family tree mobile

The day of the big felt project reveal is here. I am really proud of this project for a lot of reasons. I love how cute it turned out, that it is all completely handmade and that is passes on something to a new generation. A niece on my husbands side of the family is expecting her first baby in the coming months. I really wanted to make something for the parents and the baby. I decided on the mobile because I was having so much fun with the felt ornaments and I wanted to try and make something completely on my own out of felt.  Each animal represents a family member on the nieces side of the family. I included great grandparents, grandparents, parents and my husband and me.

I ordered the felt from American Felt and Craft.  I went with them because they sell a wool rayon felt blend I wanted to try. If you aren't sure what felt to use for your project check out the felt smackdown they did. The kits I buy all come with what feels like acrylic felt. Most of what you see at craft stores is eco-felt and it wasn't a good enough quality for me. The colors that American Felt and Craft carry are amazing and I loved the softness of each piece. It is more expensive than craft store felt but I think it was worth it. To give you an idea I have seen eco-felt for .29 cents for a 9x12 or 8x10 sheet. The blend I used was $1.50 for a 9x12 sheet. I still have a lot leftover to do my next project. The shipping was quick and I am definitely sticking with them for future felt orders.

For each animal I found an image online that I was able to adapt into a template.  I traced the image onto tracing paper and added the details I wanted so I would have a finished image to check my work against. Then I traced out the separate pieces I would need to cut out of felt. On the early animals I was very detailed and each piece had a color listed next to it so I would remember what I had been thinking when I started. By time I got to the last three I was just getting everything on tracing paper and cutting shortly after that.

After the image was ready I picked out the colors that I thought would work best for the animal and found the matching embroidery floss.

After each piece was cut out I started attaching them with a simple applique stitch.

When details were too small to cut out I used some of the different stitches I have learned from the kits I purchased earlier in the year. The stitches I used the most were the outline stitch, satin stitch, and french knot. I tried to find as many opportunities as I could to use the stitches because I love the different textures it gives to the finished pieces. I apologize if I used the incorrect term for any stitch. I am still learning and that is what they are called in my Bucilla kits. After all the pieces and details were together I sewed the front to the back and stuffed them with fiberfill.

When they were all complete I attached them to the grosgrain ribbon. Then I attached them to the frame. For the frame I used two different size embroidery hoops. I would love to find different ways of hanging future mobiles but didn't want to spend too much time shopping around and not have time to finish the project. As an extra bonus embroidery hoops are easy to find and inexpensive. You could wrap ribbon or washi tape around the hoop or paint them to fit your theme.

 The picture of the tiger and pig is unfortunately a little blurry. In my excitement about finishing this project I forgot to photograph each animal on it's own.

These pictures make me smile every time I see them. I hope that little girl enjoys them half as much as I enjoyed making them. I already have theme ideas for some other mobiles.

I think next time I will try and find a different way to hang them. I think in hindsight it would have been better to hang them on individual strings at different lengths. I really wanted each husband and wife team on one ribbon for this project though.

What project are you most proud of completing? What is your favorite baby shower gift to give? Have you thought of trying your own felt project?  Have any questions on how I did any of this?