on this one – thanks for being patient!

My inspiration for this page came when I was contacted by Lots of Buttons and offered a $10 code to try their service. As soon as I saw some of their buttons I thought of planets! It took a lot of searching to find buttons that would work for each planet and were all about the same size. I was disappointed to find out may favorite button was sold out after placing my order, but their customer service was very helpful and offered a substitute. I ended up not using the replacement button, as it was a lot muddier looking in person, but I was very happy with the others.

This page is mainly a learning page for Jax and I to use with our school studies, but it is also a little matching game with colors and numbers. The buttons that hold the planets in place match their colors. I also stitched numbers on the page and the planets. My planets are two layers with a button hole in the back layer. If you want to have the page be a buttoning exercise for your child, you could make the button holes go through both layers. You’ll lose some of the look of the planets and might need to use smaller buttons on some of them, though. (My cookie matching page is an example of this.)

For those with little ones who like to put things in their mouths – I did use beads. Jax is really good about things like that at this point. I always stitch through every bead two times for strength, but you can use some alternatives if they make you wary. Try cutting tiny felt scraps to sew on as the asteroids in the belt. Little * stitches would make cute stars.

I was able to use up a lot my scraps of felt from American Felt and Craft. The earthiness of the wool blend felt works so well for the planets.

What I Used:

I started on the left hand side of the spread by sewing down the sun. I stitched the orbit lines one at a time while sewing the corresponding planet, so I could be sure there was enough space between each one. The orbit lines are gray thread in a dashed running stitch. The buttons were each sewn down with matching thread, and I used the leftover thread to stitch the number along side. I did them freehand in back stitch.

In between the orbit lines, I stitched on seed bead stars. I actually just did a vertical zigzag between each and that gave me a random-looking, but evenly spread star scape. After Mars, I stitched the asteroid belt using the same stone chip beads I used as nuts on my sundae page.

For each planet, I stitched all the details and a number on to the front piece. On the back piece, I cut a slit large enough for the button. I then did a blanket stitch around the slit to fortify the edges.

Planets: For Mercury, Venus, Mars and Uranus, I only stitched the number on the front before  making the button hole and sewing the fronts and backs together.

Sorry, Pluto… You were demoted and I’m out of room!

Earth: I started by sewing down the land mass shape. Then I took a very thin layer of batting that I had peeled apart, and ripped it into cloud shapes. I used white thread and stitched it down, then added a number 3 in blue thread. I added a button hole to the back, then stitched the front and back together.

Jupiter: Jupiter has various stripes sewn on, as well as the red spot. I sewed a 5 on it in brown thread. I added a button hole to the back and sewed the two sides together.

Saturn: I started by stitching the two yellow stripes onto the planet front. Then I stitched some lines on to the front ring piece using back stitch in pale blue, pale pink and brown. I layered the front planet piece in between the front and back ring pieces and sewed all the way around the ring. I sewed the number 6 on in tan. I then added the button hole to the back and stitched it to the front. The back ring piece is mostly hidden inside the planet and adds stability.

Neptune: Neptune was simple with some swirls and a number 8 decorating the front before I added the button hole and sewed the two sides together.

Like our new white “school table”? $7 thrift store coffee table!

I think this is the page that Jax has asked “Is it ready yet??” the most of all the ones he’s seen me sewing. He keeps calling the planets “moons” so his interest is a good opportunity to introduce him to astronomy. I’m going to look into some handouts and worksheets we can do together to start going over the planet names. Perhaps a nice book?

I hope you enjoy this free pattern! I’d love to see your finish version. Email me a photo or post it to our Facebook page.

Snowman Quiet Book Page

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This cute snowman (and woman!) is a part of my seasons quiet book series. This page is designed to be the left-hand page for my winter spread. The holiday house will be sewn to the right. I’ve left space on the side of the page so I can sew together the binding. There is a pocket in the snowy hill to store all the parts, plus little snowflakes you can count.

The felt for this page was provided by American Felt and Craft. It is their beautiful wool blend felt that is available in about a zillion colors! I chose Christmas colors that matched the holiday house page, but you could easily customize it with your own color choices.

What I used:

Background: I started by cutting out two rows of snowy hills for my blue background. The larger hill was fully sewn down, the smaller one was layered on top and only sewn on the left side. I also sewed a straight line down to make my pocket a little smaller so it would gape. I cut off the strings of the snowflake ornaments and sewed them to the page. If I hadn’t found the ornaments, I would have ordered these buttons.

Snowman: I made the snowman/woman double sided to have less loose pieces. If you want more option, you can sew them each as their own pieces. The biggest circle is just two sides sewn together. For the middle circle, I sewed three black buttons on one side, then a curved line of white buttons on the other. Then I sewed the sides together.

On the male side of the head circle, I sewed two button eyes, the carrot nose, and a back stitch smile with French knot dimples at each end. For the female side, I positioned the nose pointing the opposite way so both sides line up. I sewed on two button eyes with little stitched eyelashes, pink cheeks, a back stitch smile and a carrot nose. When both sides were done, I sewed them together.

Accessories: For the top hat, I sewed scraps of red ribbon onto each side, then sewed the two sides together.

For the stocking hat, I sewed the two blue pieces together, then sewed the red brim pieces on around the bottom of the hat. I ran my needle through the center of a mini pompom and stitched it onto the tip of the hat. I ran the needle through the center again and made a couple more stitches before tying off the thread.

The apron had a scrap of ribbon sewn to the front piece before the sides were sewn together.

To make an arm, I embroidered a little snowflake onto the mitten front. It is a plus with French knots at the tips and some tiny stitches in between. I cut a piece of brown pipe cleaner twice as long as I needed and folded it in half. I twisted it together, the folded over the sharp tip. I sewed the two sides of the mitten together on the folded-over end of the pipe cleaner, making sure to have some stitches go between the pipe cleaner wires so the mitten couldn’t be pulled off.

For the scarf, I sewed the main front and back pieces together. I sewed the front pieces together, then stitched it in place on the front of the scarf.

Jax enjoyed building his snowman and has asked me several times to pull it out since I showed it to him. I likes to count the snowflakes, too! His favorite activity is putting the circles in size order – something we are practicing in homeschool right now.

If you do this quiet book page, I’d love to see your version! Email me a photo or post it to our Facebook page.

LED Holiday House Puzzle Quiet Book Page

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This quiet book page was quite the project! It is an interactive puzzle – you match the shapes to light up the LEDs. It is the second page in a series of pages I am doing for all 4 seasons. I’ll be doing one regular page and one LED holiday page for each season. The first was my Halloween Jack-o-Lantern page.

The planning of the circuits was a bit confusing to work out, but I really feel like I’m starting to get the hang of e-textiles. I admit, I went through two revisions of how I sewed the circuits before settling on the third. But, that is one of the things that makes e-sewing so forgiving. You aren’t soldering anything together… Not happy with it? Clip the threads and start again! But, don’t be scared. You can do it! Try the Halloween page first, or something similar using that wiring plan as a guide. You’ll get the hang of it!

This page can be made without the LEDs. Just skip that part and make it a regular shape puzzle. You could add a few more shapes if you wanted. You could still have the door open, but maybe put a photo or surprise behind it instead of the battery.

All of my e-textile supplies are courtesy of SparkFun. Their LilyPad line makes adding interactive circuitry to soft projects as easy as possible. They carry everything you need, from the conductive thread and fabric to snaps and needles. The lovely wool blend felt was provided by American Felt and Craft. I think the look and feel of wool felt is a match made in heaven for a Christmas themed page. The rich colors and soft, warm feel are just perfect!

What I Used:

This tutorial is going to be a little crazy! But, stay with me…

Red & Blue LEDs: Start by cutting some scrap felt into two strips that follow the roof line. On the first strip, stitch down the red LEDs: using conductive thread, make several stitches through the + hole of the first LED then use a running stitch across to the next. Make several stitches in that LED’s + hole and continue until you’ve linked all four positive (+) holes. Start a new conductive thread and repeat the process along the negative (-) holes. Don’t let the + and – threads touch. The strip holding the red LEDs will need to be layered behind the blue strip, so the running stitches need to be covered. I cut scrap felt and basted it down between the LEDs.

     

My strip of felt for the blue LEDs is thicker because the two circuits need to go over the red LEDs while still letting the blue LEDs line up. Stitch the positive (+) line of the blue LEDs the same way you did the red, but stitch along the edge to leave room for the negative line (see photos). Lay the blue over the red and cut out holes to let the red LEDs show through as shown. Then sew the blue LED’s negative line as shown.

At this point I tested both circuits and set them aside. To test: put a battery in the battery holder and cut two scraps of conductive thread. Lay the ends of one scrap on the + hole of the battery holder and the + hole of the last LED. Lay the other thread on the – hole of the battery holder and the – of the last LED. They should light up.

     

Main Circuitry: Pin the roof piece to one of the house shapes so you have an idea of where the LEDs will be. Cut a scrap of felt to go under the snow. Mine was about 8″ wide by 2″ high I suggest going 3″ high so you have more wiggle room. Cut out one set of the gray shapes and decide where they will be positioned on the house. Place the battery holder so the positive (+) holes are at the right.

Red: I started with the red circuit first. Sew a few stitches where the upper left corner of the rectangle will be. Do a running stitch up to just below where the far right red LED will go. Tie it off. (We will link it up to the LEDs later.) Start another thread by making several stitches in the upper right (+) hole of the battery holder. Go out and down (staying out of the way of the negative hole), then go right under where the rectangle will be. Go up and end near where you ended the first (negative) line. Now we stitch the other half of the negative line (broken by where the squares of conductive fabric will be.) Start a thread and make several stitches in the upper left negative (-) hole of the battery holder. Go out and down (staying out of the way of the negative hole), then stitch down and around the triangle as shown. You need to leave plenty of room over the triangle for the yellow LED circuit. End with several stitches under where the lower left corner of the rectangle will be.

You can test your red circuit by laying the red LED strip in place and running scraps of conductive thread from the – and + holes of the last one to the corresponding thread lines in the upper right corner of the house. Then place a scrap of conductive thread or fabric (I saved the selvage to use as test strips) to complete the gap where the rectangle will be. (See photo below of me testing the yellow.)

Yellow: Next is the yellow LED circuit. start a thread and make several stitches in the upper right (+) hole of the batter holder and go up and over (staying out of the way of the negative hole) to the triangle as shown. Position the LED just above the point of the triangle (with the positive hole on the left) and make sever stitches in the (+) hole.

     

The negative line of for the yellow LED is a quick one. Make several stitches in the negative hole of the LED then a couple stitches down to under where the triangle tip will be. Start a new thread and stitch several times in the upper left negative hole of the battery holder. make a line of stitching going out and down (don’t touch the blue line!) and end it under where the lower right corner of the triangle will me. You can test this circuit by placing a scrap of conductive thread across the gap in the circuit.

Blue: To start the blue circuit, make several stitches under where the upper right corner of the square will be. Running stitch up to just below where the blue LEDs will be as shown.

     

To sew the other half of the blue LED’s negative line, make several stitches in the lower left negative hole of the batter holder, then stitch down and under the triangle, just below the red line you made earlier. My lines were close, which is why I suggest using a slightly longer scrap of felt down there. Make sure you leave room below the line you are stitching. There will be one more line down there. Continue your stitching up to where the lower right corner of the square will be and make several stitches.

Make the positive blue line by starting with several stitches in the lower right positive hole of the battery holder. Stitch down and over to the left (it will be the third line running under the triangle) as shown. Stitch over and up to the roof, ending beside the negative line. You can test your circuit the same way you tested the red earlier.

Conductive Shapes: Cut out a second house piece and use the door pattern piece to cut out a hole for access to the battery holder. Pin the roof piece on to it and sew it down (I was not sewing things down to a background at that point. The light blue was just a layer to insulate my laptop from the exposed circuits while I photographed steps.) I also sewed down the windows and window snow, as they are overlapped by the shapes. Cut out your star felt piece and cut a hole in it so the yellow LED can show through. I stitched around the hole for strength and also stitched it down around the narrow width of the LED so the hole doesn’t move. Stitch down the star.

Big Note: You don’t need the snaps I added to my puzzle! In fact, they almost make the conductive fabric unnecessary… But I was a little disappointed to find that (unlike the conductive thread) you needed some pressure when laying the two layers of conductive fabric together in order to power the LEDs. The finished puzzle pieces did not have enough weight to do this on their own once you let go. Since Jax is not old enough to understand he needs to press down on the pieces to get them to light, I went back and added snaps to hold the pieces down against the puzzle. I also used conductive thread when sewing them on to add conductivity.

Cut scraps of conductive fabric and sew them to the triangle as shown. Cut out a piece of felt to be your snowy ground for the page (mine is “soap sud” – a blueish white) and lay it over the bottom of the house. Sew the triangle down. Using conductive thread, make several stitches through all layers to link the two “broken” ends of the yellow negative line to the two scraps of conductive fabric. Each scrap should be connected to its corresponding line of conductive stitching. Test the puzzle piece by pressing a scrap of conductive fabric across the triangle. (See photo below.)

Do the same for the square and rectangle, adding scraps of conductive fabric (and snaps if preferred) as shown and sewing them down. Be sure to link the conductive fabric to the circuits with conductive thread. (See the last photo below. You can see my 3 dark stitches in the side of each square of conductive fabric.)

     

When designing this puzzle, I worked hard to find a balance between making the project easy to explain and having a design that was easy to product with minimal user errors (such as stitching circuits too close to each other and shorting it out.) In this third revision of the design, I knew this would be the most difficult part to explain. It really isn’t that bad, though! Stay with me…

Take your strip of blue LEDs and pin them in place between the house layers. The second photo above shows the top layer of the house pulled back. I hadn’t moved the roof piece up to the front house piece yet for that photo. Simply put, you need to connect your negative line from the house to the negative hole of the first LED and connect the positive line from the house to the positive hole of the same LED, WITHOUT touching! Touching the lines together will “short” the circuit and the LEDs will not light. To do this, I added an additional scrap of felt between the bottom house piece and the blue LED strip piece. I was able to directly link up the negative line from the house to the negative hole by just stitching up the house and then straight through the scrap of felt into the hole. For the positive line, I went up the house and then through to the scrap of felt, where I continued up and around the LED to get to the positive hole. I hope the sketches on my photos help explain!

You can new test and light up your blue LEDs with a strip of conductive thread. I kept mine pinned in place so the LEDs glowed while I cut tiny holes for them out of the front house piece. I stitched around the hole and stitched them down around the LEDs same as with the yellow star. You are done the blue! Phew!

   

To attache the red LEDs, lay them so they line up with the holes you made in the blue strip, as shown in the first photo below. It was easy to connect the negative and positive lines from the house to the corresponding holes on the LED. Just follow the house lines and check the LED holes to make sure you are connecting the right ones. The positive line will go up beisde the LED to where the positive hole is at the top of the LED. Keep your stitches in the hole you cut out of the blue strip to avoid crossing and shorting circuits. Test it out with a strip of conductive fabric across the rectangle puzzle. You finished all the circuits! I knew you could do it!

Decorating the House: At this point, after thoroughly testing all the circuits, I sewed the house and snowy ground down to the page. Before sewing the snow to the roof, I layered the chimney behind it. I also stitched down the opening of the door.

If you aren’t using LEDs, you can add a photo window or little surprise behind the door in place of the battery… Santa? A loved one? Whatever you’d like!

For the windows, I cut scraps of vintage lace as curtains, and stitched them down along the outside of the windows. Then I decorated the window garlands with beads and sewed the, down over top.

For the wreath, I decorated it with red seed beads before sewing it to the house. I folded a scrap of red ribbon into a bow shape and stitched it down at the top of the wreath.

If you are not doing LEDs, You can stitch beads or sequins down in place of the LEDs to be the string of lights.

Making the Door: Sew a snap to the house just above the door hole. Sew the matching half of the snap to the back of the tan door garland backing piece. Sew the door to the garland piece and decorate the garland with beads. I also added a sequin doorknob. Sew the front and back pieces of the door flap together and sew it in place. I sewed mine along the bottom instead of the left as it is not there to function as a regular door and that felt more secure. If you are not using LEDs, a regular door would work well, and you might not even need a snap.

Puzzle Pieces: To start each puzzle piece, you need to make the gray backing that will complete the broken circuits when laid in the correct place. To do this, sew strips of conductive fabric onto the gray backings so that they line up with the conductive scraps on the page AND span the gap. I also added the optional snaps to hold the pieces against the page.

Decorate the fronts of the puzzle pieces however you like! On my tree, I used sequin trim to make a garland and beads as ornaments. On the square and rectangle, note that you will need to show which side is the top of the shape (so the conductive fabric lines up.) I added a bow to the top of my rectangle, and cut out a quick heart shape to Jax would realize which end was up on the square. Sew the fronts and backs together.

Before sewing your page to its backing, add a felt “snow drift” pocket to the corner to hold the shapes while not in use. You don’t want to store them on the puzzle unless you upgrade your battery holder to the one with a power switch.

All done! Not so bad, right? I admit, it was tricky at times. Electrical wiring is not something I learned while pursuing my fine art degree in college, But I am sure proud of myself for figuring it all out! Mad props to my programmer brother for patiently checking all my circuitry drawings for errors!

Jax knew exactly what this page was for before I even had all three of the puzzle pieces sewn. He kept asking if the shapes were all done so he could play with it. He can’t do little snaps yet, but this page will help him practice. I close the snaps for him after he solves each piece.

  

If you make this page, send me a photo! You can email it or post it on the Facebook page. I’d love to see both versions with and without LEDs. Happy sewing!

LED Halloween Jack-o-Lantern Quiet Book Page

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I’m so excited to be working with e-textiles again! (The robot page was my first effort.) Quiet books and LEDs can really be a perfect pairing. I really like to include a lot of interaction into my page designs, and what better to add than working lights?

This is a very simple e-sewing project – a perfect one to start with if you want to get the hang of it. And better yet? SparkFun has provided me with 3 $50 gift certificates so you can load up on supplies and create some LED projects of your own! Head to the bottom of the post to enter.

If you aren’t feeling up to the LEDs. this page works great without them. The main activity is a create-your-own jack-o-lantern face with pieces that hide inside the pumpkin.

This is the first in a series of pages I am doing for all 4 seasons. I’ll be doing one regular page and one holiday page for each season.

The beautiful felt for this page is provided by American Felt and Craft. See that beautiful aqua blue with swirls of cobalt it it? When I received samples of their newest colors, I HAD to change my background for this page to Pool Party. It is the perfect twilight sky color. It reminds me of when the sun has just barely set on Halloween night and you go out on the porch to light the candles in your jack-o-lanterns. Perfect. AF&C is having a giveaway on their Facebook page. Hurry and check it out!

What I used:

Start by cutting everything out. Lay the pumpkin silhouettes at the top of a full black sheet of felt and cut away the negative space above them. (See photos.) Pin it on to the blue background, leaving the top loose so you can flip it down if you are adding the wiring and LEDs.

E-Sewing: Start by basting your battery holder in place as shown under the black felt near the edge of your page. Thread your needle with conductive thread and tie a knot in the end. 1. Come up through the top + (positive) hole and make several strong stitches through it. Using the white ghost shape as a guide, do a running stitch up to where the button will be (so that the stitches will hide under the ghost.) Stitch several times through the button board as shown. Tie off  your thread with a knot, making sure the tail is short and can’t touch other threads. 2. Start a new conductive thread and make several stitches through the other hole of the button board. Stitch a running stitch over to the + hole of the first LED and make several stitches in the hole. Continue the + (positive) thread as shown until you’ve gone through all the + holes in a chain. Tie off with a knot and trim the tail. 3. Start a new conductive thread and make several stitch in the top –  (negative) hole of the battery holder. Running stitch over to the negative hole of the first LED and make several stitches. Continue the – (negative) thread as shown until you’ve gone through all the + holes in a chain. Tie off with a knot and trim the tail. 4. Insert a battery into the holder and test the button.

Pumpkin Silhouettes: Lay the black pumpkin shapes down over the LEDs and press the button to see where they are. Cut tiny rectangles for the LEDs to shine through. Stitch around the holes to fortify them, and stitch the short sides of the hole down to the page so the holes don’t move out of place. Stitch around all the pumpkins, but leave the straight section between the far right pumpkin and the edge of the page unstitched.

       

Cut a square of felt to be the lining of the little flap you left unstitched over the battery holder. Add half of  snap to the edge of the page (leave room for the edge seam) and add the other half to the lining. Sew the lining in using a blanket stitch on the two exposed edges and baste along the other two. (I basted by making long stitches on the inside of the flap and tiny stitches on the visible side.)

Ghost Button: Sew a scrap of black felt on to be your ghost’s mouth. I made mine a happy ghost. For his eyes, I made curved stitches. Find a white button with a convex back (so that the back curves out like the bottom of a bowl.) Test placing the button on top of the LilyPad button board and pressing lightly. If it turns on the lights, you have a winner. Sew the button in place on the ghost so it lines up with the button board, then sew around the ghost to secure him the the page.

Pumpkin: Sew the stem down to the page. I didn’t bother sewing the base of the stem, as it gets hidden under the pumpkin. Take your orange pumpkin piece and sew a running stitch to indicate all the folds in its shape. I used an orange-brown thread. Sew some yellow hook & loop tape to the inner yellow pumpkin piece (see the pocket photo below.) Pin the two layers together and sew a blanket stitch along the outside of the far right segment of pumpkin. (You’ll be sewing the opening of the pocket. Mine went from the bottom of the far-right fold line to the top of it. Pin the pieces to the page and sew around the rest attaching it to the page as a pocket. Sew some black hook & loop tape down to the page so it lines up with the yellow.

Jack-O-Lantern Pieces: For each jack-o-lantern piece, I sewed the yellow shape down to some black felt using a running stitch. Cut out around the shape so that the black is a bit wider than the yellow. Cut another piece of black felt to match and sew it on as a backing.

 

Jax adores this page and really loves making different emotions with the face shapes. He spent a whole bedtime routine the first night saying “He’s mad!!” and laughing hysterically over his memory of the smile turned upside down. You could add shapes of your own. There is plenty of room in the pocket!

  

The Good Stuff

I’m excited to announce a really great giveaway! I reached out to SparkFun recently because I think e-textiles are a really great match for quiet books. My next page will be very interactive and provide feedback to the child while they play. SparkFun has generously offered up three $50 gift certificates to their online store. (You will need to have at least $50 pre-tax and pre-shipping in your cart for the code to work.)

To enter, leave a comment on the blog post below. Make sure you include your email address in the right field so I can contact you if you win.

The Boring Stuff: NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. Sweepstake is open to those age 18 and older. Entries must be received between 12:01am 10/24/2012 and 12:01 10/31/2012. Three (3) winners will be chosen on 10/31/2012 and will each win one (1) $50 code for sparkfun.com. The codes require that you have at least $50 pre-tax and pre-shipping in your cart to work. International shipping charges and fees may apply. See the SparkFun website for details. The number of eligible entries received determines the odds of winning. If a potential winner forfeits or does not claim the prize, the prize will be re-awarded, at the sweepstake host’s sole discretion. All prizes will be awarded. Neither Imagine Our Life, prize sponsor SparkFun nor their affiliates will have any liability whatsoever for any injuries, losses or damages of any kind caused by any prize or resulting from acceptance, possession, use and/or misuse of any prize or participation in this promotion. Acceptance of a prize shall be construed as the winners’ consent to having their first name and last initial posted on the sponsor’s site following the contest duration. VOID WHERE PROHIBITED BY LAW.

Good luck! If you sew this page, with or without the LEDs, please send a photo or post it on the Facebook page. I’d love to see it!

Dollhouse Quiet Book – Cover & Assembly

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My dollhouse quiet book is complete! It turned out so sweet and cute. I really enjoyed doing a girlie project! Click an link below to go to the other pages of the book for patterns and instructions.

There is no pattern for the cover, but I will go over everything I did. Leave a comment here or on the Facebook page if you have any questions!

Stack the three folded pages like a book. I did mine: kitchen, bed/bath, then the backyard.

Sew together the two center pages along three sides (top edge of book, outer edge and bottom edge.) Don’t go all the way to the center of the middle page with your stitching (see photo above), but leave a gap so the book can easily fold closed.

Another view of the center pages sewn.

Do one last step to prepare your pages to be covered. Cut a strip of felt to cover the spine of your book. I used pink, since many of my pages use that color.

  

Sew the spine along the top and bottom edges. I also added a couple stitches on either side of the spine in the center to hold it in place.

 

inside of cover – outside of cover

Cut two 8.5″ wide x 9″ high pieces of felt in your cover color. Overlap them so they fit perfect around your closed book. I pinned one to the front and one to the back, then overlapped them and pinned. Sew both sides of the overlap. I had the front side of my stitching on the outside of the cover, even though one of the overlaps is on the inside.

Take a 12″ x 6.5″ piece of felt in your roof color and fold it in half (to 6″ x 6.5″) The fold will be the part of the roof that hangs down over the door when folded over the top of the book. I sewed my Velcro on last, careful to go through one layer of felt, but you can do it before sewing the roof. Sew the sides of the roof closed and sew the third side down to the cover as shown above.

I added another closure – a little strap in my cover color  (2 layers of felt with Vecro) that wraps around the open pages and Velcros closed. Normally this kind of strap is attached to the back, but I didn’t want to have a square of Velcro on the front of my book. I pinned mine in place then sewed a door down over top of it. My door was 2.25″ wide x 5.5″ high to be the right scale for the doll. A vintage button works great as a door knob.

I made a wreath on the door by cutting little leaf shapes and sewing them down in a circle. I cut tiny pink trapezoids then folded the points in and sewed them down into rose buds. I added some periwinkle French knots.

To make a shuttered window, cut your window shape, then cut the shutter color twice as wide. Center the window on the shutter felt and sew through both to attach it to the cover. The shutters hang free. I back stitched the window panes and added a strip of white for the window sill.

I added a green blob to make a rose bush. Cut 1″ strips of felt about 1/4″  thick and tapered at both ends to make the roses. Stitch the point at one end down, then fold and twist it into a spiraling circle shape, stitching it down as you go.

Sew the cover to the first and last page similar to how you sewed the inner pages. Stop sewing along the top and bottom when you get to the spine. The cover will bubble out when the book is open, but fit snug when folded closed.

You could probably add a handle along the center of the roof piece if you wanted to. The cover turns the whole book into a sweet little house and holds the book snug and closed.

Welcome!

This quiet book is a lot of work (aren’t the all??) but SO worth it! You end up with hours of adorable, girly fun. I admit to having fun with it! A lot of the pieces are tiny, so this is for the 3 and up crowd, but it is a homemade treasure that will stay in the family for years.

I hand sewed this entire book with wool blend felt provided by American Felt and Craft. One a project like this that you want to stand up to many, many hours of playtime, it is absolutely worth the extra expense of wool felt. The colors I used for this cover are: white, wild blueberry, jade, forget me not, pink tutu, orchid and sweet pea. AF & C has some brand new delicious looking colors of felt in that I can’t wait to try!

If you sew this quiet book, I’d love to see photos! Email me or post them to our Facebook page. Happy sewing!

Quiet Book Dollhouse – Bed & Bath Page

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This page is a part of my Dollhouse mini quiet book. You can find the instructions for the doll and the kitchen page here, and the backyard page here. In the next couple of days I will post the cover! The book is designed on 12″ w x 9″ h felt sheets that will fold in half to 6″ w x 9″ h when closed.

All the felt for this mini book has been provided by American Felt and Craft. I am using their wool blend felt, which cuts like butter and has been holding up so much better than the craft store recycled felt I’d been using. If it is in your budget, it is absolutely worth upgrading for a long-lasting handmade item such as a quiet book. They have some new colors of felt in, and I can’t wait to try them!

What I Used: The pattern, felt (in pink tutu/pink, rainy day/blue-gray, toffee/tan, sunshine/light yellow, soap sud/pale gray, hot pink, white,  limeade/lime green, doe/brown, royal purple/purple, buttercream/pale yellow, sweet pea/pinkish-purple, gray flannel/gray and bisque/flesh), felt scraps (I used rubber ducky/yellow and orange juice/orange for the duck, and forget me not/periwinkle for the front of her nightie.), clear vinyl, white snag-free Velcro, size 1 sew-on snap, 3 small buttons (red and blue for the taps, a mini aqua one for the nightie.), ribbon scraps (many blues for the water, wide polka dot for the mat, hearts for the bed spread, silver for the curtain rod, pink for the towel and robe and white ric-rac for her nightie.), sequins, white snag-free Velcro and a child-safe mirror.

Backgrounds: The background of the whole 2-page spread is a full sheet of pink felt. I cut two rectangles of felt to be the floors (one tan and one blue.) I also cut some light yellow to give the bathroom side a different wall color. On the bathroom floor piece, I sewed the tub and tub feet down so there was some overlap (as shown above.) I didn’t sew it down to the background yet, though. I sewed down the yellow wall and just pinned everything else in place. While sewing the yellow wall, I sewed in a length of silver ribbon about a half inch down from the top. This will be for the shower curtain later. Leave it loose so just the ends are sewn into the sides of the yellow background piece.

Bath Tub: To finish the bath tub, I cut out the two sides of the bubbles and sewed sequins on to the front. Mine were Darice “Crystal Iridescent” that I bought at the fabric store. I sewed both sides of the bubbles together and layered it behind the tub. Using the dashed line on the tub pattern piece as a guide, I folded the extra tub fabric backwards to make a rounded lip. Then I sewed through the tub, the tub fold and both layers of the bubbles to attach them all together.

Showing the floor pockets

Once that was done, I sewed down a ribbon as a bathmat and sewed the floor down to the background along the sides and bottom (also sew the little bits of floor seen to the left and right of the tub). This turns the tub and floor into a big pocket so the doll can fit in her bath.

Bath Fixtures: Sew one of the faucet pieces to the wall, and sew the two buttons on a taps. With the other two faucet pieces, sew them together with different scraps of blue ribbons sticking out one end to look like water. Lay the faucet with water over-top of the one on the page, and stitch it down just at the top so it can flip up out of the way. It will be hidden under the towel while not in use.

Sew the towel bar by folding it and sewing the open edges together. Decorate the two towel pieces with some ribbon and sew the front and back together. Wrap the top of the towel around the bar and sew it on. Position the towel/bar on the page so that it covers the second faucet and water stream and sew the sides of the towel bar down.

What really adds a lot is the little mirror. I hunted the thrift stores for fabric baby books and snagged the mirror out of the one I found. I left the green fabric edging on mine and chose my shower curtain fabric to match. However, you can make your own mirror. Here is a tutorial about it.

The shower curtain is one layer of felt that is folded at the top and sewn around the silver ribbon. Because felt is thick, the curtain doesn’t slide/bunch on the ribbon like a normal curtain. It just flips up like a peek-a-boo panel. You could hem some regular fabric to use as a curtain if you wanted yours to slide.

  

Bed: I cut a slit in the tan floor piece to match the length of the top of the bed (stopping at where the bed curves at the foot.) I sewed the pillow on to the upper left of the slit (see the above photo.) The bed gets sewn down below the slit (I pinned mine at first so I could sew through both the bed and the blanket at the same time.) I decorated the bed spread with a ribbon and sewed the left side into a fold. I sewed the blanket on to the bed, leave the wavy bottom hanging open. When the bed was all sewn to the floor, I sewed the floor down to the background. The open slit makes a pocket for the doll to go in when she lies in bed.

Shown with clothes from the other pages

Wardrobe: For the wardrobe, I cut two pieces of felt for each door (I used brown on the outside and pale yellow inside.) I also cut some clear vinyl about half the size of each door and sewed them into small pockets to hold the doll’s hat and toys. On one door, I sewed on a folded strip of felt with a snap. On the other, I sewed the other half of the snap. This holds the doors closed.

To assemble the wardrobe, I cut a large square of clear vinyl (the size of the two doors closed) and sewed it down to the page as a pocket. Then I sewed the doors on to each side.

Extras & Clothing:

On the back side of the robe, I sewed two bits of snag-free Velcro where it would match up with her underclothes. On the front, I sewed down the two collar pieces and pinned on a ribbon belt. When I sewed the front and back together, I made sure to catch the ends of the ribbon belt in the seams.

For her nightie, I decorated the front with the contrasting felt, then added ric-rac trim and a mini button. I sewed Velcro on the backing piece and then sewed the two halves together.

The rubber ducky has French knot eyes. I sewed the body pieces together, then sewed the beak on.

The teddy bear has pink ovals sewn on for his muzzle and tummy. I added a satin stitched nose and two French knot eyes. The ears are each one thickness of felt that I sandwiched between the two sides of his head while sewing him together.

I can’t decide which “room” in this dollhouse is my favorite! I love them all…

Night Night!

If you sew the dollhouse quiet book, I’d love to see it! email me photos or post them on the Facebook page!

Quiet Book Dollhouse – Backyard Page

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This page is a part of my Dollhouse mini quiet book. You can find the instructions for the doll and the kitchen page here. Still to come are the bedroom, bathroom and the cover/construction. The book is designed on 12″ w x 9″ h felt sheets that will fold in half to 6″ w x 9″ h when closed.

All the felt for this mini book has been provided by American Felt and Craft. I am using their wool blend felt, which cuts like butter and has been holding up so much better than the craft store recycled felt I’d been using. If it is in your budget, it is absolutely worth upgrading for a long-lasting handmade item such as a quiet book.

Shown with food from the kitchen page.

What I Used: The pattern, felt (in ice/light blue, soap sud/pale gray, jade/green, peacock/aqua, hot pink, white, rubber ducky/yellow, limeade/lime green, doe/brown, forget me not/periwinkle, beet/dark red and bisque/flesh), felt scraps (I used a zebra print craft felt for the swimsuit and cilantro/olive for the leaves), clear vinyl, white snag-free Velcro, size 1 sew-on snaps, 2 small buttons, thin blue and green ribbon, white snag-free Velcro and ribbon scraps.

Pool Background: I started by cutting a strip of white and sewing it down along the top to make the edge of the pool. I took a large rectangle of peacock blue and sewed it down along its top edge, overlapping the white. I cut a piece of clear vinyl the same size as the blue pool water and sewed it down along the sides and bottom, going through all three layers (vinyl, blue felt and background felt), making a clear pocket.

Patio Table: I sewed the hot pink table top down, then used a back stitch to sew the legs. I took a scrap of thin, yellow ribbon and sewed it down to make a pole for the umbrella. The umbrella was sewn down along the bottom curve, letting the scallops hang free.

Pool Toys: The inner tube is just sewn back to front. For the beach ball, I sewed the colored segments to each side, then sewed the two sides together.

Garden Background: I cut some jade green felt into a hill and sewed it down to the left side of the page to make the ground. I sewed the fence pieces down to a rectangle of green felt, then trimmed the green from between the pointed tops of the fence posts, as shown above. I sewed the fence into a pocket on the bottom of the page. The doll can stand behind the fence, or you can store the page pieces there.

Flowers: For each flower, I started by sewing a button to the front piece and a leaf to the back piece. I cut two lengths of ribbon – one blue and one green – and had them sticking out of the flower (as shown above) when I sewed the fronts to the backs. At the end of the green ribbons, I sewed on folded rectangles of jade green felt.

Planter: I folded the top of the planter down (towards the front) and sewed it down to make a lip. I positioned the flowers and their green ribbons where they needed to be on the page, and pinned down the planet over top. I sewed along the sides and bottom of the planter, but made sure to leave holes where the ribbons stuck through the bottom. This is so you can pull the green felt tabs to pull the flowers back into the planter.

Clouds: The clouds have snaps sewn to the back pieces. I pinned the tops of the blue ribbons in between the cloud pieces before sewing fronts to backs. I pulled the flowers all the way into the planter then marked where the other halves of the snaps needed to be to hold the clouds in place. I sewed them down to finish the clouds.

Watering Can: The watering can is made by sewing the fronts and backs together with the following things sticking out: A bit of yellow ribbon to make a handle, three bits of blue ribbon coming out of the spout and a scrap of blue felt in the top to make the water.

Find directions for the doll on the kitchen page

Swimsuit: The swimsuit  has a ribbon and bow sewn to the waist of the front piece to make a belt. At the bottom, I took a length of ribbon and sewed it down in loops to make a ruffle. I switched the direction of the the loops halfway through. I sewed bits of snag-free Velcro to the white back piece then sewed the front and back together.

Garden Outfit: I started by sewing bits of Velcro to the back of the white back piece. I then sewed the yellow boots to front of it. I sewed down the pants, folding up the cuffs and sewing them in place. I decorated the shirt with some back stitch and daisy stitches before sewing it down.

Garden Hat: I sewed thin blue ribbon across the brim of each side of the hat. I took a scrap of flower ribbon and folded the ends under to make a little square with one flower motif on it. I sewed one of those down on to each side. I sewed the hat together, leave the bottom open so you can slide it on the doll’s head.

Hope you’ve been enjoying my free quiet book patterns! I love seeing what you’ve done with them. Email me your photos, or leave them on our Facebook page. Stop by tomorrow for a toddler iPad app review and a giveaway of two free app codes!

Quiet Book Dollhouse – Kitchen Page

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Having a little boy, I don’t often get to do super girly sewing projects. I really wanted to design a dollhouse quiet book, so I decided to go for it!

This page is sponsored by American Felt and Craft, who provided the beautiful wool blend felt. It is such a delight to work with! The feel of it really doesn’t compare to craft felt. If you can afford to spend a little more, I really recommend using wool blend felt. It has been holding up so much better than the acrylic.

You’ll notice from the photos that this page is laid out different than my others – there is no blank area on the side to allow for the binding/grommets. This is because I plan to fold the pages in the center and sew them together as a mini book that is 6″ wide x 9″ high when closed. I will be posting each double page separately, then showing how I bind it all together. You could use the elements from this page to design a regular quiet book page, but you’ll need to rearrange and shrink some things.


The book will contain one felt doll (or possibly two) with Velcro underthings. I plan to make two outfits per double page. They will be stored on the bedroom page, but there will be places to put them on each spread. Here the table is a pocket. This page also contains many little food items that were a great way to use up felt scraps! Because they are tiny, I’d recommend this page for a 4 year old unless you are supervising. The colors I used are all totally changeable, so just think of them as suggestions. I was in love with that green “honeydew” color and wanted to pay homage to the avocado appliances I grew up with.

What I Used: The pattern, felt (in pink tutu/pink, soap sud/pale gray, white, honeydew/spring green, hot pink, salt & pepper/dark charcoal and bisque/flesh), felt scraps (in lilac, gold nugget/gold, peacock/aqua, rainy day/light blue, big apple/red, cilantro/olive green, rubber ducky/yellow, orange juice/orange, chocolate/brown, banana nut muffin/tan and gray flannel/gray), clear vinyl, white snag-free Velcro, size 1 sew-on snaps, 7mm mini buttons, ric-rac and ribbon scraps.

I sewed this entire page by hand, but you could certainly machine stitch some or all of it.

Background Elements: I started by sewing a strip of felt down for the floor. I used “soap sud” which is a white with a pale tint of pink and blue to it.

For the frame hanging above the table, I cut a rectangle of clear vinyl to fit the opening, then straight stitched it onto the back. I sewed the frame to the wall, leaving the top open so you can slide in a photo. (I stitched across the top of the frame just so it would would match the other sides – but it isn’t sewn to the background.)

For the window, I cut a rectangle of light blue and sewed it down with a + shape of white back stitch. I sewed a strip of white to the bottom for the sill, then sewed the curtains on, leaving the bottoms open for volume. I made two little aqua blue bows and sewed them on as curtain ties. I stitched through the knots so they won’t untie.

I added a shelf under the window to hold the tea set. It is just a strip of hot pink felt sewn down over a small pocket of clear vinyl. The vinyl holds the tea set in place while it looks like it is just sitting on the shelf.

Oven: I sewed down the inside of the oven with snaps in the upper corners, then sewed down the stove top above it. I added 4 7mm buttons (from the craft store) as dials and two felt burners. I made the door by sewing the matching snap halves to the upper corners of the inner door felt and sewing some ric-rac to the door front as the handle (I added squares of felt over the ends of the ric-rac to hide where it was sewn on and prevent fraying.) I then sandwiched clear vinyl between both door sides and sewed them all together. I sewed the oven door to the oven along the bottom, making sure the snaps lined up.

Refrigerator: I started by sewing down a white rectangle the size of both doors. I also sewed a strip of the door color down to separate the freezer from the fridge. I cut scraps of clear vinyl and sewed them down into pockets to hold the food. I added one snap for each door. To make the doors, I sewed ric-rac handles to the front pieces the same way I did it on the oven. I sewed the matching snap halves to the white inner door pieces, then sewed the two sides of each together. I sewed the doors down along the left sides, making sure the snaps lined up.

Table & Chair: I started with the chair (half a chair, really.) The table is sewn as a pocket so the doll can “sit” at the table. I added the top portion of a chair to make it look like she’s sitting. I did some decorative stitching, including a daisy stitch in the center. I sewed it down so the bottom would be hidden behind the table. To make the table, I sewed the hot pink trim to the bottom of the tablecloth. I added an extra layer of white felt to the back of the table top (the oval shape) so the bright chair wouldn’t show through. I also added a line of stitching in gray to show the edge of the table. I sewed the table down along the sides and bottom to make a pocket.

Tea Party Items: For the tea set, I cut a front and back piece for each item (one tea pot and two cups) and sewed them together. With the cups, I left the tops open.

The cookie sheet is made with tan ovals sewn to the top layer of the cookie sheet, then the front and backs are sewn together.

For the fruit bowl, I sewed together two layers for each fruit, then sewed the bowl around them, so they are stitched in place and can’t get lost.

I did the same with the ice cream bowl. (I didn’t have extra pink, since I used the full sheet for the background. I ended up cutting a square of felt out of the back of the page behind the oven and using that for the strawberry ice cream!)

For the cake, I started with the flame, sewing the back and front together. I then sewed the two sides of the candle stick together around the base of the flame. I sewed the two layers of the plate together. I sandwiched the end of the candle between the two cake pieces and sewed it down around the top of the plate.

The milk has two identical sides – each with an M sewn on. Then, the two sides are sewn together.

Doll: The doll is made with colored felt on the front and plain white on the back. I started by sewing the hair on to the body piece around her face. I then embroidered her features on. For the mouth, I used the same technique that I used one my princess finger puppet, but I added a stitch of white for teeth between her lips. Her nose is a dashed stitch that is tilted up a bit. I started the eyes by stitching the almond/eye-shape with white thread. I made a French knot in the center, and made a tiny stitch from the edge of the knot through the center to really hold it in place. I outlined the tops and outer corners of the eyes with brown thread, then back stitched eyebrows. Her under clothes are cut out of snag-free Velcro to hold her outfits on. I sewed them down the same way I would sew felt. I sewed a tiny belly button, but it’s hard to see. Once she was decorated, I sewed her backing on.

Clothes: Her red dress was decorated with black back stitch at the cuffs, collar and hem. The buttons are pink French knots. Her apron is a cherry ribbon I found at Dollar Tree. I folded the bottom under into a curve as I sewed it on. I made her apron belt with a scrap of pink ribbon. I sewed Velcro to the back piece, lining it up with her body, then sewed the front and back together.

The green dress has a gingham ribbon scrap sewn on as a belt. I sewed on a white collar and added two 7mm mini buttons. I sewed the Velcro on to the back then sewed both sides together.

Stay tuned for two more double pages for this dollhouse book, followed by the exterior of the house and book construction! I am posting progress photos on the Facebook page as I go. I am also working on a solar system page, so photos of that may pop up too.

Do you have a blog or online business that fits in well with the theme of Image Our Life? For as little as $5 a month, you can have your banner in the sidebar. I am also interested in swapping banner space with other blogs. Drop me a line or check out the sponsor page!

Castle Puppet Theater Quiet Book Page

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It’s a quiet book page! It’s a puppet theater! It’s both!

This page was inspired by the rich colors of wool blend felt carried by American Felt and Craft, who provided the felt for this project. (Visit AFC’s Facebook page for sales and giveaways.) There are so many beautiful shades of green, gorgeous grays that look like stone and bright jewel tones. And the fact that the wool felt is stronger and thicker than craft felt helped to make this page work well.

This page doesn’t use anything special other than some plastic canvas, I used glitter ribbon for some of the tiny pieces, like the crown and the sword, but you could swap that for felt. I also used many shades of green because I had leftovers from other pages. The ground (“fresh cut grass”) and the dragon (“jade”) are the most important greens. the leaves (“limeade”) and shrubs (“cilantro”) could be swapped for one of those.

What I Used: The pattern, wool blend felt from American Felt & Craft (in fresh cut grass, beet x 3, powder blue, white, gray flannel, salt & pepper, cilantro, limeade, royal purple, doe, orchid, rubber duckie, peaches & cream, indigo, jade, orange juice), plastic canvas (I got mine at the craft store), glitter ribbon in gold and silver (I got mine at the craft store) and sew-on gems.

     

This page fits into my normal quiet books, yet unfolds into a working finger puppet theater. There is a pocket to store the three puppets, a wizard, a princess and a knight, plus a stuffed dragon that flies on a loop of ribbon. There are two supports that can be stored in a loop of felt when the page is closed. The supports slip into little pockets to prop the stage open.

Supports: Sew two layers of plastic canvas inside the felt strips to make two supports. I cut my plastic canvas slightly smaller than the felt.

Castle Facade: Start with a 9″ square of gray felt and cut away the roof line using the sky pattern. Layer a strip of light blue behind the castle piece to make a 9″ square again and sew them together. Cut out the puppet theater hole. Sew on the windows and door, then sew on the shrubs. I cut out a bunch of little leave and stitched a wandering back stitch vine up each side of the castle. I used two back stitches to attach each leaf. Sew on the two purple tower roofs. Cut bits of ribbon or felt into triangle flags and sew them to the roof peaks. (My ribbon was non-fraying, so I was able to easily cut it into shapes.)

I embellished my roofs with embroidery to look like tiles. To do that, start with a long horizontal stitch, but don’t pull it tight. Come back up through the felt down at the point where you want your tile to end, making sure to put the needle through the stitch. Go back down through the felt making a tiny vertical stitch that holds your first long stitch down into a scallop shape. Repeat, staggering the scallops as shown.

Backstage: Cut out the burgundy felt into the 9″ square with a matching hole cut out. Sew it to the back of the castle facade with plastic canvas in the middle. Take the two curtain pieces and overlap them slightly in the middle. Sew them to the top back of the theater piece.

The castle theater gets sewn to the right hand side of the two-page spread. Line the top of the castle up with the far right side of a full 9″ x 12″ sheet of burgundy felt and sew it down along the bottom. On the left side, decorate the few inches that are in front of the castle with grass and a road. I matched my road with the width of the door.

Cut out the storage pocket felt piece and sew it to the page under the castle as shown on the pattern and the photos. the skinny side pockets are where you insert the bottom of the supports. Sew the smaller pockets to the back of the castle after pinning them to see what angle works best. Sew the pockets upside-down so the top of the supports can slip up into them.

Front Lawn: That side of the two-page spread is super easy. I just sewed more road down to the grass color. You could embellish yours with flowers, a fountain or a hedge maze… Whatever you can imagine!

To construct my page, I sewed purple felt (I just used craft felt) to the back of each side of the spread. You have to start and stop your seam to get around where the castle is attached on that side of the page. I then lined the pages up facing each other (as they will be when the page is closed, and sewed my usual seams.

Puppets: All three of my finger puppets have plain white felt backs. If you wanted to have yours be two-sided, you’d need to work out how they would look from behind.

Knight: For Sir Knight, I started with his basic shape cut out of gray. I laid his face in place and sewed the helmet and neck pieces over top. I sewed his eyes with French knots and a tiny horizontal stitch going from the center of each knot out to the corner of his eyes. This makes sure the knot doesn’t wiggle loose. His mouth is just back stitch. I sewed down his tunic and the trim next. For his shield, I cut some glitter ribbon into a J for Jax. You could do a cross or another letter or symbol. I sewed the J to the inner shield piece, then sewed that and the outer shield piece down. I cut the sword blade and hilt out of more glitter ribbon and sewed them down, adding the glove over top.

To make his backing, I cut out white felt to the same shape as his body, but added an extra 1/4″ to each side from the bottom down. The knight is fairly skinny, so adding width to the backing gives room for bigger adult finger to play too. The photo to the right shows one side sewn and the other side read to be sewn. Once you’ve sewn the back on (leaving the bottom open for your finger), trim the bottom edge so it is flush with the front.

Princess: The princess was fun for me! I don’t get to do many girlie sewing projects. You can personalize her by changing up her colors.

I started with her shape cut out in pink. I sewed down her belt, arms, hands and puffy sleeves. I sewed on her sash and added some sew-on gems. I laid her face piece in place and sewed her hair down over top. I added some stitches to her face to make her chin, then made a French knot pearl necklace and earrings. I made tiny stitches in the knots as before to secure them. Her eyes are the same as the knight’s, and her nose is a little stitch. Her mouth has two stitches for the lower lip (the bottom stitch a little smaller), then a longer stitch with a little “v” stitched over top to make the bow of her lips. See the drawing to get the idea.

The finishing touch was her crown, made out of glitter ribbon with a sew-on gem.

Wizard: The wizard is pretty simple, but very cute! Start with his shape cut out of indigo felt. Lay his face in place and sew the beard down on top of it. Lay a scrap of ribbon (mine was purple) on his hat, and sew the hat brim in place. Cut a scrap of felt in a mustache shape and sew it down along the top side. His eyes were made the same as the others’ and his mouth is made like the princess’s lower lip (the two dashes.) Sew down his sleeves and hands, then sewn on a star and stitch the wand with back stitch.

For both the princess and the wizard, I cut their finished shape out of white felt and sewed the back on (with the bottom open) to make them into finger puppets.

Stuffed Dragon: The dragon is the hardest part, as I made him into a full stuffed animal. I wanted him to be able to fly in to the castle from any angle.

The dragon has two sides that are the same, but mirrored, so do everything twice for him. I started with the wings. I stitched two curved back stitch lines to show the veins/folds int he yellow part. Then I sewed each wing together with the yellow layered between the green backing and the green outer edge. Remember you need a wing for each side, so they have to point opposite directions. Sew the green body pieces to the yellow body pieces and then sew a wing onto each (picture 1 below.)

For his face, I stitched on the white eye, then made a French knot with a reinforcing stitch for the iris. I back stitched an outline around it. I satin stitched a sideways tear shape for his nostrils and back stitched an arc over each one. I sewed the two sides of his purple crest together and the two sides of the flames together. I cut out a bunch of back scales (including a few smaller ones for the end of his tail.) Have a loop of ribbon ready for his back. I sewed the two sides of the dragon together from under his chin, around his nose (with the flames in his mouth) over his head (with the crest in place) and then down his back, adding scales and the ribbon loop between his wings (see photo 2 below.) Sew all the way around his tail, but stop when the green ends.

Sew all the legs together, and sew them in place on each side. Add a little stuffing or batting – not too much or he’ll be too fat to store int he page. Take the chest piece and stitch it to the edges on the yellow as shown below. Trim the piece as needed to get it ti fit just right.

   

Jax didn’t know what a puppet show was until I started sewing this, but he got so excited when he figured it out. His current favorite thing to do is steal the puppets off my hand mid-show. He told me the knight puppet is “Jackson”, the princess is “mama” and the wizard is “dada”. Hah! (No, my husband doesn’t have a long white beard and a wand.)

You don’t have to sew this into a quiet book page. You could add a Velcro closure and felt handles to turn it into a portable puppet theater case!

Enjoy! Stop by the Facebook page to see progress photos from my next two pages. they are fun ones!

Sewing Basics – Blanket Stitch

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I often get asked how I sew the various loose elements that go with my quiet book pages. For the most part, I use a blanket stitch. Here is a little tutorial with a few tips and tricks I like to use.

Cutting Out the Shape

 
 

When an element has a front and back, I like to cut both sides out at once so they match up well. Since most felts have a softer “front” side, I fold my felt sheet and pin the pattern piece to it so I end up with the soft felt out for both sides of the element. I cut the shape out loosely at first, because it can be awkward to hold the whole sheet while cutting. Then I go in and cut it accurately. I remove the pattern paper and trim any uneven edges and felt fuzzies with sharp scissors.

Starting to Sew

 
 

I use two strands of embroidery floss when I sew. See my detailed tutorial on how to thread your needle with 2 strands here. Basically, you cut your thread twice as long as you’d like to work with, separate out one strand of the 6, fold it in half, and thread it through your needle, loose ends first. This will give you a loop at the end of your thread.

Decide where you want to start stitching. I like to choose a less visible place. Here I chose the inner corner of the heart. Bring your needle up from behind, but don’t pull the thread all the way through. run your needle through the loop at the end of the thread and pull tight. Start the next stitch by coming up from behind. Again, don’t pull the stitch tight yet.

 
 

Run your needle from front to back through the loop, then pull the stitch tight. Repeat: come up from the back, don’t pull tight, go back through the loop and pull tight. When you get to a corner, it’s best to do a stitch straight into it. That way your corner stays defined. Continue on until your thread starts to get short.

Ending a Thread

  

But what happens when your thread gets too short and you have more to sew? Here’s what I do. Start by flipping your piece over and run your needle through the last stitch you made. Don’t pull it tight yet.

 
 

Pass the needle through the loop of thread and pull it tight. There will be a tiny knot at the edge of your piece. (Repeat this if you really want a strong hold. Or use a drop of Fray Check.) Insert your needle into the hole of the stitch and pass it between the layers of felt, coming up through the hole of another stitch. Cut the thread off flush with the felt. This will hide your thread tail inside the piece.

Starting a New Thread

 
 

Now we need to start a new thread. Thread your needle the same as before so you have a loop at the end. Start to sew the same way you did in the beginning, but start over-top of your last stitch. This way, you won’t have a gap in the thread running along the edge of your piece. Bring your needle up from behind, but don’t pull tight. Go back through the loop of thread and pull tight. Move over and come up through the felt from behind to start the next stitch. Continue on in blanket stitch.

Finishing Up

   
   

Finishing up is pretty much what we’ve been doing before. In order to not have a gap in the thread along the edge of your piece, Make a stitch over-top of your first stitch. Then, on the back of the piece, run your needle through the stitch and back through the loop of thread to make a knot. Pass the needle down through the stitch’s hole, between the layers of felt, and back up through another stitch’s hole. Clip close to the felt to hide the thread tail.

All done!

Banana Split Quiet Book Page

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First, a quick announcement – the winners of the camping quiet book page felt and supply give away! The two winners of mini LED lights are Renee R. and Jean J. The grand prize winner of felt, crinkle material, a mini LED light and some clear vinyl is Ashley S. Congrats! I’ll be emailing you for you mailing addresses. (Renee, email me. I don’t have your email address!)

Just before my birthday weekend, I realized we were going out of town on an 8 hour round trip in the car to the beach and I wouldn’t have the supplies for my next page yet. I dug around in my stash to see what I could make from my stash of scraps. I was inspired when I looked at some of the samples sent to me by American Felt and Craft. Sprinkle beads, nut beads and a felt cherry? Sounds like an ice cream sundae to me!

I went with a banana split and had just enough of the green dot felt I used in the ice cream parlor page to make them coordinate. I actually had to sew an extra seam to make the pages smaller because I didn’t have enough light blue and green dot to cover the whole 9″ x 12″.

What I used: The pattern, sprinkle beads, nut beads, red felt ball, felt (in green dot, pink dot, light blue, white, pink, hot pink, brown, dark brown, yellow cream and gray), clear vinyl, blue-tinted vinyl (you can use more clear instead) and 3 sew-on snaps.

The Background: Very simple… just sew a table onto your background felt! Later, you can add snaps to attach the sundae dish.

Sundae Dish: I sewed light blue felt and blue tinted vinyl together along the curve of the bowl to make a pocket, then I sewed across the top of the vinyl to make that edge match the others (and make it feel less sharp.) I sewed three snaps along the back so the bowl can come off, but you could just sew it to the page.

Ice Cream Scoops: I sewed the two sides of each scoop together with some scrap felt in the middle to give it some thickness. You could use batting, but I was in the car and that was what I had!

Sundae Toppings: I sewed the toppings the same way that I sewed the ice cream scoops, except I decorated the front pieces first.

Strawberry: I sewed the sprinkle bugle beads to the strawberry topping.

Pineapple: I sewed down little pie wedge shapes of cream felt to make pineapple chunks.

Chocolate: I sewed the nut beads to the chocolate sauce.

Whipped Cream: I sewed the cherry felt ball on to one side of the whipped cream, making sure I really secured it down with a bunch of stitches. You could use a circle of felt stuffed with some batting instead of the felted ball. I then sewed the two sides together.

Ice Cream Tub: I sewed the pink top piece to the main white tub piece, overlapping them a bit. I sewed on the lettering and the oval ice cream colors. (Sew the white of the oval on first, then layer the pink and brown over it so they line up.) I then sewed the ice cream tub on the the page along the sides and bottom to make a pocket to hold everything.

Sprinkle Jar: The sprinkle jar is a pocket for the spoon to go into. The front of the pocket is made of two layers of clear vinyl with sprinkle beads sewn inside. I started by sewing the light blue background to the page. Then I folded my vinyl in half and started sewing around the edges. With one side still unsewn, I filled the vinyl pouch with beads then sewed it shut. I placed it over the blue background with the smooth folded edge up, and sewed the sides and bottom down, making the pocket.

Spoons: The spoons are just two layers of felt sewn together with some decorative back stitching on the bowl to give it depth. I also sewed on the sprinkle beads to the spoon that goes in the sprinkle jar.

This page sewed up very quickly! It was a good project for the car, though I did all the beading in the hotel and at home so I wouldn’t spill. You could definitely mix and match the elements from the ice cream parlor page and this one. I just scaled the ice cream a bit larger for this page.

Jax enjoys it, but I knew he would – all of the food pages are big hits for him! The first thing he did was take all the parts and put them in and out of the ice cream tub. Then it was time for a tower of ice cream! And, don’t try to separate him from that sprinkle spoon! It is a prized possession!

 

Enjoy! If you make one of my pages, I’d love to see… Email me a photo or post it on the Facebook page.

Camping Quiet Book Page

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Camping! S’mores! Lanterns!

This page is sponsored by American Felt and Craft, who provided the felt and crinkle material. When AF&C reached out to me about providing felt for some of my designs, I knew it was meant to be… The next page I had planned to make was a camping one, and the gorgeous earthy colors available in wool blend felt were so perfect for it. And crinkle fabric to make my camp fire crackle? Yes, please! Read more about American Felt and Craft here. Read more about my thoughts on wool blend felt here.)

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Let’s Go Camping!

This page is a lot of fun to play with! There is a zipper on the sleeping bag – something Jax needs to practice. Inside is a little bendable mini-Jax to play with! There is a cave hiding a cute baby bear, a lantern that lights up when you press on it, hot cocoa with marshmallows, a crackling camp fire and all the fixings to make s’mores.

What I used:

The Background: I started with two sheets of cilantro felt and cut them away at the top to make the hills. You need to make sure the two sides line up where they will be sewn together at the center seam. I placed strips of wild blueberry felt behind the cilantro to make the night sky. I sewed the hills to the sky. I then sewed the table pieces to each page, making sure they lined up where the center page seam will be as well. I sewed the three pine trees down before starting on the cave.

The Cave: I sewed the cave interior down in the corner of the page, then sewed down the cave front, leaving the arch of the cave entrance open (see above photo.) I made the cave door by sewing the two door pieces together, then sewed it down into a flap along the top.

The Baby Bear: I first sewed the two sides of each far leg together, then pinned them between the two sides of the main bear body. I sewed a French knot eye with a little stitch in the corner on each side of the bear’s face. I stitched the bear together around the outside, then satin stitched his nose.

The Sleeping Bag: I pinned down the sleeping bag interior piece on top of one side of the upside-down zipper, folding the extra zipper tape under. I stitched along the edge of the felt, securing that side of the zipper. I then sandwiched the two outer sleeping bag pieces around the other side of the zipper (as shown above) and sewed along the zipper. To finish the sleeping bag, I sewed the two outer pieces together where the above photo is marked yellow, then sewed the outer pieces to the interior pieces (and the actual page) where the photo is marked green.

The Child: I made my child a mini Jax. I’ve included a drawing of girl hair in my pattern. I started by making an armature out of pipe cleaners. See the below photos for how I did mine. I laid the pipe cleaners on top of the pattern as I made it to be sure it would fit. (when working with the pipe cleaners, always fold over the ends so there aren’t any sharp pokies to hurt your little one!)

I started sewing the felt with his head. I embroidered his face (French knot eyes, a small stitch for the nose and a back stitch smile) then sewed the front and back head pieces on to the armature. I then sewed the front and back hair pieces on and added some stitches to show the hair. I sewed the hands on, then sewed the pajamas on. I added back stitching to the neck and chest.

The Camp Fire: For each of the three camp fire flames, I pinned the pattern piece on to two pieces of felt layered around a bit of the crinkle fabric, then cut through all 3 layers. Then I sewed around the outside of each. I sewed the two logs down to the page in an X, and sewed on the log ends with back stitched circles. I layered the flames together and sewed them to the logs along the bottom. The crinkle material gives the flames enough stability that the camp fire can stick up when the page is laid flat.

The Lantern: The body of the lantern is drawn to wrap around the LED light I bought. You’ll have to modify it if you use a different light. The light is a keychain, so I pulled off both metal rings that came on it. I started by sewing the bottom of the lantern glass to the lantern body. Then I laid the light in place on the page and sewed the lantern body down over it on the left and right sides (so that the bulb of the LED sticks up into the window.) Leave the bottom open, but sew a snap on to hold the light in. This way, you can get it out to change the battery. I sewed the top of the lantern on, then finished it by back stitching the sides of the glass.

The S’mores:

Marshmallows: I folded my square of felt into quarters, then stitched it into a tube as shown in the photo above.  I sewed the inner tube, sewed the outer tube, then around the bottom edge to sew the two tubes together. You could cut your felt in half first then sew one tube inside the other.

Graham Crackers: The crackers are stitched on both sides with a dashed line down the center, then little + stitches to make the “holes”. I then stitched the two sides together. I made two, but you could make 4 if you prefer.

Chocolate: The tops of the chocolate had 4 rectangles sewn on before I stitched the front and back together.

The Bowls: I simply sewed the folded bowl shapes and sewed them to the page along the curves.

The Sticks: The sticks each have a pipe cleaner insider them. I folded the extra length back at the top, then out to make the branch. I folded the extra bit of branch back to the main stick and twisted it the secure it. I then sewed the felt over the pipe cleaners. I added a loop of felt to the table to hold the sticks.

The Hot Cocoa: I started by sewing three mini pom poms to the hot cocoa. Make sure they are on there good and secure! That’s the first thing Jax tried to pull off! I sewed the top of the hot cocoa to the mug back. I stitched the handle together, then layered it between the front and back of the mug as I sewed them together. I added a snap to hold the mug on the table.

Jax is having a great time with this page. I think his favorite item is the hot cocoa and marshmallows. He loves the mini Jax, but can’t work the zipper yet. It will be good practice for him.

 

The Giveaway! I am super excited to announce that we’ve teamed up with AF&C to host a giveaway featuring many of the supplies needed to complete this page! One winner will receive the felt and crinkle material needed for the camping page, plus a mini LED light and a piece of clear vinyl for the lantern from my stash.

PLUS, two more winners will each receive a mini LED light.

Ready to enter this great giveaway?

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