Original patterns for felt: overview, features and recommendations

2024 Author: Sierra Becker | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-26 03:35

There are many different materials that can be used for crafts, including for making toys. Fabrics, leather, its substitutes, suede, foamiran. The choice is simply huge. However, each material needs a special approach, not always products turn out the first time exactly the way we would like to see them. An exception, perhaps, may be a fashionable material called "felt". What is it?

Description

The word "felt" has French roots and literally translates as … felt! Many people know it as the material from which classic felt boots are made, and felt insoles can still be seen on shop windows. This material is obtained by wet felting (hence the name of the shoe) of fine fluff or wool. Traditional headdresses, tents, national shoes were made from such material.

Over time, the material began to be madewith impurities of synthetic threads. Modern felt for creativity is 100% synthetic, since it does not require heat-insulating properties. But such a material has a wide range of colors, so you can easily translate into reality any idea. Sheets are produced with a thickness of 1 to 5 mm, their size varies from A5 to 1-10 meters.

Felt toys

One of the most popular ways to use felt is to make toys. Due to the special structure, the parts retain their shape and do not require additional processing of the edges. That is why needlewomen love to use it so much if you need to sew a toy in a short time.

Types of toys

Three types of toys can be made from felt:

1. Volumetric. Seams can be located both inside and outside the product. Usually such toys are made in medium or large sizes. This is due to the fact that the material itself is quite thick, small parts are almost impossible to twist and stuff, and the joints look rough.
2. Flatly printed. The most popular type of toys. In this case, the seams are always located on the outside, and the product looks like flat pads. Despite this, the toys are very beautiful and unusual, and patterns for them do not require any design skills.
3. Seamless.

For example, in the photo above - a felt pig. The pattern consists of several light pink parts glued onto a base that is more saturated in color. However, suchelementary toy looks very attractive and can be a very nice gift.

Sewing Patterns

It is very easy to create patterns for felt by yourself.

1. Choosing a pattern. It can be a ready-made drawing or a freehand sketch. The main thing is to decide what the toy should be. The drawing must be flat.
2. Outer contour. First, the outlines of the largest parts are transferred to tracing paper. It can be completely contour, or large parts of the body - head, torso, tail. Each part will need to be cut out in 2 pieces. The main thing here is to remember that the place of sewing in details, for example, a head with a torso, implies the presence of an allowance for seams in the neck area. But those details that are sewn on top, for example, a tail or a tummy, are cut out without allowances.
3. Small details. When the base is cut out, you need to move on to the rest of the parts. As a rule, this is the inner part of the ear, tummy, paws, tail color, muzzles - everything that differs in color from the main details. Thus, the pattern for felt is made according to the principle of double-sided appliqué. At this point, the pattern is ready.
4. Sew decoration on the main parts, then fold them in pairs and sew around the perimeter with an overlay stitch. After that, do not stuff the parts tightly, fold them into a single composition and sew.

Doll

According to the presented felt pattern template, you can sew a Japanese doll in a national kimono.

To do this, cut out the following details:

• Hair front and back - 1 piece eachbrown or black.
• Face - 1 child, hands - 2 children, foot - 2 children. - beige or white.
• Kimono: body-2 children, sleeves-4 children. one color.
• Belt - 1 pc., hair ornament - 1 pc. The color should match the color of the kimono.
• Slippers - 2 pieces each top and bottom. Cut out from black or dark brown felt.

Assembly in the following order:

1. Sew the face to the front of the hair, then sew the blank to the back of the head.
2. Sew a belt to the front of the kimono in the center of the piece.
3. Sew kimono sleeves, fasten to upper body. They should be parallel to the long sides of the main part, overlapping slightly.
4. Sew brushes on the belt near the hands.
5. Sew the front and back of the body, stuff.
6. Sew the details of the feet in pairs, fill. Collect slippers, fix them on your feet.
7. Stuff the head, sew in the body, attach the legs. Decorate hair with a flower, embroider eyes and mouth.

This felt pattern is ideal for beginners. In this case, with the general ease of work, two types of seam are worked out - straight and overlay.

Animals

Animals are made according to the same principle as the doll. The process of creating do-it-yourself toys from felt with the patterns presented in this article will become quite simple and exciting even for children. This will allow them to quickly and in a playful way to master basic sewing skills, learn spatial thinking and developimagination.

Christmas decorations

One of the practical applications of this type of applied art is the manufacture of Christmas decorations. When creating felt patterns for Christmas toys, winter motifs and Christmas elements are always taken as the basis.

Sometimes it is enough to decorate an existing toy with a Christmas cap to make it a New Year's interior decoration. The main thing is to always remember three rules when making such products: the toy should be small (about half the palm of your hand), light (not stuffed tightly, only with synthetic filler) and have a loop for which it will be attached to the Christmas tree.

Educational toys

Felt is also actively used for educational toys. Such products withstand a sufficiently large load and almost do not deform during operation. Making educational toys out of felt according to patterns is quite simple. But even if there are no patterns, you can make them yourself. For example, to create a finger puppet theater, as in the photo, the pattern is made according to the principle of a flat-stuffed figure, but at the same time it is not stuffed, but a hole for the finger is left at the bottom.

Felt books

The most fashionable, but at the same time quite laborious use of felt is the production of educational books for kids. They are aimed at developing fine motor skills, learning numbers, shapes, colors and much more. As such, there are practically no patterns of a felt book. So here you can let your imagination run wild. But first you need to set certain tasks.

Fine motor skills:

• Take the mouse to the cheese. The labyrinth is cut out on the top layer of felt, sewn to the page along the contour of each move, stepping back 3-5 mm from the edge. The slider is a circle, the diameter of which is equal to the stroke width + 4 mm, 2 circles are sewn on it in the center, the diameter is slightly less than the stroke width, on top is a mouse.
• Big wash. Fasten the clothes figurines to the thread with decorative clothespins.
• Harvest. The main part of the sheet is a bed with slots (pockets). Basket at the bottom. Sew carrots, onions and beets with tops, arrange in pockets. Objective: Harvest and then return to the garden.

Getting Self Care Skills:

• Buttons. Sew stems to the page, and place buttons on top. Put flowers with cutouts for buttons in a separate pocket. They should be easy to put on the workpiece, the button will play the role of the core.
• Shoelaces. Sew a white semicircle from the bottom (sneaker nose) and 2 rectangles with holes on the sides onto an elongated oval blank. Lace up. It is best to use eyelets with a hole diameter of 6-7 mm for the hole.
• Hooks.

Hooks are sewn onto a tree, in a basket - fruits with eyelets. It is necessary to hang the fruits, and then collect them again.

• Button. Washing machine with opening door. Inside - a pocket for linen. Closes with a button. Pairs well with the Big Wash exercise.
• Velcro. From geometric shapes (square, triangle, circle) we build a house and the sun. The barbed side must be on the pieces.
• Lightning. Sew on an imitation of a jacket with a detachable lock. Inside you can sew an interesting appliqué, for example, with double sequins.

Other Development:

• Counting and numbers. Put in the wagons - pockets as many items as the number indicated on it.
• Shapes. Attach shapes to their outlines (sorter type).
• Colors. Plant butterflies on flowers of the same color.

Helpful tips

1. If it is necessary that the part keeps its shape well, then it must be glued with doubler. This is true for removable parts.
2. The pages of the book consist of two sheets of felt sewn together. They can also be strengthened with dublerin, or inserted between sheets of cardboard. However, in this case, contact of the book with water must be avoided.
3. Some parts can be glued, but it is better to use glue-gel or "Second" instead of glue cobwebs.
4. The thread for working with felt should be of medium thickness, and the needle should be thin, in which case large holes will not remain in the material, and the edges will not tear.
5. Thin felt is suitable for making appliqués and toys. For bags and books, it is better to choose a thick one.
6. When making toys for small children, it is better to refuse glue, and sew all the details on a sewing machine.
7. Patterns for felt are best transferred to material withusing a special marker, since chalk and soap do not leave clear lines.
8. Felt scraps should not be thrown away, as they can be useful for cutting out small details of the next toy.
9. If the fabric is wrinkled, the crease can be easily steamed out with an iron about two centimeters above the crease.

Creating a pattern for felt, as well as the craft itself, is a fascinating process in which both adults and children can participate. And small toys can become memorable souvenirs made with love.