I made a Japanese Schoolgirl Doll

 About a week ago I said I was going to try to make a doll, for the first time in my life. Well, I finished it, and this is what it looks like! I think it came out okay. It could be a bit more 3D, but since I made up the pattern myself I basically just drew around a drawing to get the pattern. Here's the drawing: 

 It came out quite a lot like the drawing I made, although the hair is bigger in the drawing (I didn't account for how the head would change shape once I stuffed it). In case you are wondering what that furry thing behind is: it's my new cowhide chair.

It was fun to follow my instincts and see what would happen and I felt more free than when following a pattern, so I was happy making it. I've drawn out a lot more ideas for dolls to make and the next on my list is a frenchman carrying a baguette and walking a sausage dog. The idea is that these dolls (and some felt food) will eventually form the basis of my etsy pdf pattern business.

African Violet

I finally finished making the set of houseplants from Jeanette Lim's book 'Little Big Felt Universe'. Of the three plants I was the least excited about making the african violet but now that it's done I like the look of the three together. Here's another view:

Now I've started making a doll, for the first time in my life I think. I'll let you know how it turns out!

I made a felt breakfast!

 I didn't use a pattern, I made up my own. Toast, eggs, and bacon. They were fun and quick to make.

I made felt doughnuts!

Did I mention that I'm into making things out of felt lately? Over the past two days in my free time I've been working on this pair of doughnuts: a strawberry doughnut and a raspberry doughnut.

 I didn't use a pattern: I tried drawing around a few circles in my house and found that a pringles lid is almost the right size (a couple of millimetres bigger all the way around was perfect for me. It occured to me that if I designed a lot of my own felt food I could sell the patterns on Etsy. These two are my first attempt.

I used beads for the sprinkles and they took forever to sew on! This was my first time making raspberries from felt and I found it fascinating to see how they came together.

I'd also like to make a chocolate doughnut. If you have any idea which fruit would look good on a chocolate doughnut, I'd love to hear it!

Felt Cakes

I made some felt cakes a while ago whilst living in Finland, but never blogged about them. Since I'm having a bit of a crush on felt food in general recently, I decided that the time had come to share them with you.

 

To make these cakes (my first venture into felt food), I bought some handy chinese 'DIY Cake Kits'. I bought them from a shop called Blippo, which has a website but no longer stocks the felt cakes. In fact I am having a hard time finding the kits available anywhere. Since I'm moving to Asia soon I hope to have better luck there.

 The kits took 2-3 hours each to make and came with all the patterns, felt, threads, etc. If anyone knows where I can get some more, I'd love to know about it!

Next on my felt food agenda
This sandwich, the pattern for which is available from Jeanette Lim's etsy shop:

Its looks simple enough to make without a pattern though. I'd also like to make fruits and pizza!

I made a felt bamboo plant!

 10 days ago I wrote excitedly about a felt cactus I had made, following a pattern in Janette Lim's book 'Big Little Felt Universe'. I have now made something new: a felt bamboo plant!

 

It was hard to make and took a while but I really like it. It looks more sculptural than anything I've made from felt before and It looks great with the cactus!

I actually think it improves the overall aesthetic of the cactus, too. Two felt plants down, one to go: the African Violet. Although I don't actually have any violet felt, so it may turn out to be an African Magenta.

I made a felt cactus!

 Here it is:

I used a pattern from this book, Big Little Felt Universe by Jeanette Lim. The pattern was easy to follow and the felt cactus is so fun: who needs a felt cactus? Making useless things appeals to me, as well as making toys. I sort of have this idea that one day when I have kids I'll make all kinds of toys for them and with them, and we won't have a TV so they'll grow up to be really creative people.

There's actually patterns for three felt plants in the book (pictured below). Look out for the other two, which are now on my 'to make' list and may well crop up on this blog in the next couple of weeks!

Making finger puppets with kids

In my classroom we've been busy designing and making our own finger puppets from felt. Here are just a few of the wonderful results!

 

We had a great time! The puppets in the pictures, from top left:
1. A Princess
2. A Cat
3. A Shark
4. A Fish
Top tips for making finger puppets with kids:
1. Give them a pattern to cut out the base from. You should be able to see the shape I used for the base if you look at the base shape of each puppet. It's the same for all of them, a bit like an 'n' shape.
2. Make the pattern WAY bigger than their finger: they may not be able to glue it very accurately, so there should be a lot of space of the inside
3. Let them do as much as possible by themselves: the designing, the cutting, the gluing: the results might not look amazing to you, but if they can do it by themselves they will be so proud!