Or I'm just crazy. I'll go with the first :) Remember, I gave away my first version in the white elephant exchange?
Well, my mom and I were shopping at Costco and came across the book for $9.99. Personally I thought that was awesome because the one at Target is almost that much, if not that much, for a book a fraction of this size. Plus, I couldn't bring myself to getting it at Target when I thought I could find it at a thrift store or at garage sales. So far, nothing has turned up so I was stoked to find this large book at Costco. And it motivated me to honker down and make another one. This time, for keeps.
The imperfections make it mine, remember? I kinda like that phrase.
I forgot the cocoon the first go around. But got it this time!
I made a few changes like adding 1 piece of felt to 1 piece of print fabric instead of sewing two pieces of felt together (all to get sturdiness, you know?). This way turned out just great! And it's kind of fun having a mix of fabrics for most of the foods.
The fabrics I used came from 5'' x 5'' square kits (Quilter's Cupboard in Atascadero, CA provided me with all of these fun fabrics...aka Mom-in-law). So, this is what determined the SIZE of the fruits and other foods. The caterpillar body is also made from one fabric square. So when you first cut out the felt pieces, you want to make sure it will fit inside that 5'' x 5'' square before sewing the two together (right sides together and then flip inside out after sewing). Always cut the felt fruit a little bigger so that you can snip it away to fill the square more completely because once you flip them right sides out, it gets smaller than you think. FILL THE SQUARE the best you can so you have a good-size piece of food!
The exceptions (those items with two pieces of felt and no print fabric) came with the cocoon and butterfly parts but you just have to eyeball it and make sure its around the same size. Mine were a little bigger, especially the butterfly because I wanted a bigger effect for the end of the book. Other exceptions include the cheese, and sausage link, the pie, and the cake. But you can do whatever your heart's desire is!
Tip for cutting out foods with either 2 pieces of felt or 1 piece of felt and 1 fabric square: Cut out 1 side of the fruit (which will ALWAYS be felt) and then sew directly onto either the fabric square or felt sheet. THEN you can cut around it. If you were to cut out both sides of the fruit before sewing, you'll find that fabric MOVES and you won't get the best results in the end. Instead you'll probably be swearing curse words and throwing away cutouts. Speaking of curse words,
So funny.
All shapes are free-cut. I did not make templates before hand, just looked at the pictures in the book and began cutting. There is some slight variation from the book illustrations but at least the kids will know what they are! It definitely helps having those 5'' x 5'' squares to help you when cutting out sizes and keeping them all consistent.
Once they are flipped right sides out, sew a circle in the middle (or where ever it makes sense) for the hole. Then take your nice, sharp pair of scissors and cut out the hole. Done. Don't worry about making perfect circles when you're sewing. Once you get going, you'll get the hang of it and the imperfect circles won't be noticable, especially if you CUT a well-rounded circle.
Do I need a kid or what?! :)
