Felt Thomas & Island of Sodor

As you already know, from the last couple posts, my 2 year old son is in love with Thomas.  I've been wanted to make a felt board since I started this blog and finally the idea hit me!  I did the best I could getting Thomas to look as close to how he really looks, but there are a couple areas that I don't like (don't look at his face...the nose lines look weird). Overall, though, I think he turned out great!

To tell the truth, I actually made him first.  I thought I'd put magnets on him and stick him on the fridge but then it occurred to me that a felt board would be more fun.  So I quickly searched my house for a large frame (took the picture out of it, haha) and hot glued some white felt around the backing.  I had a felt board in literally 10 minutes (and that included finding the frame and waiting for the hot glue gun to warm up! )

Here is my simple felt board...nothing fancy!

If you want to make your own Thomas from a gazillion little pieces like these:

Then it's your lucky day!  I traced each part and scanned it to share with you!  I used craft glue to glue everything together.  Once Thomas was assembled I glued the whole thing onto a back piece of black felt to make it more stable (I don't want to be fixing this all the time...you know how boys are!)

Finally, a few simple shapes later and I give you.... The Island of Sodor!

That white thing is a windmill, duh!  I made a lighthouse too but it was still drying. 

I hope you enjoyed!  I will probably have to make Percy and James too, since they are Thomas's friends!

      
  























     

I Heart Mom Applique Pattern

Valentine's Shirt for {BOYS}!

Ok, for us moms of boys we are limited in what we can make our boys wear for Valentine's Day.  When I saw this idea on The Fickle Pickle.  She didn't have a tutorial or pattern and I HAD to make these for my boys so I did the best I could to copy the idea.  I scanned my pattern in case you want to copy too!  All you will need is a blank t-shirt or onesie (non white works better), scraps of cream or white, pink, and black fabric, and HeatnBond.  You could probably use felt but I wanted these to last a little longer.

To get the pattern, right click on the image and save it to your computer then print it on 8.5x11 paper.  Disregard the red note on the paper the crescent will actually work without reversing it.  So you won't have to reverse any shapes.

Here's a glimpse of how I made it:

After ironing the black shapes onto the rectangular piece I used a water soluable marker to mark out the lines that would complete each letter.  Then I used my machine to sew around the edges of each black piece (notice the green dot, this is where I started & stopped).  Once I had gone around the shape and was back to the starting spot (green dot) I continued to sew the rest of the letter along the markings I made with the water soluable pen.  I went over each line 3 times. 

When it came time to applique the whole thing onto the shirt I started with the heart.  I found the center of my shirt by folding it in half and ironing.  This leaves a line down the center.  I layed out all the pieces to make sure I like the placement. Then started with the heart, ironing it down then stiching around the outside.  Next came the 'wings' (again check the placement before attaching).  Last is the rectagular piece that says mom.

When everything was attached I applied some Fray Check around the edges so it wouldn't fray very bad. 

Ta da!  You have one adorable shirt for your little man (or men)!

He's thinking 'Hmm I could eat this book'

I really got lucky with this picture!  He NEVER smiles for the camera.

Enjoy!

Erica