Fall Felt Series: Hooded Dragon Cape

My almost 3-year-old son has come out of his shell lately. Usually shy and withdrawn around most people, Connor has all the sudden become the little life of the party in an unusual way: he loves to pretend to be different animals. Most often, a dragon. I'm not quite sure where he got the idea, but it's pretty darn cute seeing him flap his little arms while pretending to fly around the house and breathe fire like a dragon!

When trying to decide what costume Connor should wear this Halloween, it took me about 2 seconds to decide that Connor needed a dragon costume. There's one obstacle though: Connor doesn't like wearing costumes. At all. Maybe it's the feeling of wearing multiple layers of clothing, but whatever the case, I knew I had to get creative.

I thought about my options for awhile, and finally landed on the idea of making Connor a hooded dragon cape out of felt.

He loves it! 

This felt dragon cape is lightweight, and since I made a cape rather than a full costume it doesn't bother him at all. Plus, it has a hood in case the weather is chilly, and velcro tabs at the neck keep the dragon wings on on in case he wants to put the hood down. But the best part? The cape has slits in the lining so my little dragon can flap his wings. Because what fun is it being a dragon if you can't fly around breathing fire??

I'm sure I'm not the only one with a toddler who is picky about his costumes! If you'd like to make a felt hooded dragon cape, here's what you need:

SUPPLIES: 1 yard each of 2 different colors of green felt (I used Rainbow Recycled Classic Felt in Apple Green and Kelly Green from Michael Levine, Inc.), scraps of felt to use for spikes and tail (I used Rainbow Recycled Classic Felt in Orange from Michael Levine, Inc.), shirt with a hood to use as a template, freezer paper or wrapping paper to make the pattern, chalk or disappearing ink marker, rotary cutter and mat, small piece of velcro, sewing machine and basic sewing supplies.

Making Your Pattern:

ONE: fold your template shirt in half and lay it on the edge of your paper.
TWO: trace around the neck, top of the arm, and bottom of the shirt only, adding 1/2 inch for seam allowance.
THREE: where the sleeve ends, draw a dragon hand. Make sure the hand is a little bigger than your child's hand since we will be making a slit in the costume for him/her to fit their hand into later.
FOUR: draw the rest of the dragon wing shape, ending just below the bottom of the shirt line that you drew. I also altered the sleeve to make it more pointed and "dragon-like."

FIVE: cut out your pattern piece.

SIX: fold one of your sheets of green felt in half and lay your pattern on the fold. Trace around your pattern and cut out your dragon wings. Repeat with your other shade of green felt. You should have 2 felt dragon wings.

SEVEN: lay your template shirt on a piece of pattern and trace around the hood, adding 1/2 inch for seam allowance.
EIGHT: add a 4 inch long by 2 inch wide rectangle tab to the front of the hood (see picture above.) This will be used to secure the hood around your child's neck with velcro later.
NINE: cut out 2 hood pieces from each color of green felt (total of 4.)

Design and Reverse Applique:

We are going to utilize reverse applique to make the dragon wing design. If you've never done reverse applique before, you'll love it! It's a great way to easily sew intricate patterns by layering fabric and cutting away the top layer of fabric to reveal the one underneath.

ONE: place your 2 dragon wings together and match up the raw edges. Pin all around and sew edges closed.
TWO: Use your chalk or disappearing ink marker to draw your dragon wing design. If you have no idea what design to draw, a quick Google of "dragon wings" should give you some good ideas!
THREE: sew on top of the design that you drew.
FOUR: if you have small scissors, that would be ideal for this next step. If not, no worries, I used regular scissors. Begin to cut away the top layer only inside of the design you just stitched. try to cut as close to the stitching as possible without cutting through the stitches.

After you've cut away the top layer, it will reveal your felt below the design making it pop!

Adding the Spikes and Hood:

ONE: cut several pairs of triangles from your scrap felt to add to the tail and hood (I cut a total of 8 triangles.) Sandwich the end of your dragon tail between two triangles and sew around the edges to attach.
TWO: for the remaining triangles, sew 2 of the 3 sides.
THREE: sandwich the unsewn edges of the triangles between the two hood pieces that will be your main outside hood pieces (for me, this was my lighter green felt.)
FOUR: pin and sew the curved portion of your hood only from top edge to the bottom edge (see picture above.)
FIVE: turn your hood inside out revealing your triangles. For your other 2 hood pieces, simply pin and sew the curved portion from top to bottom as you did above.

SIX: insert your inner hood inside of you main hood and match up the raw edges. Pin around the outer edges and tabs as shown above and sew to attach the 2 hoods, leaving the bottom unsewn.
SEVEN: cut two pieces of velcro and sew the hook portion (the scratchy part) to the inside tab on your hood. Sew the loop portion (the soft part) to the outside of your other tab.
EIGHT: line up the raw edge of your outer hood with the neckline of your wings, right sides together, and pin and sew (notice how you're only sewing the outer hood for now.)
NINE: flip your hood down so that your inner hood hides the raw edges of the neckline you just sewed. Use your fingers to fold under the raw edges of your inner hood, and sew your inner hood along the neckline.

Make Slits for Hands:

For the final step, you'll want to make slits in the inner layer of felt for your child to slip his/her hand into so they're able to flap the wings! Simply mark a line in the inner layer of felt and use scissors to cut a line in the inner layer only.

Now admire your ferocious dragon cape!

Now, of course, is the true test. Trying it on your little dragon to see if he approves.

Not only does it look cool, but your little dragon can also put his hands into the hands of the cape and flap his wings! That was definitely my little guy's favorite part. When he wasn't stuffing his face with the Skittles that I was using to bribe him for pictures that is ;)

And if your little dragon doesn't feel like wearing the hood, no problem. The velcro tab at the neck will make sure his wings don't fall off while he's trick-or-treating or doing other dragon-y things.

The Rainbow recycled felt from Michael Levine, Inc. was perfect for this project! It's soft, lightweight, and comes in so many pretty colors. You also get a ton of felt with your order - 72" - so I have plenty left over for more projects (and maybe another hooded dragon cape for sister!)

See you back here tomorrow for another felt project during our Fall Felt Series!

Check out our Link Party Page to see where we link up each week!

Fall Felt Series: Felt Moccasin Slippers (+ free pattern)

Welcome to the first day of our annual Fall Felt Series! We had such a fun time last year sharing our felt projects that we wanted to do it again this year and, thanks to the wonderful folks of Michael Levine and www.LowPriceFabric.com for providing the felt for the series, we get to show off some their beautiful felt in the process.

So why hold a felt series anyway? Well, felt has many different uses, and it's not just for making stuffed animals and play food. Felt comes in a ton of beautiful colors, it's inexpensive, and it doesn't fray - and that means less edges to finish, which we are all for.

For our first felt project of the series, I wanted to make a pair of felt moccasin slippers. Felt lends itself perfectly to a project like this because it holds its structure well, and it's nice and warm for little (or big!) feet. I'll walk you through a quick tutorial on making your own pattern for these slippers, or if you happen to have a child who wears a size 11, today's your lucky day because I'm offering a free downloadable pattern  found HERE!

SUPPLIES: orange felt (I used Michael Levine's Rainbow Recycled Classic felt in Orange found HERE), suede cording, small wooden beads, disappearing ink marker, needle and thread, seam ripper, sewing machine and basic sewing supplies.

Drafting the pattern for these moccasins was pretty simple. First, I traced around my daughter's foot on freezer paper and added 1/2 inch seam allowance and cut the pattern out. Then, I placed the pattern onto a piece of felt, and drew around the slipper in the pattern you see above. The distance from the toe of my pattern to the top of the felt was 1 inch, then around the top sides are 1 1/2 inches. The side "flaps" you see extend 3 3/4 inches from the pattern on each side, and the heel of the pattern to the edge of the felt is 1/2 inch. When in doubt, cut your pieces larger than you think you'll need because you can always trim them down later. Cut two slippers out of felt.

If you're using my pattern in a child's size 11, print it out and cut your two pattern pieces.

Assembly:

ONE: fold your slipper in half like so, and pin up the back and around the curved portion (see picture above.)
TWO: sew the pinned areas only.
THREE: now we are going to box the heels of the slippers. With the shoe still inside out, fold the heel so that the seam is down the middle. Pin.
FOUR: sew a line about 1/2 inch from the edge and snip the excess.
FIVE: turn your slipper right side out, and you should have a nice boxed heel!
SIX: Fold the flaps down.

We are now going to make a small fold on the toe portion of each slipper.

ONE: fold the toe of each slipper up 1 inch so the tip lines up with the center seam.
TWO: use a needle and thread to make an X at the top, securing the toe. I doubled my thread and sewed over the X 3-4 times each to make sure it was secure.

Adding the Cording and Beads:

ONE: use your disappearing ink marker to make marks where you will be threading your suede. I started 1/2 inch from the edge and marked every inch and 1/2 inch.
TWO: use your seam ripper to make small slits through both layers of felt where you marked with your disappearing ink marker (the only exception is that you'll only need to make a slit in the outer layer on the dot closest to the front of your shoe since you'll be tying a bow with your string.)
THREE: cut 2 pieces of suede cording (mine were each 29 inches) and lace them through the slits you made in your felt.
FOUR: finally, tie a bow in your cording and string on some wood beads. Knot on the ends to secure.

Now you have some adorable (and warm!) felt slippers!

If you're worried about your child slipping, you could always use some puff paint to make lines on the bottom of the slippers to add grip. I think I'm going to have to make myself a pair. Maybe in suede?

We'll be back tomorrow and throughout the week with more great felt projects!

Check out our Link Party Page to see where we link up each week!

8 DIY Harvest Centerpieces & An Announcement!

If any of you are like me (which I'm sure the majority of you share this with me, otherwise you wouldn't be reading our blog), I have to have the PERFECT tablescape when hosting any kind of meal... and seeing as to how Thanksgiving is right around the corner, we all better get to work!  I've rounded up some of my absolute favorite DIY centerpieces for harvest time.

I am absolutely head over heels for this idea.  How simple and easy is it?  Plus, I can't pass up a good stick. 

Love this idea found via The Kitchn to wrap old jars in twine

This will take some power tools, but is still so easy!  Simple candle holders from branches via Celebrations

Artichoke Tealight Holders via Bridal Cookie

This multidimensional pumpkin centerpiece via Craftberry Bush leaves me breathless!

Hollow out a pumpkin, stick a mum in it, and add a glass vase full of sticks. Easy and gorgeous!  via 17 Apart

Stuff a pumpkin full of succulents.  How can you not love anything that has succulents involved?? via Bakerette

This is by far my favorite.  Repurposed sweaters into vase sleeves?  To die for.  Add an antler and some autumn branches and this equals the most perfect centerpiece ever.  via Thrifty & Chic

And now onto our announcment! 

Next week kicks off our Fall Felt Series!  For those of you that have been with us since the beginning, we hosted one of these last year, as well.  It was a huge success.  I mean, who doesn't love felt, right? 

This year, we are so excited to announce that we have a sponsor!  Michael Levine Inc & Low Price Fabrics have such an amazing selection on their website.  I absolutely love wool felt and sometimes it's so difficult to find in a brick and mortar fabric store.  Low Price Fabrics has such a great selection of 100% wool felt.  Stop by next week to see what we've made from their amazing products.

Also, Low Price Fabrics is offering our readers a 10% discount on your entire online order!  Check our sidebar for the code!

CRAFT: Reverse Applique Felt Crowns (With Free Pattern)

For the last project of our Fall Felt Series, I wanted to share an easy accessory for Halloween costumes. Felt is one of my favorite materials to work with because it doesn't fray and it comes in so many fun colors.These felt crowns may not qualify as full-blown costumes, but they're perfect for princess or king costumes (and for dress up at any time of the year!) Since I made my daughter her crown, she's insisted on wearing it with her princess dresses every time she puts them on. I call that a win!

In this tutorial, I'll show you how to make an easy felt crown for boys and girls using reverse applique. The sewing is minimal too, so they're great for beginner sewers.

SUPPLIES: 2 squares of felt, a disappearing ink marker, sewing machine and basic sewing supplies, scissors, and my free downloadable patterns for boy and girls HERE. **Not pictured: you will also need 1/2 inch elastic, not sure how I forgot to take a picture of that!

ONE: print out your crown pattern HERE and cut out.
TWO: use your disappearing ink marker to trace around your crown and details (like the gems on the girl's crown or the triangles on the boy's crown) on one of your colors of felt.
THREE: place the piece of felt with your design drawn on it on top of your other piece of felt and sew around your traced lines, making sure to leave the sides unsewn for your elastic.
FOUR: cut out your crown.
FIVE: now you'll want to cut out your details from your top felt only. This is called reverse applique. By cutting out the design on your top felt, you'll be revealing the second color of felt below. I cut out my design by pinching my yellow felt and carefully snipping around the inside of my gems close to the stitches. Applique scissors work best for this if you have them.
SIX: this is what your crown will look like once you have your gems cut out.
SEVEN: measure your child's head, add 1/2 inch and subtract 6 inches. Cut this amount from your elastic and insert the ends into the opening on each side. Sew the sides closed.
EIGHT: You're done!

Your kids will love their new crowns!

Check out our link party page to see where we link up each week!