Making felt food is a lot of fun and can become an addiction! With all the issues going on about lead in toys and our nationwide financial crisis, it is incredibly helpful and prudent to be able to create safe, inexpensive toys for your little one(s).

Which felt to pick:
Some people have a big preference towards wool or wool blend felt, but plain old synthetics work just as well.. you just won’t have the benefits you’d get from wool felt (less pilling, self- extinguishing, and natural fiber). I use both, but have more synthetics on hand since that felt is more easily found for me locally. One great resource for wool felt is Dancing Rain Dolls. Check your local craft and hobby stores as they usually have good selections of felt by the sheet or roll.

Techniques:
- Make sure your knots are perfect, since your felt food will be played with (by either kids or pets) you want to be assured of your items’ safety. Here is a fantastic knot tutorial.

- I’ve also found a wonderful hand sewing tutorial for those who are new at the whole sewing-by-hand thing.

Resources:
When I decided to start making felt food I scoured the internet looking for pattern books. While it is SUPER easy to draw out your own patterns, I decided since I was new to it at the time that I would try to locate some books of felt food making.
I’ve found many, many fabulous book- but the clincher is.. they are all in Japanese! I made the plunge anyhow and purchased a few and have found them to be a GREAT help. One or two books should be all you need to get going in your felt food making endeavors.

Some places that have felt food patterns or pattern books are:
- Etsy- search “felt food patterns” or “felt food books”
- eBay- search “felt food patterns” or “felt food books”
- Felt Cuisine- in English!
- Umecrafts on Etsy also has a good selection of downloadable English patterns in PDF form

On Amazon I found a few English felt pattern books as well:
- My Favorite Felt Sweets
- Warm Fuzzies: 30 Sweet Felted Projects

This post kicks off the Felt Food/Toy Making series I have planned for my awesome readers and fellow crafters. Next post in the series will be a felt food tutorial- how to make heart-shaped felt cookies!

Posted in crafts, kid crafts & written by Niki —