Felt Play Money

There is a craze out there for cute Felt food. I'm jealous of those that make this for theirs kids. It looks absolutely amazing, but I just don't have the patience or time for hand sewing small pieces together. Here are 2 fun sites to check out. Felt food Here or Felt Food Here.

So, instead of making Felt food, I made Felt Play Money. I Googled it to see what was out there & really only found this one site Felt Money & thought... I can do better that that. Then I had a bit of a brainstorm & was inspired by a former boss who made "Pete Bucks" as an incentive for us (It was a dollar bill with his face on it, it had no monetary value... just bragging rights over who had the most)... And "Anders Bucks" was born.

What you'll need:
3 sheets green felt
1 sheet white felt
1 sheet tan felt
1 sheet dk grey felt
1 sheet lt grey felt
T-shirt iron on transfers (had this in hand)
Fabric paint (had this on hand)
Coins: First I found shapes to trace... the largest coin shape was from the Fisher Price piggy bank, I traced this on the light grey for the quarter.

I used a coin from New Orleans (from a girls weekend before hubby & baby) for the nickel on the dark grey felt.

I used an actual quarter for the dime on the light grey felt & penny on the tan felt. I would not recommend going smaller than a quarter to trace as I found it difficult to get a nice circle. I folded the felt so the coin would be double thick, pinned & traced. I then sewed the circles that I had drawn, keeping the pins in place so the felt wouldn't shift. If you are making these, you could use Stitch Witchery between the layers of felt. I then used my fabric paint & free hand the coin value.
I let the fabric paint dry for 48 hours before cutting out. If you wanted, you could cut numbers out of felt & again used Stitch Witchery to iron them on to the coin.

Dollars:I was able to cut 3 dollars out of each sheet of felt. I used a real dollar to trace the size. Again the dollars are a double layer, so cut sizes per photo. I used print shop & funny faces of Anders for the different dollar amounts. Photos from when he was 2 days old are on the one dollar bill. I cropped & resized them so the height of the oval was 2". Print them out on the T-shirt iron on transfer sheet per the directions.
Cut out the oval face & iron it on the white felt. Then cut out the faces from the felt.

Stitch the faces on the a single layer of green felt. I sewned some in the center & some off center (you know, it makes them less likely to be counterfeit). Then fold the felt dollar in half & edge stitch.
Again, I used fabric paint for the dollar amount.
Come on Mom, let's go ... I have my purse & my money - let's go shopping.

Thank you, Karla

Lace Skirt (from a pillow case & a wedding dress)

Hi all,
Another project I made out of my sister-in-law’s wedding dress lace & a pillowcase… is A LACE SKIRT. This is the ultimate up cycle project – it was totally free. Do you think the Duchess of Cambridge will ever re-use the lace from her wedding dress for anything? (After it is off of display of course).

One cold spring night in MN, I decided to bite the bullet & I tore all the lace off of this dress to save for future projects. I thought I was done with lace for awhile, but I was inspired by a few lace skirts I've seen here, here & here that are fun & Expen$ive!

I cut off the hem/opening of the pillow case & opened up the seams. I left the bottom of the pillow case seam intact (this is now one of the side seams). I cut the pillowcase to be my hip measurement +2.5” (for ease & seam allowance). The length was good as is at 16’’. I made a small double turn hem along the one edge & merrowed/serged the top edge where the waistband will be.

Then I cut may lace the length of the pillow case (err… skirt lining) & stitched it on. I let the scalloped edge hang below the skirt hem about 1.5”. I stitched it on straight along the top of the lace, meaning I did not follow the top scallop shape for my sewing line. I trimmed off the top edge of the scallop & repeated 5 times.

Each time I made sure the bottom of the scalloped lace edge covered the stitching of the lace layer below it by about ½ an inch. I then basted the edges of the lace down at the sides. I try not to pin much when I sew, basting is just faster. This way when I sewed the side seam, I made sure I caught all the lace edges.

For the waist band I used a 4x2 rib fabric that I had on hand. It was not my first choice, but it was what I had. The waistband was 4” x hip measurement. I sewed this in the a circle, folded in half lengthwise.

I then quartered it (fold it in half & in half again & mark it with a pin). I did the same with the skirt (making sure a seam was one of the points). Then I pinned the waist band rib & lace skirt together (right sides together) matching up the points I have marked. I then sewed on the rib, stretching it slightly.

I left a 2” opening & fed elastic thru the waist band (using a large safety pin). I secured the elastic ends together (stitching them in place 2 times) and closed up the hole. This sounds more complicated than it really is, I should have taken more photos of this… next time.

Forgive… these photos were taken on a brisk 42 degree day in MN. I was freezing – so no smile. FYI – I realized I could never be a swim suit model…I can’t stand to be scantily clothes in cold weather. Yes, that is the sole reason why I will never be a swim suit model – the weather. HA HA.

I really dig this skirt & how it dresses up a casual cardi nicely – I hope to wear it a lot when the weather warms up!

Thanks, Karla