snowman felt play board & tutorial.

 
I have a little girl who loves snowmen. So, when I saw how much she loved the felt play board she received for Christmas, I got the idea to make her one with her favorite snowy friends.

I sewed a pocket on the back to keep all of the felt pieces with the board.

Here's how to make your own. It's easy!

supplies needed:

-rectangle of cardboard
felt large enough to cover cardboard, plus 1 inch on each side (I used eco-felt for the background and a mix of eco-felt and wool-blend felt for the rest of the pieces)
-felt scraps in various colors
-fabric large enough to cover the back of your board (heavier weight works best)
-fabric for back pocket
-scissors
-hot glue gun
-iron/ironing board
-sewing machine (optional)
-coordinating thread (if sewing)

Cut your cardboard into a rectangle. Since I didn't want to buy anything for this project, I cut mine to a size that was slightly smaller than the felt I had on hand.

Cut the corners off of your cardboard. This makes it easier to wrap the felt around the edges.

Before covering the board with the felt, I covered it with a piece white paper. I did this so that the brown of the cardboard wouldn't show through the eco-felt I used (eco-felt tends to be quite a bit thinner than wool or wool-blend felt).

Cut the paper so that it is 1 inch larger on all sides than your cardboard. Fold the paper around the edges of the cardboard, pulling it tightly as you go. I folded all the way around before I started gluing. (I was experimenting with making cuts in the paper and possibly the felt to see if that reduced bulk around the corners, but in the end, I decided that it wasn't necessary. So just ignore all those cuts in my paper!)

Hot glue around all of the edges of the paper and press firmly to the cardboard.  Glue down any loose edges. This is what mine looked like when I was done:

 

Now to cover the cardboard with the felt.

If you want to do a two-toned background, now is the time to cut the shape of the bottom. I wanted the look of a rolling hill, so I cut a template from regular paper first and then traced it on the felt, but you could also just free-cut this part. And I think just one color for the background would work wonderfully too.

Place your sheets of felt over the cardboard, and adjust them to how you want them to look on your finished board. My white felt slightly overlaps the blue felt.

Flip the whole thing over so that the top of your board is face down. You should have about 1 inch of felt on each side of the board.

Begin to glue the felt, being certain to pull the felt very tightly as you go. Remember to work quickly with the hot glue because it dries rather fast. I glued the entire blue sheet down before I started on the white.

After I had glued the blue felt on, I flipped my board over to make sure the white felt was positioned how I wanted it.

Remember to pull the felt tightly as you glue.

Once you are finished gluing the back, flip your board over. If you used two pieces of felt, lift the overlapping layer and use a small amount of glue along the edges to secure this piece to the bottom piece of felt.

Now to cover the back.

Cut your fabric into a rectangle the same size as your cardboard. Cut the corners, just like you did with the cardboard.

Fold the edges of the fabric over about 1/2" towards the wrong side of the fabric. Do this all the way around the rectangle, ironing the edges down as you go.

For the back, I made a simple lined pocket. To do this, cut two rectangles slightly smaller than the back of the fabric.

(if you don't want to sew, you can still make the pocket, just iron down the edges as described below, gluing the edges down. Once all the edges are secure, glue the pocket to the backing fabric.)

Pin them right sides together.

Sew together three sides of the rectangle (be sure to leave one side open to turn the pocket right-side out), back-stitching at the start and end of your stitching.

I left one of the long edges open.

Turn the pocket right-sides out, using a turning tool (I use a chop stick) to push out the corners.

Iron the pocket flat.

On the open side, turn the edges about 1/2 inch inwards (toward the wrong side of the fabric) and iron.

Center the pocket onto your backing fabric and pin to secure. I placed the pocket the open/unstitched side is on the BOTTOM so that it was sewn shut when I stitched the pocket to the backing.

Stitch around the sides and bottom of the pocket, leaving the top open.

 

 

Center the fabric backing on the cardboard.

Glue all the way around the edges, working quickly and pressing the fabric firmly to the cardboard.

Now cut the shapes you want to use on the front. I was going for a snowman theme, so I cut different size circles from ivory felt, and then hats, carrot noses, eyes, scarves, pipes, and a big yellow sunshine. I used a template for the circles, but I just free-cut all the rest.

And you're done!

I hope your little one enjoys this as much as mine does.

Comments

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