What to Do with Scraps of Felt, Part IV: Make Finger Puppets!

Here's a quick and easy project using scraps of felt that you can do just about anywhere. I started the one I'm about to document while selling my wares at the Hell's Kitchen Flea Market this past weekend, for instance.

Now, before I start I just want to say that there are some really nicely-made finger puppets out there (check out this post by NewNew blogger, Karina, for a great tutorial), and these ones I made aren't them. No. Mine are, shall we say, a bit rough around the edges? But they're fun and easy and that's at least half the point.

Materials

All you need is felt pieces long and wide enough to cover your (or someone else's, say, a child's) finger, plus some smaller bits for details; embroidery floss or thread; a needle or two large enough to accommodate said embroidery floss or thread; pins to hold things together while you sew, and perhaps a bit of fabric glue and fabric paint if you don't want to sew every little detail.

The piece of felt I started with.

Steps

First, Find yourself a piece of felt as described above and wrap it around your finger. Pin the ends together where they overlap, making a tube.

Next, sew up the open side and top of your tube.

Snip off the pointy edges if you like, and begin adding details. I started with a pair of eyes and a pair of pants. I sewed the pants to the bottom of the tube and let the legs extend beyond it. For fun I used a contrasting color of embroidery floss and continued stitching beyond the point where they attached to the felt.

First details: Eyes and pants.

Back at home from the market, I added a hat. I did the same as with the pants and stitched all the way around the perimeter of the hat with a contrasting color of embroidery floss.

Then I stitched my little hat-and-pants-wearing guy a mouth and glued him on a nose.

I finished with a couple of dabs of fabric paint for eyeballs. And my first-ever, rough but cute in an ugly sort of way finger puppet was complete!

But, all the while I was making my first-ever finger puppet I was wondering if I was doing it the best way, starting with an already sewn-up tube instead of a flat piece of felt. So, being constitutionally unable to leave well-enough a lone, I made a second-ever finger puppet in this alternative way. Feeling less restricted in terms of sewing on the details, I got a bit ambitious and gave this second finger puppet arms.

Second puppet, different method, different details.

Although the sewing-on of details was certainly easier, it was harder to tell where to put them. I used the eyes to as a point of reference, remembering that the area I had to work with was small. Even so, the arms ended up way on the sides of the tube, pretty much out of view.

Where'd the arms go?

It was easy enough to reposition them, but only by so much. And I got the right arm wrong again.

Better, but still not quite right.

So even though it was easier to sew on the details using the second method, I'd go with the first method and close the open side and top of the felt first. It's easy enough to hide the ends of your thread/embroidery floss in-between where you sew the sides of the felt together.

Hiding a knot in-between the sewn-together sides of the felt tube.

In short, keep it simple and have fun!

Until next time --

Linda

PurtyBird

Small run silkscreening at home

There are few methods of making silkscreens. I found using drawing fluid to create a silkscreen is most direct and simple. A drawing is made on the screen with drawing fluid. Screen filler is then applied on the dried drawing fluid, which act as a resist. The filler hardens. The silkscreen is ready once you wash the drawing fluid away. No need for a darkroom! This method is great for small run posters, tote bags and t-shirts.

Supplies:
Silkscreen
Screen Drawing Fluid
Screen Filler
Brush for drawing
Squeege
Latex Gloves
Stick for stirring the fluid



Drawing the image: Tape a drawing or sketch for tracing on the inside frame. You can do freehand drawing if you like. Apply single even coat for best results.



Dry the screen in a level horizontal position. You can use a fan to speed up the drying time.



Coating the Screen: Stir the screen filler, then pour a bead of filler fluid on the same side that you applied the drawing fluid. Squeegee a smooth even coat of filler liquid over the screen. Dry the screen horizontally.



Washing Out: Use warm water through both sides of the screen, concentrating on the drawing fluid area. Do not use power washer, it might wash away the filler fluid.

Once the screen is dried, it is ready for screening.



There you have it!



May Luk
www.takemehomeware.com

Easy Recipe For Rooftop BBQ

When I was young I enjoyed eating Chicken Satay from the street food stalls in Hong Kong. Whenever I barbecue, I always make this fast, easy and popular treat. It is well suited for the urban rooftop barbecue.

Here is an easy recipe for our readers. Grilled pineapple is a good compliment to the chicken satay.

Chicken – 1 lb - cubed
Bamboo Skewers – soaked in soy sauce

Marinade:
Soysauce – 2 tbsp
Mirin (Japanese Sweet Cooking Seasoning) – 1 tbsp
Satay Powder or Curry Powder – 1 tbsp
Sriracha Hot Chili Sauce – optional – to taste

1- Mix marinade in a bowl and fold in the chicken.
2- Skewer the chicken and marinate for 2 hours.
3- If you are taking the chicken to a park, you can freeze the portions for the journey.
4- Makes about 6 – 8 skewers. Serve with lettuce and cucumbers.

-May Luk Ceramics

Pillowcase How-To

Refashioning Your Old Pillows

An easy way to add some spice to your space is just to change something superficial, like a pillow. If you’re disinclined to go out and buy new pillows, it’s easy enough to just cover up the old ones. Instead of covering my pillow completely, I’m going to make an envelope style pillowcase so I can take it off to wash occasionally.

My mom covered this pillow for me when I was in high school. I recently opened it up and realized that the original pillow is a Minnie Mouse pillow that I loved when I was 7. I’m no longer into either of these patterns, though they were perfect at the time. So it’s time for something new. After digging through my fabric stash, I found the perfect fabric to fit my life now. (Alternately, you can use old curtains, a moomoo from the thrift store, sheets, etc just find something you like.)

What you’ll need:
A pillow to cover
Fabric (a large enough piece to cover your pillow and then some)
Scissors
Measuring Tape (I used a measuring tape, a yard stick, and a hem gauge)
Pins
Sewing Machine (or you could sew it by hand)
Matching or Contrasting Thread
Tailors Chalk

Step 1

Measure your pillow. Mine is approximately 18 inches square, measured from seam to seam.

If you want a nice and snug fitting pillowcase, don’t give yourself a seam allowance when you measure out your front piece. My pillow is a little flat, so I’m going to make one large square of 18 x 18 inches for the front panel.

For the back panels, I’m cutting out 2 rectangles, each 18 inches long. One is 11 inches wide and the other is 13 inches wide. The back panels will need a seam allowance on the overlapping edges of 1 inch each, plus they need to overlap by at least 1 inch. I like a lot of overlap so that they stay firmly in place.

Use this to check what your overlap will be: Overlap = (Width 1 + Width 2) – 2” seam allowance – height of pillow.

Mine is: 11 + 13 – 2 – 18 = 4 inches of overlap (this might be a little bit of an overkill).

After you’ve figured out what size each panel should be, draw directly onto the wrong side of your fabric and cut out your panels.

As you can see, my back panels are a different fabric than the front. No rhyme or reason there, just felt like it.

Step 2

Using a measuring device (I used my hem gauge), fold over 1 inch of one of the 18-inch sides of each back panel, then pin and iron. Then tuck half of that under itself, so the hem is only half an inch, like shown, ironing and pinning again.

Using your sewing machine, sew each hem in place, taking out the pins as you come to them. I chose to use a thread color that matches the front and contrasts with the back panels.

Step 3

If you wish to embellish the front, now would be a good time to do so, however you’d like. I chose to let the pattern on the front speak for itself.

Now pin the pieces together with the right sides facing inside.

Overlap the top and bottom back panels, pinning well, so that together the two back panels match the front panel.

I like to have the top back panel on top when all finished, so I pin it underneath the bottom panel, so it switches when I turn it right side out.

You can choose to have right and left back panels instead of top and bottom. That’s especially nice if you have a longer rectangular pillow, instead of a square one.

Step 4

Sew it all together!

One seam around taking out the pins as you go works fine, I keep a ¼ inch seam allowance. And do backstitch both the beginning and the end, which are in exactly the same place.

Snip the corners off, careful not to cut the seam.

Step 5

Turn it right side out. I like to use a chopstick to get the corners all pointy. A pencil or your finger can work fine too.

And now stuff it with your pillow.

Et voila!

By Karen
www.KarensMonsters.com