I am always looking for ideas for projects for children. My
little girl loves penguins so when I found a portable penguin play-set in Sew Quick Sew Cute by Fiona Goble I thought it would be perfect to make for Christmas. I also
thought that it would be a good thing to
make for my friends little boy.
The base is an iceberg with igloo, this is constructed of two really thick pieces of felt with the top piece folded back to form the igloo, a small pool is then added.The design uses a strong zigzag around the edge with a straight stitch inside, this gives a good strong finish and looks really neat. You then make three felt penguins. I chose to make them in 3 slightly different colours, black, grey and navy just to give variation and allow them to be named. The penguins are about 6cm high so perfect for little hands. I used a blanket stitch and a backstitch to secure the seams to make them child proof. It is a well designed pattern with a lot of helpful illustrations. The only change I made was to embroider the beak on as opposed to using felt as this was less fiddly. The step by step instructions are easy to follow. You also make 2 little fish for the pond which is a really lovely touch. These are sewn on a square of felt and then cut it out as trying to sew round something so small is rather tricky.
One of the things I like best about this design is that it is a good balance between machine sewing for strength and hand sewing for precision and detail. They were a lot of fun to make, my little girl has played with hers a lot and included other small toys in the games. They would be great for travelling as it all folds into itself and does not take a lot of space.
The base is an iceberg with igloo, this is constructed of two really thick pieces of felt with the top piece folded back to form the igloo, a small pool is then added.The design uses a strong zigzag around the edge with a straight stitch inside, this gives a good strong finish and looks really neat. You then make three felt penguins. I chose to make them in 3 slightly different colours, black, grey and navy just to give variation and allow them to be named. The penguins are about 6cm high so perfect for little hands. I used a blanket stitch and a backstitch to secure the seams to make them child proof. It is a well designed pattern with a lot of helpful illustrations. The only change I made was to embroider the beak on as opposed to using felt as this was less fiddly. The step by step instructions are easy to follow. You also make 2 little fish for the pond which is a really lovely touch. These are sewn on a square of felt and then cut it out as trying to sew round something so small is rather tricky.
One of the things I like best about this design is that it is a good balance between machine sewing for strength and hand sewing for precision and detail. They were a lot of fun to make, my little girl has played with hers a lot and included other small toys in the games. They would be great for travelling as it all folds into itself and does not take a lot of space.
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| Antarctic playset - design by Fiona Goble |
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