Making Felt Food

[momaste]

I'm making felt food for DS for Christmas, so he can "cook" while I make dinner. Right now, I'm planning on a picnic set - sandwiches, cookies, and fruit in a basket. I'm also thinking of doing an egg and pancakes, since they seem fairly straightforward.

I spent some time looking around the net for pictures of felt food and instructions, and while I found quite a few pictures, I found little in the way of instruction. I'm thinking I'll sew felt pieces together, not do felting. Any suggestions of where I should look?

Thanks!

[starry_mama]

:

[mom2noah]

It's hard to find instructions on the web. I've made lots but I just make it up as I go along. Usually when I make a piece I will first draw and cut it out on a piece of card stock or something similar. That way I will have a pattern and future pieces I make will be all the same size. For flat things like pancakes, toast, tomatoes, etc. I like to use a thin layer of quilt batting in between just to give it a bit more body. For other things like an egg yolk, hamburger etc. I use poly fil. Buying felt off the bolt is better quality than buying little craft squares. Wool is the best but it is $$. Check out fabricdepot.com for cheap acrylic prices. If I need to do detailing then I use embroidery floss. For instance, I just made 10 hamburgers for my DS's Spongebob party (krabby patties), so I used floss to make the tomato and lettuce more detailed. I also used the floss and made french knots to make sesame seeds on the bun and to make seeds on pickles.

If you do a search on this forum you will find a few other threads on felt food. Good luck!

[Grayson's Mom]

I would like instructions too... Or a book recommendation (in English) on how to make felt food!!

[momaste]

I picked up some acrylic cheap felt at the fabric store yesterday to practice with, and it's SO EASY!! I had no pattern but drew and cut one out from card stock, pinned it to the felt, and cut with that. I took apart an old throw pillow for stuffing. They need very little stuffing!

I made a piece of bread, lettuce, and tomato in about 2 1/2 hours, and I have VERY little sewing experience. Once I get the hang of the stitches it will go even faster - I was looking at flickr.com pictures to get an idea of stitches to use! I'm so glad I got practice felt, as I would have been anxious about practicing on expensive wool!! I'm giving the practice set to the boys I babysit, who have no hand made toys at all (all plastic stuff.)

The plan right now is a picnic set - sandwich, cookies, strawberries, and carrots. I found a kid's picnic basket with stainless steel cups, plates, and cloth napkins on clearance yesterday, and it has room inside for the play food to fit right in, so this will be DS's Christmas present.

I may also make a breakfast set - eggs, pancakes, and a bunch of grapes (one solid bunch with embroidered individual grapes) if time permits.

[KariM]

There are a lot of books with instructions out there, but they seem to be printed in Chinese and Japanese!


I just looked to my DD's play food and real foods around our house for inspiration. I drafted patterns and then stitched them together, stuffing when something needed more girth.

[spmamma]

Softies

I just ordered a book on Amazon called "Softies: Simple Instructions for 25 Soft Pals" by Therese Laskey. I saw it in a bookstore and when I flipped through it I noticed that some of the patterns were for food (others were for animals and other things like trees). Everything is super-cute and they even show you how to add little faces, although you could certainly omit that part for the food.

Obviously, I haven't tried any of the patterns yet since my book hasn't arrived, but you may want to check it out. Amazon had a great price!

[momaste]

These are surprisingly easy! I knocked out the sandwich, carrot, orange, and strawberries in one night, and pancakes and egg the next evening. I made a template on cardstock, pinned it to the felt and cut around them to get the shapes, then hand stitched. It worked really well!


http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1239/...90635a.jpg?v=0

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1386/...164485.jpg?v=0

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1025/...a40ea5.jpg?v=0

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1105/...1dc8f0.jpg?v=0

I'm ordering wool felt and will be making a set for DS for Christmas, and at this rate, he'll have a whole full fridge of play food!

[E.V. Lowi]

Originally Posted by momaste

These are surprisingly easy! I knocked out the sandwich, carrot, orange, and strawberries in one night, and pancakes and egg the next evening. I made a template on cardstock, pinned it to the felt and cut around them to get the shapes, then hand stitched. It worked really well!


http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1239/...90635a.jpg?v=0

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1386/...164485.jpg?v=0

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1025/...a40ea5.jpg?v=0

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1105/...1dc8f0.jpg?v=0

I'm ordering wool felt and will be making a set for DS for Christmas, and at this rate, he'll have a whole full fridge of play food!

Thay came out great! I can't wait to see them made out of the "good" stuff.

[tinasquirrel]

Wow, those look awesome! Hmmm...a Christmas present for my DS may be in the offing...he loves to cook. I can do it, I can do it!

[beansavi]

You need to write a book.

Originally Posted by momaste

I picked up some acrylic cheap felt at the fabric store yesterday to practice with, and it's SO EASY!! I had no pattern but drew and cut one out from card stock, pinned it to the felt, and cut with that. I took apart an old throw pillow for stuffing. They need very little stuffing!

I made a piece of bread, lettuce, and tomato in about 2 1/2 hours, and I have VERY little sewing experience. Once I get the hang of the stitches it will go even faster - I was looking at flickr.com pictures to get an idea of stitches to use! I'm so glad I got practice felt, as I would have been anxious about practicing on expensive wool!! I'm giving the practice set to the boys I babysit, who have no hand made toys at all (all plastic stuff.)

The plan right now is a picnic set - sandwich, cookies, strawberries, and carrots. I found a kid's picnic basket with stainless steel cups, plates, and cloth napkins on clearance yesterday, and it has room inside for the play food to fit right in, so this will be DS's Christmas present.

I may also make a breakfast set - eggs, pancakes, and a bunch of grapes (one solid bunch with embroidered individual grapes) if time permits.

[jerri]

Wow Momaste!! Those are so great looking! Very inspiring!

[sunanthem]

I do needle felted wool food, and I have a request for a vegitarian sandwich. I guess a pita? What should I make to put it in it?

[starry_mama]

I bought some felt yesterday at Michael's (just regular old acrylic for now), so I will be studying those pictures later today when I start making some!

[kenscoff]

I would also recommend needle felting food instead of sewing it with flat felt. You can create pieces exactly as you want them with little effort. Look for a LYS that sells wool felt by the ounce. In Seattle, Weaving Works sells roving for spinners and felters, allowing you to pull off as much as you need.

As for instructions, there are loads of Japanese craft books with great photos - no need to read Japanese. Also in Seattle the Asian food store Uwajimaya has a large bookstore that stocks loads of craft books. You can search http://us.yesasia.com with the term "fueruto", which means "felt". There are lots of titles that come up.

This thread was very helpful in finding Japanese translations for search terms: http://craftophile.blogspot.com/2007...e-edition.html

Good luck!

[amberthesugarcat]

Momaste, your food looks great! I esp. love your carrot.

I was inspired to make my own felt food for my niece and nephew and ds's after seeing some posted here, on Diaper Sewing Divas, and Craftster. It is as easy as everyone says! I basically copied the food at www.lillybeanmarket.com . I made a grand slam breakfast tonight with cheap acrylic felt ($5/yard, 72 inches wide!) and my sewing machine, and used embroidery thread to embellish. Everything is just zigzagged together on the edges (I stuff with stuffing when it is on my machine, just before I sew it closed) except the strawberry which is turned and stitched closed. I have never used felt or sewn food until this week, so anyone can do it!!!

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y24...mBreakfast.jpg

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y24...tclose-ups.jpg

[kenscoff]

There is a great photo tutorial on Flickr called from Fiber to Finger Puppet:http://www.flickr.com/photos/moxie_/...7594479785085/. This artist has made tons and tons and tons of quirky needle felted items.

[E.V. Lowi]

Originally Posted by amberthesugarcat

Momaste, your food looks great! I esp. love your carrot.

I was inspired to make my own felt food for my niece and nephew and ds's after seeing some posted here, on Diaper Sewing Divas, and Craftster. It is as easy as everyone says! I basically copied the food at www.lillybeanmarket.com . I made a grand slam breakfast tonight with cheap acrylic felt ($5/yard, 72 inches wide!) and my sewing machine, and used embroidery thread to embellish. Everything is just zigzagged together on the edges (I stuff with stuffing when it is on my machine, just before I sew it closed) except the strawberry which is turned and stitched closed. I have never used felt or sewn food until this week, so anyone can do it!!!

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y24...mBreakfast.jpg

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y24...tclose-ups.jpg

Yum, they all look wonderful, but I love the Pop Tart!! Well done!!

[amberthesugarcat]

Originally Posted by E.V. Lowi

Yum, they all look wonderful, but I love the Pop Tart!! Well done!!

Thanks!:

My dh was impressed with the food I made (he thinks I am crazy that I like to sew diapers), but he mentioned that my pop tart needed some sprinkles. I did not want to do beads with the kids, and french knots are so time-consuming. So I just did a messy running stitch; easy and cute! I really love how it turned out, and it is my favorite too! (Even thought my poor ds never has even had a pop tart...)

I can't wait to sew up a dinner plate tonight. I think green beans, ravioli, and a chicken drumstick is on the menu!

[sothisislove]

new to this...

I just stumbled upon this thread and my hands are literally twitchy with an urge to go buy some felt and make some of those adorable toys for my son....cousins...friends' kids!

But I have a few questions...I'm wondering what are your reasons for being anti-plastic? How do you wash these felt toys....wouldn't they get soaked with drool? (My ds is just 5 mo.) Why is wool felt better than the stuff you can buy at Wal-mart...acrylic?

Based on what I've read briefly here, it sounds like you have a great philosophy. Is there a link you can direct me to? I'd like to be educated! Thanks so much!