DIY: sew a felt and fabric toadstool

A while ago I showed these toadstools with a promise to explain how I made them. So even though it’s been a while; here is the tutorial 🙂

Note: these aro not toys. I let my boys play with them gently, and the toadstools are ok with that, but they don’t respond well to being tossed around or getting wet or dirty.

What I used to make them:

– some spelt (wheat)
– some wool for filling
– some rice
– some bits of felt
– needle
– pencil
– siccors
– embroidery thread
– some bits of fabric
– a couple of pins (not pictured)

Cut the fabric into a circle, and the felt into a slightly smaller circle. Use cups, bowls, plates, cans etc. to draw around. I used a CD-rom for the fabric and a big roll of tape for the felt. Cut from the other colour of felt (for the stem) shapes similar to these:

Use blanket stitch to sew the two parts of the stem together along the side seams:

First one side:

Then the other:

Cut a circle from the felt that approximately matches the size of the bottom (the wider side) of the stem:

And use blanket stitch to attach it to the stem:

Now fill the stem with rice (I had a packet of rice that was passed the use-by date, but you could also use small pebbles or peas, whatever you happen to have laying around really):

Push it down with the back of a pencil:

And then add a bit of wool to keep everything in place (you could also use a bit of cotton wool or something else):

Now place the felt circle on top of the stem:

And sew it into place:

Using large stitches, make the spores on the bottom of the cap:

Pin the top (fabric) of the cap to the bottom (felt). Because the top is larger you need to gather the fabric a bit as you sew it to the felt:

Using blanket stitch again, sew along the edge of the cap but leave an opening to fill it through later:

Now fill the cap with spelt. I had it laying around and I like the texture and the sound of it, and also that it is very lightweight and doesn’t maken you mushroom fall over (but you could use something else if you prefer):

Close the gap and tadah! Done!

With it’s little friends:

I sometimes link up at these parties:

[foogallery id=”3993″]

[ felt toadstool tutorial ]

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