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DIY Nautical Felt Captain Banner

We all know who run’s the ship decorate accordingly. This simple but elegant felt bunting spells out CAPTAIN in naval flags. It’s super easy to put together especially with the help of the bunting templates below. This easy DIY felt banner looks great in any ocean themed kids room, nursery or really anywhere you’re looking for some classic wow factor.

You will need:

Dark Blue Felt * I used Ink

Red Felt * I used Big Apple

Yellow Felt * I used Hello Yellow

Black Felt * I used Black

White Felt * I used White

Twine, rope or string. 1.5 yards (this will give you a little extra just in case)

Scissors

Templates

Sewing Needle (you could use felt glue in a pinch)

*Matching thread

Lay out the pieces as shown and sew down.

C- White felt background, 2 Blue felt stripes, 1 Red felt stripe. Sew down with matching thread and running stitch.

A – White felt background, Blue felt flag base, cut shapes as shown and sew down with matching thread and running stitch. You will need to make two of these.

P- Blue felt background, 1 White rectangle. Stitch down.

T- White felt background Red and Blue felt stripes on either side. (We hung this one red side up. )

I- Yellow felt background, Black felt circle in center.

N – White felt background, Blue felt rectangles laid out as shown and stitched down with matching thread and a running stitch.

Assemble the felt garland:

To assemble cut small slits into either side of your completed felt flags. Cut twine into 6″ lengths and knot on each side as sewn. Threading this way allows the bunting to drape more freely yet lay completely flat against the wall.

Tie loops onto the ends of either side of the felt bunting and hang.

Happy Crafting!

~Andie

FELT CAPTAIN BUNTING TEMPLATES

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Tags: baby room, banner, blog, bunting, captain, DIY, diy decor, felt, felt bunting tutorial, felt crafts, felt decorations, felt toy, handmade, homemade, nautical, navy, nusery, ocean, pirate, sailor, tutorial

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Categories 4th of July / Summer, Craft, Felt Tutorials Patterns & Projects

D.I.Y Baby Kraken and Ship Toy

10 Jul

kf1

The Norse legend of the Kraken tells of enormous sea monsters attacking sea vessels of the coast of Norway and Greenland. The kraken once awoken from it’s sleep wraps it’s giant tentacles around anything it encounters, dragging entire ships and their crew to a watery grave in the deepest depths of the ocean before returning to it’s soulmn slumber. But man their babies sure are cute!

Since no one has ever seen an actual Kraken I decided this version had one giant eye, a beak, a squid like head and an octopus like body. These kraken babies are practicing fearsome ship attacks with their little shipwreck pull toy.

The finished felt kraken babies are 3″ tall and 3″ at the base, their toy is 1.25″ long and 1.5″ from “wheel” base to mast. So these little guys come together pretty quickly.

You will need:

For Felt Kraken Baby

4″ x 9″ Felt scrap per kraken I used Skating Pond and Cactus *

3.5″ Felt square per kraken bottom, I used Ink and Cilantro

1″ black square felt for eye *

Tint scrap for beak I used Banana Cream Pie, and Beet

Kraken Template (at the end of this post)

A small amount of stuffing

White embroidery thread

Felt Glue

For Shipwreck Pull Toy

2″ x 4″ Scrap brown felt I used Doe *

Tiny amount of white felt for sails.

4 – 3/4″ buttons

Red embroidery thread

Felt Glue

* Matching Thread

Release the Kraken!

kraken

Sew down eye piece with black thread and accent with white embroidery thread body pieces as shown. Sew or glue kraken beak into place. If you use felt glue wait for it to dry around 30 minutes before continuing.

kraken2 Sew along the kraken head as shown on the template using a tight running stitch. Make sure the body pieces don’t match up like mirrors you should have a higher leg on either side. Sew sides down to the legs, leave legs unsewn. Overcast titch the head edges together. Stuff felt kraken lightly. Cut sucker circles from scraps of felt that match your kraken and glue down as shown allow to dry 30 minutes before continuing.

kraken3 Overcast stitch the kraken bottom to the stuffed body piece, add more stuffing as you go to fluff up the neck area so the feltie stands up straight. Twist the arms a few times and they will curl up a little.

Tiny Shipwreck Pull Toy

Freehand some sail shapes as shown above. For reference the larger one is 3/4″ inch at its longest point and the smaller is 1/4″ at it’s longest point, so these are very small. The goal is to look tattered so there’s really no way to mess up your felt sails.

Fold the mast piece over and stitch sails down to one side with a running stitch, stop on the area shown on the template. Knot.

Open up bottom of mast and sew the flaps to the base of the ship. I sewed mine off center so it would lay a little more haphazardly. Set aside.

Sew felt ship sides together along the front using an overcast stitch.

Sew back to short side in back with the wider part of the template facing upward. And repeat on opposite sides (pictures above are backwards, sorry.)

Curl the flap that that is over the top of the boat backward and secure with a few stitches.

Place bottom with mast into the ships hull and stitch together with an overcast stitch.

Now that your felt boat is assembled cut some chunks out of it to make it look a little more distressed.

Glue button wheels in place with felt glue or hot glue.

Knot embroidery thread and sew through the ship, knot and cut to make pull string.

kf4

Print kraken template at full size

Get to kraken!

~Andie

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Tags: baby kraken, craft, DIY, felt, feltie, kraken, ocean, sewing, stuffie, toy

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Categories 4th of July / Summer, Felt Scrap Uses, Felt Toys, Felt Tutorials Patterns & Projects, For Kids

Felt Octopus Needlebook

6 Aug

Octopus are awesome. That’s just factual. You can Google it if you want I’ll wait…

This sea themed needle book features a sequined felt octopus holding all your project needs in his undersea lair.

Your fish pins will love the wave shaped book pages and your organized side will appreciate the small thread pockets on the sandy felt bottom and sides.

The pockets are perfectly sized for small thread scissors 4″ or less and can easily hold 4 or more colors of thread on each side.

One long tentacle wraps around to a faux pearl button closure keeping everything safely tucked away until project time.

You will need:

1- 9″ x 12″ sheet pinkish felt (I used Orchid)

1- 9″ x 12″ sheet pale blue felt (I used Ice)

1- 9″ x 12″ wave blue (I used Capri)

8″x 8″ scrap sand color (I used Banana Nut Muffin)

1 Pearl Button

Sequins :

Hot Pink Sequins and Baby Pink Sequins

Cut out pieces as directed on templates. For tips on cutting open centers see our post on how to cut felt. HERE

Pin octopus shape to 1 rectangle and mark where you would like to add sequins. This can be done with a sharp pencil.

Do not worry about marking the pieces that extend over we will get to those later.

Sew sequins where desired. I alternated the two pinks for a little more depth.

Stitch octopus shape down sewing across the any of the pieces that extend over.

Cut loose the bottom extended pieces along the bottom edge.

Add sequins and line up with sand base as shown and sew down.

For more on sewing sequins to felt check out our post HERE

Set pieces aside.

Sew side pockets to opposite sides of the back of the felt needle book.

Sew along the straight edges with a running stitch and matching thread.

Sew embellished sand base to the bottom of inside page using a running stitch and matching thread as shown above.

Continue lining up the extended octopus pieces moving them to the inside pieces.

DO NOT cut the main tentacle (marked on template).

Your finished sides should look something like this:

Fold inside piece in half to find the center.

Lay tall wave piece in the center of the long smaller wave piece and sew down using a running stitch and thick thread.

Set piece aside.

Attach tentacle to back side of the attached tentacle on front cover using an overcast stitch.

Sew both sides of felt needle book together using an overcast stitch and matching thread.

Place faux pearl button where marked on template.

BAM! You’ve got yourself one awesome octopus needle book! Go You!

Need some fish pins?

That was rhetorical – of course you do:

Here’s How:

Be a dear and stop by the shop

See our full line of Felt & craft supplies at American Felt & Craft.

Happy Crafting

~Andie

Tags: american felt and craft, craft, DIY, felt, instructions, needle book, ocean, octopus, pattern, tutorial

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Categories 4th of July / Summer, Craft, Felt Tutorials Patterns & Projects, Uncategorized

Felt Sea Urchin Pincushions and Sea Life Pins

13 Jul

If you’re going to sew your probably going to need a pin or two and a place to put all of them. These little felt sea urchins certainly fit the bill!

But one word of warning if you start making these you may forget all about sewing until you have covered most of the surfaces in your home with sea urchin pin cushions and hundreds nay thousands of fish, octopi, and seahorses.

Summer sewing never looked so cute!

You will need

1- 9 x 12 sheet felt for urchin in any color you dang well please

(I used, Orchid, Peaches and Cream, Key Lime Pie and Peacock)

Flower shaped buttons (Optional)

Marching thread / Stuffing

Ball Pins to create urchin dots

Long sewing pins- size matters here the longer the better

Craft Glue – I used a product called Amazing Goop

Shrink Film (and low grit sandpaper if needed)

Markers or colored pencils to color fish

Templates (at the end of post)

Pin Cushion

Cut the circles from felt sheet, these guys go together pretty quickly, here’s the rundown.

1. Sew around the outer edges with a basting (aka big ole sloppy running) stitch

2.Pull to create a bit of a cup and fill with stuffing.

3.Place smaller circle over the base and overcast stitch into place.

4. Turn over 5. Add flower buttons if desired.

Add ball pins to urchin in a star pattern.

Now for the big finish or fishish (sorry I couldn’t resist)

Sea Life Pins

Begin by prepping the shrink film, some shrink films are ready to go and need no prep otherwise you will need to prep it with a low grit sandpaper.

Trace sea templates onto shrink film and color with permanent markers.

Cut out shapes small scissors work best for this. Try to cut away as much of the clear edges as possible.

Cut out the shapes and heat to shrink as directed. Shrink film shrinks differently depending on brand so your results may vary.

Glue fish onto pins with craft glue, I used a product called Amazing Goop – because how can you not use a product called amazing goop!

I found the easiest way to do this is to put a pea sized dollop of goop onto a piece of paper and dip the end of the pin in and then lay onto the backside of the shape.

Let dry as directed and enjoy!