Felt Book: Ukulele

When planning which pages to make for c.b.'s felt book I was at a point when I wanted just 1 more page so I could have an even number of pages (this was the last page thought of not the last page created which is why if you add up all the pages I've blogged about thus far then add this one you'll get an odd number).  I found this blog post and thought the ukulele was cute and simple-ish so I decided to try it out.

My pattern for the ukulele page can be found to the right.  As you can clearly see, my pattern and the outcome look a good deal alike, which, of course, is the point of making the patterns even for pretty simple pages.

Materials and Cost:

1 Background felt page - from the pack for $0.15.

Black Felt - about $0.03 worth.

Brown Felt - about $0.05 worth.

Strings - I used some stretchy gold stuff that I bought by the yard for $1.79.

Fun Fabric - I got the blue patterned fabric from the remnants section for $1.92 and there is plenty left over for some other small projects.

That brings the total cost for this page to $3.64 and the total cost for all pages so far to $17.25.

Steps:

1. The very first step for me was to figure out how to use my sewing machine to applique.  It took a good 30 - 40 minutes but, obviously, I got it.  I took a picture of my machine settings (plus don't forget to loosen the tension just a little) so I would never forget.

2. For the actual page, I first cut out the size of the ukulele using paper (if you look really close you can see it was paper from the pattern of the numbers project).  The ukulele looks suspiciously the same size and shape as Mr. Potato head because I basically used the same size and shape as Mr. Potato head.  

3. Next I pinned the paper to my fabric and cut the fabric.

4. I then checked to make sure it fit the way I wanted it to.

5. Then I pinned the fabric to the felt page.

6. And finally I appliqued the fabric to the felt.

7. Cut out the felt pieces.

8. Put small holes in the bottom black felt piece, insert strings, and tie the string so it doesn't come out.  This was easier said than done.  My holes ended up being bigger than my knots but I account for that in later steps.

9. Place felt pieces and string down to figure out where to put knots in top black fabric.

10. Put small holes in the top black felt piece, insert strings, and tie the string so it doesn't come out.

11. Because my holes were bigger than my strings, here I tool the strings out completely.  Then I sewed the brown felt to the background page followed by the side of each black felt that touched the brown felt.

12 & 13. Insert strings back into holes.  Luckily each string was still long enough after the knots that I could just sew down the other side of each black felt with the string getting sewn down as well.

14. Cut excess string.

15. Just to be sure the strings didn't come out, I used some clear Elmer's glue at each hole and tried to glue the too large holes shut with the string.

Done.