Jumping into a pile of crunchy fall leaves is one of the time-honored traditions of fall. Bring the fall fun with you with these adorable crunchy crinkle leaves. This step by step pattern and tutorial will take you through the creation of the cutest trio of crunchy felt leaves you’ve ever had the pleasure of cavorting with.
Two of each of the leaf shapes, 6 eye shapes and 6 cheek shapes.
Cut the crinkle material into a rectangle slightly larger than your leaf.
Stitch the crinkle to one side of each leaf-shaped as marked in grey on the template. A running stitch or a back stitch works well for this project for more on stitches see THIS POST.
Trim crinkle. Set aside.
Sew face to mirroring side of lead shape using matching thread and a running stitch. Stitch smile with black thread.
Sew face side to vein side using an overcast stitch.
Cray-Flower – DIY Felt Mayflower Coloring StationEven the adults will be fighting for a place at the kids table when you add this fun rolling color station to your Thanksgiving festivities. This ship is a fun Thanksgiving craft they will be thrilled to play with all year round.
Passing crayons back and forth might prove to be more fun than the coloring.
Cardboard scrap to fit boat bottom – you can also add some to the ships sides if you’d like to make them more sturdy but the doubled up felt will work fine.
*Matching thread
This Felt Thanksgiving Mayflower ship also makes one heck of a pirate boat.
Cut the wave pattern from blue felt and the remaining pieces from brown felt – save some scraps to help attach the trolley later.
Lets begin with the wave wheels since they will need to dry.
Paint wave design onto wheel as shown on templates.
Repeat with all wheels. Paint dowels if desired and set aside to dry.
You don’t need to assemble the wheels yet.
Sew the two boat backs (marked on template) together using an overcast stitch and brown thread. Do not add cardboard to this piece since you will need it to curve. Set aside.
Sew shelf pieces together along the sides with an overcast stitch. Set aside.
Add waves with matching thread to opposite sides of boat as shown. The curve of the wave should point in the direction of the rounded boat front.
Sew second plain boat side to each side. You can place a piece of cardboard cut slightly smaller than the side template into the sides if desired but the boat will hold up just fine without it.
Match sides up with waves facing outward and plain sides inward. Stitch rounded part of fronts together with an overcast stitch, stop when you get to the flat bottom.
Cut a boat bottom slightly smaller than the template from cardboard.
Sew two boat bottom pieces together with an overcast stitch and fill with cardboard for added stability.
Sew ship bottom closed.
Bend sides around boat bottom and overcast stitch to base with brown thread.
Continue until both sides are sewn down to bottom.
Your felt Mayflower boat should look like this. (But less blurry unless you need glasses)
Bend back piece around the open space in the back of the boat and overcast stitch from the top to the boat base.
You’re almost done!
Fit shelf into felt Mayflower (or rather Crayflower) back. Attach with a few stitches along each side or felt glue into place.
Now that we have finished our felt ship, let’s make it roll!
Use scrap felt to stitch a 2″ wide rectangle slightly shorter than each of your axles to boat bottom .
Sew down along the long sides. The rectangle should lay flat.
Slip axle through and fit wheels onto both ends. You can further secure these with glue if desired but they should fit on pretty tightly.
The wheels will spin inside their felt shaft making your Mayflower mobile.
LOOK OUT PLYMOUTHÂ ROCK!
Cut some of the paper into 5 x 7  pieces to fit into the top shelf.
Fill with crayons and inhale that sweet new crayon smell.
Add full size printer paper to the ship to create ships larger sail.
Next week is Thanksgiving week here in the United States and that means the official send off of fall and welcome to winter. But before we move on the jubilant colors of winter and the Christmas season grab a warm mug of something wonderful and lets stop and take a fond look back at the colors of Fall.
“The Fall Guy” – Blueprint, Tobacco, Rock Moss, Tobacco, Courtyard, Grey Flannel, Geige, Red Rock
Who can resist a man in flannel…not me! Here are some of our favorite rugged tough guy shades.
Leaf Peeping – Autumn Leaves, Lemongrass, Sushi, Monarch Butterfly, Auburn, Beet, and Saddle Brown Felt Sheets
If you’ve never experienced the phenomenon known as leaf peeping it’s worth a spot on your bucket list. Truly one of the most beautiful sights in all of nature.
Native Corn – Pastry, Hay Stack, Wild Blueberry, Black, Sunshine and Penny Felt Sheets
It’s easy to get lost in the reds, auburns, shades of yellow and cream but perhaps the most surprising are the deep blues and blacks. Â If only all veggies were this colorful.
Now that we’ve sent fall off properly lets gear up for some serious winter crafting AFC will be doing  3 matching felt ornament collections starting with “Hipster Week” series on Monday. So join us all next week so you can tell all your friends you liked it “before it was cool”Â
1 skein of embroidery thread per pumpkin, you will need a lot of this! Match the color or use a contrasting color for a more vibrant look.
Stuffing
Long embroidery needle
Pipe Cleaner – Optional
Begin by cutting one 1 pumpkin circle and base from pumpkin colored felt and stem from choosen felt color.
1. Using a full strand of cross stitch thread create a running stitch around the outside of the circle.
2. Pull gently to form a cup shape from your felt.
3. Fill with stuffing and knot.
4. Using cross stitch thread doubled over sew through the stuffed shape  and pull to divide into sections.
5. Continue dividing until you are happy with the look don’t worry too much about symmetry since pumpkins are often naturally uneven.
6. Turn pumpkin over and glue base onto back.
Making the Stem
A.K.A
Place a seam of glue just inside the rectangle
Roll up adding another seam of glue at the end let dry for 15 minutes.
Decide on a length and cut into an angle on one side so it sits on the pumpkin correctly.
Position stem onto pumpkin and glue into place to cover center stitches.
Cut a small scrap of felt stem colored felt and glue to cover the rolled stem end if desired.
Advanced Stem- ography:
Don’t worry it’s not that advanced!
Bent Stem –
Cut stem to desired length  – cut pipe cleaner to the same size then fold over so it is shorter and slip it into the hollow center of your rolled stem.
Attach to your pumpkin with felt glue allow to dry before bending stem.
Vary the stem by cutting some at an angle and others blunt and flat.
Create a more dimensional stem by gluing smaller angled stem pieces to the main stem.
Small vine pieces can be made from very thin cuts of rolled felt stem pulled apart slightly before being attached to the pumpkin.
Crinkle Star Fish
Palace Guards Rattles
Print at full size
