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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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!
Happy Crafting! ~Andie
Need more felty ocean fun? And come on who doesn’t?