Felt gift for kids #2

These headbands were inspired by Talane's sweet baby Lily. She has some like these and I thought they were so cute. So I made some of my own for my 2 nieces (and one on the way!). The flower looks so misshapen because I sewed it with no template, but I kind of like the asymmetry. I made a template for the bird and the wing to make it a little easier. The LSU tiger stripes had to be hot glued on because it looked really messy when i was trying to sew them on. I also glued together the two felt layers (I was getting lazy). When sewing onto the elastic band, make sure you don't go through both layers of the felt so the stitches will not show on the front side.

I got the elastic at Jo-Ann's for $0.80 a yard, but they only had black, white, or cream. If you know where I can get some colored elastic, I would love you forever.

Felt gift for kids #1

There are quite a few babies in my family right now and I wanted to make something that was original and just for the twins birthday. So, this is what came out, felt bracelets. If you want a quick, cute and inexpensive gift, this is great.

For the girls, I drew the flower outline on paper and cut it out as a template. Then I used the template to cut two felt flowers, sewed them together by just following the edge of the flower (that was kind of tedious and difficult). Then I did the same thing with another layer of the flower, the leaf, and band. I arranged the flowers how i liked them, cut a tiny hole in the middle, put the ring on the back of button through, and then sewed everything together nice and tight (because it will probably be roughed up a little). Then I arranged the leaf and sewed it on. I had to make sure that I wasn't going through both layers of the felt with the needle so thread wouldn't show on the front. With the band, I couldn't measure the kids wrist until I got to the party, so I had to guess how long it should be. When we got to the party and they opened the gift, I then measured and hammered snaps in the right spot.

I found that sewing a flower straight on to two layers of felt with no template is wayyyyy easier, but it doesn't come out as neat. But I kind of like the asymmetrical look (as you'll see in my next post).

The only thing I don't like about these is that when the kids opened them, they didn't jump up and down with excitement (like I did when I saw the end product of these). But, that's 2 year-olds for you. I hope they like them and want to wear them at least sometime. Oh well, I love them anyway.