Shy Forest Friends Quiet Book Page Tutorial
Posted by julia on Friday, July 4th, 2014
Today I have a tutorial for TWO Quiet Book Pages that I hope will encourage a child's natural curiosity, love of animals, and stimulate their sense of touch. In our first Quiet Book Page, children will lift up a colorful tree flap to find cute woodland animals resting in the shade. On the second page, the same animals can be found hiding in the tall grass.
You will need:
- Animal Template
- 2 - 10.5" x 10.5" squares of fabric for the background. I used C200-31AquaMarine.
- 2 - 10.5" x 10.5" squares of medium fusible interfacing.
- 2 - 10.5" x 10.5" squares of fabric for Tree. I used C770-03Girl and C770-32Lime.
- Approx. 10" x 6" scrap piece of wood grain fabric for Tree Trunk. I used C4035Orange Harvest Wood.
- Scraps of fabric for Woodland Animals
- 4 adhesive Velcro circles
- Approx. 1/2 yard Double-Sided fusible adhesive such as Heat'n Bond or Wonder Under.
- Approx. 1/4 yard 2-Sided Fusible Peltex (72F)
- Various green and brown ribbons approx. 10" long for the grass.
Iron the fusible interfacing to the back of the 2 AquaMarine background pieces.
With your 2 tree pieces (C770-03Girl and C770-32Lime), iron the double-sided fusible adhesive to the back of one. Let cool for a minute.
Peel the paper backing off. The shiny adhesive will remain on the back of the fabric.
Iron your second piece of fabric to the first, wrong sides together.
Now cut out a general tree shape. Because I used the Hexi Fabric, I simply cut around the Hexi shapes.
Sew a zig-zag stitch around the edges of the tree shape.
Cut out your tree trunk. The base of my trunk measures 5.5", narrowing at the top, which measures 2.5". The tree trunk should measure 9" tall.
Zig-Zag stitch around the edges of the tree trunk.
Lay your tree shape over the tree trunk so that the top of the tree covers the top of the tree trunk.
Stitch around the top portion of the tree as shown above so that the tree is secured in place, creating a flap.
Cut scraps of fabric slightly larger than each of your animals (excluding the birds). You need one piece of fabric for the front, and one for the back. Place a piece of the 2-Sided Fusible Peltex in between the fabric front and back, and press both sides according to the manufacturer's directions. Let cool.
With a pair of sharp scissors, cut out your animal shapes.
You should have 4 animals as shown above. You can opt to sew a straight or zig-zag stitch around the edges here for added durability.
Arrange the animals so they are mostly hidden under the tree, with just a few feet or tails poking out. Attach the rough side of the velcro to the desired spots. I did this by sticking both sides of the velcro together and adhering them to the animal and to the tree in the right spots. Peel the velcro pieces apart, while keeping them in the correct spots on the animals and the tree. Stitch the velcro to the tree.
You can sew the velcro to the animals in a cute little heart shape to make it - cute!
With your 2nd piece of AquaMarine background fabric, lay out your ribbons, leaving about a 2" space at the top.
Tack each ribbon in place at the top.
Sew ribbons in place 1/4" from bottom edge.
Using the template provided, cut out bird shapes. Again, you will need just small pieces of scrap fabric for these. Using your iron, press the double-sided fusible adhesive to the back of the bird pieces. Peel off paper backing. Arrange at the top of the trim, covering as many raw edges as possible. Press.
Sew a zig-zag stitch around the edges of the birds.
Make a few ribbon bows and stitch in place to cover remaining raw edges of ribbons.
And you are done! The animals can go from napping under the tree to hiding in the tall grass.
Be sure to stay tuned to our blog - we plan to release a short video this August showing how to assemble all of these fun Quiet Book Pages into a book your toddler will love!