I made a little infographic that pretty much explains how this works.
3/8 in. Sheathing Plywood
Cardboard
Parchment paper
11/64 drill bit
I use envelopes to store my pressed flowers.
I have been using my press with mostly black knight scabiosa and coreopsis from my garden.
I am loving me some baby crafts. Recently I sewed up two bucket hats for little Juniper.
Waves and Wild have this free pattern available for download. I really like how this pattern is reversible. This is also perfect for scraps or up-cycling some garments since there isn't a big fabric demand. The black and white fabric was an old button up that developed a hole, and the blue denim came from an old pair of pants.
I first cut out the 6-12 month pattern, then trimmed it down for the 3-6 month size. I found the instructions to be really straight forward.
Below are a couple of in process shots and finished products.
Cut out all my pattern pieces for the 3-6 mo.
Cutting notches around the curves so when they are turned right side out it lays nicely.
All the cut out notches make for some pretty fun fabric confetti.
Once all your pieces are sewn you need to turn the whole project right side out through a little 2 inch turning hole.
I thought about adding a couple of straps to tie around her chin, but decided to forgo it.
We recently welcomed home our little gal Juniper. I've been VERY slowly working through decorating her space. The slow pace has allowed me to be selective with what I bring into the room.
From the beginning, I've had a few DIY's in mind. This simple mobile was taking up space in my brain for quite some time. I believe the handmade quality of the project (a simple stitch along with raw edges of fabric) works well for a beginning sewing project. It can also be completely customized for your own spaces by changing out yarn colors, fabric choices, images, etc. I went with a southwest feel with mine and stuck with colors in my palate: deep red, blue, and cream.
Dowel Rod
Wooden Beads
Leather Cord
Embroidery floss
Fabric
Needle
Yarn
Foil
Hot Glue Gun
We picked up a couple of skeins of yarn in Chama, New Mexico while we were on our way to a campsite last summer. I love the texture and color of the hand spun and dyed yarn.
I enjoy using a non-stretch medium weight denim in a lot of my sewing projects. It tends to hold it's structure well, and I like the way it looks when embroidered. I used a natural denim for this project. My two main sewn focal points are a coyote howling and a snake.
Below are the steps along with a few pictures of an example of the process.
1. On the back side of the fabric sketch your shapes.
2. Cut out the shape.
3. Pin the shape on top of your background fabric.
4. Cut a loose boarder out of the second fabric.
Use a running stitch to go around the boarder of the shape
Once I was half way through stitching the image, I added a filler in-between the layers to give the shape a bit more weight and dimension. I stuffed scrap fabric in my coyote, but for the snake, I used a little foil (from our kitchen) since it was easier to mold and fit into the small crannies of it's shape.
The size of the puff ball is based upon the distance from the inside of the cardboard circle to the outside. The greater the distance, the longer the pieces of yarn will be and bigger the ball.
Cut out two cardboard patterns
Start wrapping yarn around both cardboard pieces. The more yarn you wrap, the fluffier the puff ball will be.
Cut along the outside edge and hold the yarn in place sandwiched between your fingers.
Run a piece of yarn in-between the two pieces of cardboard and tie a tight knot.
Remove the puff ball from the cardboard.
Done!
I made two puff balls out of blue and cream colored yarn.
Now that you got all your focal point dangles ready, it comes down to assembling the structure. The mobile is a pretty simple structure. You can easily add additional dowels for additional focal points as well.
For an added detail I did a chain stitch on the leather cord. You can get a breakdown of tying a chain stitch here.
The main components for construction are the dowel pieces, leather, and beads.
Loosen the knot in the beginning of the chain stitched leather cord and slip it on the dowel.
Hot glue the wooden bead on the end of the dowel. Insert the leather cord into the puff ball until the end sticks out tie a knot to secure it from falling through. You could also use a spot of hot glue here, but I didn't.
Add a very small bit of hot glue to every spot the leather is tied on the dowel to help prevent the leather from slipping.
There you have it! A simple, completely custom little mobile.
