Woman in Real Life

This month's #12monthsofdiy material is felt! So many possibilities, most of them a whole lot of fun. Read on to the bottom of the post to see what felt crafts the other bloggers in the group came up with. You'll be amazed.

The kids and I had so much fun making these felt donuts a few years ago that I decided to make three-dimensional felt fruit. I was going to put it in a bowl on the table (for those moments when the fresh fruit is all eaten up), but then another idea came to me. I love mobiles, so why not turn my felt fruit into a mobile (and in the easiest possible way, of course).



Task one was to decide what kind of fruit I wanted to make so I could pick out the correct colours of felt. Our sponsor this month is The Kunin Group Eco-fiPlus™ Premiumfelt, an 8-ounce felt that is made in the U.S.A. of 100% polyester fiber, made from recycled post-consumer plastic bottles. Pretty cool right? And felt is seriously inexpensive as craft materials go, so it's great for diy and craft projects for the entire family, kids included. My daughter is constantly gluing and sewing felt together to make small toys.

What You Need for Your Felt Fruit Mobile:

red felt
yellow felt
green felt & brown felt (you can use up scraps for these colours)
polyester fill
found branch
twine/baker's twine
various colours of thread
needle
sewing machine (or sew by hand)


I started with a felt apple. Apples are really the perfect fruit, aren't they? So pretty and nutritious. I don't believe in re-inventing the wheel, so I found some good felt fruit patterns online. You will find the felt apple pattern and tutorial here on While Wearing Heels.

I learned a few things while making this apple. I don't have a lot of sewing experience (and, believe me, I'm not just being modest), but, as long as perfection isn't your goal, this is an easy project. My key advice is to make sure the edges are lined up as you sew each side of the apple together. In fact, it's best to pin them together. I thought I had lined the first two sides up well, but when I turned my apple right side out, I found a few small areas that weren't sewn together.


If you are going for perfection, change your thread to match your fruit. I am far too lazy to change the sewing machine thread from white (mostly because of the bobbin) but you can see some white threads on my pieces.


By the time I got to this banana pattern, I learned to carefully pin my work together, and it was essentially smooth sailing after that.


I decided to keep a bit more of the top open when sewing the sides together. Otherwise it will be a struggle to turn it right side out after sewing. After sewing the sides together and turning the banana right side out, use the flat end of a pencil to gently push the polyester fill into the bottom of the banana.


I also stitched the bottom brown dot on the banana because we didn't have fabric glue (as was suggested in the tutorial). And I chose not to embroider down the sides of banana. I think it looks fine without.


This strawberry tutorial is really easy and I like the resulting shape of the strawberry. I used a drinking glass to trace the initial circle, which then gets cut in half to make two strawberries.


I cut the green top of the strawberry freehand just by looking at a real strawberry.


I wanted another cheery yellow fruit, so I went with this lemon pattern.


One of our beautiful Japanese maple trees died recently. As my husband was tossing the branches, I grabbed one that I thought had a pretty shape for my felt fruit mobile. You could also get more elaborate and make a mobile using wooden dowels, but I like the rustic, natural look of the twigs with the not-so-natural felt fruit. My husband said the combo looks like Andy Warhol crossed with Andy Goldsworthy. I don't think my mobile is gallery-worthy, but that is nice nevertheless.


I hung my branch with twine and a push pin. I then tied baker's twine around each piece of fruit and secured each piece to the branch with a simple knot.


I hung my felt fruit mobile in a window between the kitchen and the family room.


It adds a touch of whimsy to the rooms. I'm finding that these little diy projects make our home more personal and inviting.


We can always add more fruit to the mobile (or change out the fruit) as time goes on too. I helped my daughter to make her own felt banana after she saw my project and wanted to join in.


See how the strawberries have little "seeds" sewn on? Cute right?

If you would like to make your own diy twig mobile with felt fruit, here's a handy pinnable image to act as a reminder:



Have you made any projects with felt? What were they?


Now it's time to see the rest of the DIY felt project ideas from my Canadian blogging friends!


From the top left, they are:

No Sew Felt Sewing Needle Storage Case from Time With Thea

DIY Felt Succulents from Brooklyn Berry Designs

DIY Felt Feather Garland from Vin'yet Etc.

Felt Chocolate Chip Cookies from Life is a Party

DIY Felt Basket from Love Create Celebrate

DIY Felt Fruit Mobile from Woman in Real Life

DIY Felt Notebook Covers from Life Over Easy

Felt Flamingo Bag from PMQ for Two

DIY Felt Coasters from Fresh Crush

DIY Nautical Throw Pillows with Felt Fabric from Sustain My Craft Habit

Floral Felt Tic-Tac-Toe Game from The DIY Mommy

Felt Wall Organizer from Love Create Celebrate


*Thank you to The Kunin Group for sponsoring this month's posts.