Felt dolls with clothes and closet tutorial for quiet books! FREE PATTERN DOWNLOAD!

Felt Dolls With Clothes And Closet Tutorial

Hi!! Today I'm writing on how to make felt dolls with clothes and a closet for your quiet book/activity book/busy book/whatever you want to call it. It really is very simple. Print out the free printout below. Just print the picture, and you want to make sure it takes up the FULL PAGE when it prints horizontally. :)

Cut out the person and the clothes to use as patterns and cut out as many people and clothes and hair out of felt that you want. There are a few ways to use the hair. The short ones can be boy hair, or bangs for the girls. If you want to get really creative, think of your own hairstyles for the dolls! Send me pics of what you come up with, I LOVE to see your creativity! To glue the girls' hair on, glue the hair to the back of the doll's head, and then the bangs on top if you want bangs. The guys' hair just goes on top. Easy enough!

Next up is the clothes. Cut out as many as you want of each style. Then, decorate them however you want. I did a stripe on the red shirt with some extra felt, I put lace on the two dresses. All I did was cut a piece of lace slightly bigger than the width of the doll. Then I glued it to the front of the doll, folded the edges to the back, and glued the edges onto the back of the dress. I glued on buttons to some shirts. Again, get creative with it, make it fun. Show me what you come up with! :)

I wanted to be sure the clothes would stick to the dolls while they were playing instead of constantly falling off. So I took 1" thick velcro, and cut it in half lengthwise to be 1/2" thick. (or if you can find 1/2" velcro just buy that). I cut each part into little squares, and glued two on each doll, one for the shirt and one for the pants. I glued the sticky side of the velcro onto the dolls. Then I glued the soft part of the velcro onto the clothes so that they will stick to the dolls. 

And now the closet!! So, all I did with the closet was glue a piece of lace right below the doors, and another right above the doors. And then I took a little piece of ribbon and glued it on each side of the doors. I also glued on buttons to use as door handles. Voila!! A closet! Then, I took some more velcro, and cut it in half again to be 1/2" thick. I cut it to be the same length as the door opening, and glued it inside so that the clothes will stick to it. Then I sewed the closet to a piece of fabric, roughly 1/2" larger on each side than a half sheet of paper. If you want to glue or sew it to felt instead, just cut the piece of felt in half. Sew around the edges, so that you can use the bottom part of the closet as a pocket for extra storage for shoes or hats or whatnot. 

Watch this video of how I made mine!
Youtube Tutorial

Enjoy!!
Comment below, and share your pictures of fun ways you individualized your book page!

Don't forget to subscribe to stay updated on new posts, and get SEWhappy!!
emily

DIY Bedtime / Bathtime Quiet Book/Busy Book with FREE PATTERN!

Print the free pattern/template above, so that it takes up the entire page when you print landscape. Cut in half, and each half is a separate pattern.

BEDTIME  PATTERN (LEFT IMAGE)
Cut out the bed to use as a pattern. You can use the same cut-out for all three beds, or cut out each one. Also, cut out the pillows (or just one to use three times).

Cut 3 beds out of any color felt you choose. Remember, they do not all have to be the same. Get creative! Have fun with it!

Cut out 3 pillows in white felt.

Use the bed pattern again, to cut out blankets. You can make the blankets slightly bigger than the bed by cutting 1/2 inch away from the edge of the pattern. Again, the blankets do not need to match. Feel free to decorate them with some ribbon or multiple fabrics for a quilt appearance.

Glue or sew the beds to your 1/2 sheet of felt to use as the book page. Then glue or sew on the pillows. Lastly, glue or sew the bottom side of the blanket just below the bottom side of the bed, so that all other sides are loose in order to lay a doll in the bed.


BATH TIME PATTERN (RIGHT IMAGE)
Cut out the tub. Use this to cut out a tub in the color of your choice in felt.

Then, go back to the pattern and cut along the water edge. Use this to cut out the blue water. It should be almost as big as the tub piece.

Next, cut along the middle curved line so that you can use it as a guide to cut a slit in the tub.

To assemble, open the slit of the tub, and pull the water through the slit so that it is inside of the tub. Glue the top of the tub, and the bottom of the water to the book page. Then, finish gluing the water down to the top of the tub, so that the tub top is connected to the page, the water bottom is connected to the page, and the water top is connected to the tub. The bottom of the tub should still be free. Glue the edges of the bottom of the tub (except for the curved middle edge (the open slit) to the book, on top of the water, so that the dolls can go into the tub, and be on top of the water.

Cut out the patterns for the rubber ducky, sailboat, soap dispenser, and towel and use them to cut out these objects in any color of your choice. Feel free to add more bath toys!


HAPPY CRAFTING!!

I love comments! Let me know what you loved, what you need clarification on, etc. And don't forget to subscribe :)

emily

School Bus Busy Book/Quiet Book with FREE print-out pattern!

Directions:
Print the image so that it fills the entire sheet of paper, printed horizontally. When you fold the paper exactly in half, the two pictures should mirror each other.

IMAGE 1 (LEFT SIDE)
The outside of the bus (left image) should be cut out as follows: cut the outline of the whole bus. Cut out the wheels. Cut out the windows. Cut out the stop sign. Cut the door on the top and bottom lines, and then down the center. Fold the doors back so that it is open.

Use the bus with all parts cut out as your pattern for the yellow school bus. Do the same with the bus door as you did with the paper. It should be cut on the top and bottom of the door, and then a cut down the center so that the doors can open up. Use a marker, fabric paint, or sewing machine to draw the lines of the door.

OPTIONAL: Instead of cutting the door into the yellow bus, you could cut out the whole outline of the door, and do the door in blue to look like a glass door and then glue or sew it down on each side so the door still opens. Draw the lines onto the window with a marker, paint, or thread.

Use the wheel cut outs as your pattern for the bus wheels in grey or black. Use the stop sign to cut a red stop sign. Here, you can write "STOP" on the sign with a marker, or fabric paint. You could also use a sewing machine to write it onto the sign if you want. Attach it to the bus at the side with the "P" so that the stop side can turn out like a real bus.

OPTIONAL: From here, you can either leave the windows out, or you can do them in blue fabric to match the optional door.



IMAGE 2 (RIGHT SIDE)
First, cut out the chairs. Since they are in the exact position for the people to appear through the windows, use the paper as a pattern to draw the chairs on with paint, a marker, or thread. Line up the half sheet of paper exactly with a half sheet of  yellow felt and then trace along the inside of the cut outs.

Next, cut out the outline of the school bus. Use it as the pattern to cut out a second yellow school bus.


Glue or sew the second yellow school bus (image 2) onto the middle of the felt book page. Glue or sew the tires in place. Next, glue or sew the first yellow school bus (image 1) at the top of the school bus to the top of the other school bus, so that the whole bus flips up to see the inside.

HAPPY CRAFTING!

I love comments! Let me know what you loved, what you need more clarification on, etc! Don't forget to subscribe. :)

emily

This was my bridesmaids dress for my mother's wedding this past August. My sisters and I all bought the same dress and my mom told us to "customize it however we want so that we'll wear it again". After verifying that I could truly do whatever I wanted to the dress, I completely tore it apart. I shortened the skirt first off to make it a more flattering just above the knee-length. Then I cut off the top and took out the side seams so that I could iron out all of the folds and ruching. I wanted it to lay flat so that it could be the lining to this pretty lace. (Which I cut off of an old maternity shirt that I have no need for anymore). To accomplish this, I put my now flat front section onto my dress form and cut it to the shape I needed for the front of the dress. Then I used that piece as a pattern to cut the same shape from the lace. I pinned my good sides together and sewed the arms and neck seams. Then I turned it inside out and sewed the bottom of the lining piece to the skirt. I had lined up the lace in a way that when I cut it, the bottom hem of the shirt was now a nice little hem to lay over the seam between the top and the skirt. This helped to hide my seam. I took two lace appliques of the same color and fashioned them into straps that I hand sewed onto the front of the dress. The most fun was definitely the back. I cut it down to about halfway down my back. I removed the zipper and moved it down to where the new "top" of the back would be. I then sewed the zipper back into the bodice of the dress and cut it off at the skirt. I did not sew the zipper into the skirt at all because the material was very stretchy and the skirt obviously flares out so no zipper was needed there. Then I took an old doily (yes, you read that right) that I had found at an antique store and pinned it in the center of the back of the dress. I always pin things out on my dress form so that I can see how they will actually look on me when it is all said and done. Once I had everything lined up exactly how I wanted I hand sewed the doily to the straps of the dress and to the back of the dress creating a beautiful lace back. This dress went from a fun fifties frock to much more modern little lace number. 

Tell me what you think! Has anyone used doilies for other creative additions to their clothing?