Are you in the midst of preparing for a frightfully sweet Halloween season? This time of year presents so many opportunities for crafting -- everything from party invitations and spooky greetings to decor items and delightfully wicked favors. My Favorite Things has challenged the design team to up our Halloween game by creating a plethora of seasonal projects!
Here's what I have for you today -- a bunch of felt Halloween decor items! A dimensional pumpkin and drink coasters (click on any photo for a larger view):
First is a 3D pumpkin I made out of the Red Delicious (apple) Die-namics -- just change the color and you instantly change it from an apple to a pumpkin!
To create the pumpkin, I die cut two layers of Orange Fizz Felt at once. I just folded the piece of felt in half and ran it through my Big Shot, along with MFT's Metal Adapter Plate to ensure a good, clean cut. I did this five times. The dies cut through the felt like butter!
Next, I picked up each double layer of pumpkin and folded each pumpkin in half, held them together and machine stitched on the fold (you could also hand stitch, if you prefer):
Next, I glued each of the five double layers together with fabric glue, along the center seems:
Then I fan folded all the felt layers open and glued the two end half-pumpkin pieces together (so the top pumpkin half piece you see on top in the photo above and the folded half that is laying on my work surface were brought together and glued to hold the layers open). Then I just glued a stick into the center top of the pumpkin, die cut the Leaf Filled Flourish from Sour Apple Felt, wrapped it around and glued it to the stem.
If you have the Paper Bag Peek-a-Boos Die-namics shown at left (which I don't), you could easily make the pumpkin into a darling jack-o-lantern!
Now on to the coasters:
Each of the coasters were created with two layers of felt -- the top layers were die cut with the second largest Stitchable Dot Circle STAX and the bottom layers created with the largest plain Circle STAX 1. Remember, the Stitchable Dot Circles will only cut the circles -- you'll also need to cut the dot layer with the second largest plain Circle STAX 1. You can run them both through your die cutting machine at once (as seen on the left in the photo below):
Below is what your two layers of felt will look like, after die cutting. You can also see how I trimmed the Spider Web Cover-Up (after die cutting from Sweet Tooth Felt) into a circle to fit on top. The spider from Centerpieces Spooky Window was cut from Hot Fudge Felt:
Next, using fabric glue, adhere the layers together in a few spots:
If I had some fusible fabric interfacing on hand, I might have tried to back the felt with it before die cutting, to see if that might have been an alternate solution to using the fabric glue but I didn't have any on hand! I'm not sure it would have worked well with the intricate web (then again, it may have given the felt more stability), but it probably would work okay with larger surface items like the ghost and the circle coaster bases. Then you could just iron and heat fuse the felt pieces together. I'll have to try that and report back!
Next, all the layers were hand stitched together with chocolate embroidery thread, using the die cut dots as a guide:
The Spooky Scene tree and ghost coaster was completed in the same manner as above, using Steel Grey Felt as the top stitched layer, Sweet Tooth Felt for the ghost and Kraft Felt for the tree, stitched together with white embroidery thread.
Just remember when creating coasters, you want to try and keep the layers of felt as flat as possible, so your drink glass/mug won't wobble off it!
I hope you enjoyed and might try these fun projects! You can find a list of all the designers participatng in today's hop by checking the MFT Blog -- they all have some fabulous Halloween projects for you!
Other Supplies: sewing machine or needle + thread, white & chocolate embroidery thread, fabric glue, stick (for pumpkin)
WOWOWOWOWOWOW!! LOVING your Felt Projects for today!! =) Such AWESOME Designs!! THANKS for sharing and have a Fabulous Week!! =) P.S Sending Thoughts, HUGS & Prayers your way for your loss!!
Posted by: Larissa Heskett =) | September 30, 2014 at 01:37 AM
very creative us of that die for a 3-d pumpkin, cute coasters too!
Posted by: Conniecrafter | September 30, 2014 at 07:21 AM
Sharon, these are BEYOND Fabulous! I am in awe of your awesomeness! I totally want to make these now! GORGEOUS!
Posted by: Jodi Collins | September 30, 2014 at 09:51 AM
Lovely creations! Thank you for the tutorial and inspiration.
Posted by: Hamutal Shafrir | September 30, 2014 at 09:26 PM