I finished it!

This was such a fun baby project to make. I am so excited that I have another friend who is expecting so I will be able to make another one soon! I know you will love creating one too.

Materials:

• Embroidery thread in whatever colors you choose.
• Large eye needle.
• Three of four colors of felt. Ideally a wool or wool blend is best, but my craft budget only allowed for acrylic and it worked just fine for this project. I chose chocolate brown and beige for the background circles, sapphire blue for the letters, and plain white for the backing.
• Good sewing scissors or at least ones that will cut felt smoothly.
• Fabric marker.
• Circle Templates. My outside circle is 4.5 inches in diameter, and my smaller one was 4 inches. I actually traced the circles from my toddler’s stacking ring toy!
• Two kinds of ribbon. I used a wider gingham for the “hanging strip,” and a more narrow grosgrain for the loops.
• Buttons.

Steps:

• Trace and cut out larger felt circles according to the size you choose and the number of letters in the name.

• Trace and cut smaller circles to sew onto the larger.

• Type name in font and size. Print and use letters as templates to cut out felt letters. I used the font and size recommended here. made-by-rae is an amazing site. Check out her felt letter tutorial. It is fantastic.

• Once all your letters are cut, it is time to start stitching! I started by stitching the letters onto the smaller circles. I used a catch stitch, which is an easy way to attach the letters and looks tidy.

• I used simple running stitch for sewing the smaller circle to the larger one.
• Backstitch is what I used to sew the larger circle to the white felt I attached to the back. The reason for this is that it makes a more or less continuous line.

• Important: Leave a little space at the top between these two layers to sew in the ribbon loop hangers.
  You can just continue the back stitch as you sew it in.
  
• Now you are ready to run your ribbon strip through the loops and hang your letters.
• I did one at a time, so that I could sew each into place with a button. I was careful to place the button close to the bottom edge of the gingham ribbon. This seemed to make it more secure and keep the letters from twisting on the garland. It is important to space your letters evenly. The gingham came in handy here, I just counted over checks. (FYI: Mine had 22 spaces between letters).

• After you place and attach each letter, measure the ribbon you have left on each end and even it up. You will want to leave enough to create a loop on both sides. I folded the ribbon over and tucked the edge under. I used the same color button to attach and embellish and hung it with two cup hooks.

Yay! Welcome, Baby!

If you have any questions about specifics regarding this project, don’t hesitate to email me at pjesu(at)rocketmail(dot)com.

This project was linked to Eco Kids Tuesday at Organic Aspirations and Like Mama, Like Daughter.