Happy Reformation week to all of you!  

I thought I'd share a fun crafty felt book that I made for James for his baptismal birthday.  I wanted to make him something special that he could use to help him participate in church.  I looked all over for something similar, but couldn't find one, so I made my own.

I don't have a good gauge of how long this would take since I did it super slowly over about 9 months when I felt like it.  The longest part was hand-embroidering the letters and cutting out all the shapes from felt.  But here's what it ended up looking like: 
I have already been asked to make several for other people, but I just don't have the time it would take to do it, so I decided to include my patterns so you can make one of your own!  Trust me, it takes very little skill, but lots of patience.  

I used regular craft felt- the kind that costs about ten cents a sheet, some grommets to make the pages reinforced, and some embroidery thread for the words.  I did use a special gold stretchy fabric (think superhero outfit or gymnast attire) for certain things so they would pop out, but it would be far easier to use a gold-colored felt.  I just liked the texture better.  

Here's the general directions for the book:

1.  Cut out all your felt shapes.  I decided against using other embellishments because my son eats everything, and the last thing we need during church is him choking on a button.
2.  Lay out your designs on each page.  I used an 8 1/2" x 11" sheet of white felt and folded it in half, then put a separate page on each side so the stitching on the inside of each page would be touching when the book was finished.
3.  Hot glue the pieces together with a small amount of glue- just enough to hold them together and tack them to the page so they don't fall off.  Be careful not to get it around the edges you'll be sewing- sewing needles and sticky glue don't go well together.  Learned that one the hard way after breaking 2 needles.
4.  Sew and/0r hand-embroider all the shapes onto the pages.  Make sure to leave enough room for the words.
5.  Hand-embroider lettering on each page.
6.  Sew around the perimeter of each page.
7.  Cut small holes in each page and secure with grommets to reinforce the pages.
8.  String all the pages through a ribbon, and there you have it!   Your very own felt book for church.  

I love it because it's something my little guy can use for years to come, even after he can talk.  If you do this project, send me pictures!  I'd love to see how you change it to make it your own!
lsb_pattern.pdf
File Size: 239 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File

P.S.  Just promise me you won't count the number of fingers on the praying  hands.  :)



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