my little mushroom

Crafters love mushrooms don't they? I know I do, and I've been dying to try my hand at making one. So last night I came up with this little toadstool which measures about 1 1/2" tall.

Wanna make one too? It's easy-peasy and quick-as-a-breezy. Promise.

First of all here's pdf file (added: for some reason the pattern lines are really light in the pdf file but when you print it you should be able to see the lines okay) with the pattern pieces and abbreviated instructions. Okay, let's get started!

Materials:

• red and white felt scraps
• scrap of sturdy cardboard
• red and white embroidery floss
• brown crochet thread or cord
• polyfill stuffing
• white acrylic paint
• hot glue gun
• paint brush or stick with a wide back tip
• ultra fine glitter (optional)

Instructions:

1) Transfer and cut out the pattern pieces from white and red felt and cardboard. You will need a large red felt circle, a small cardboard circle and a strip of white felt.

2) Making the stem: Tie a knot at the end of a length of white floss (I used red floss here for illustrative purposes only) and use a needle to string it through the bottom corner of one end of the white felt.

3) Starting from the end of the felt with the floss, begin rolling the felt into a coil. Make sure to keep the end of the floss outside of the coil.

4) After you're done rolling the felt into a coil, insert the needle into the middle of the coil and out through the bottom outer corner of the felt strip.

5) Re-insert the needle into the felt coil to stitch the end closed. Sorry I can't remember what this stitch is called. After the last stitch, insert the needle back into the coil and out through the center of the coil and tie a knot at the center to secure it in place. Set the stem on the side.

6) Making the cap: Tie a knot at the end of a length of red floss (I used white floss here for illustrative purposes only) and sew a running stitch along the edge of the red felt circle. Pull the thread to form a little sack.

7) Firmly stuff the sack with polyfill. Note: the more polyfill you use the higher the cap of your mushroom will get. I used all the polyfill shown in the materials photo at the top which was a nice sized hand full of polyfill.

8) Insert the cardboard circle into the sack, over the polyfill. It's okay if some of the polyfill peeks out the sides, but try your best to keep the polyfill in place with the cardboard circle.

9) Pull on the red floss again to tighten the red felt over the cardboard leaving a small opening of the cardboard visible. Note: the opening should be slighty smaller than the diameter of the white felt stem coil for a nice tight fit.

10) Use your needle to secure the gathers and tie a knot. Hide the thread end by reinserting the needle into the felt and out through the middle opening. Clip excess thread.

11) Apply a dab of hot glue to the exposed cardboard on the cap.

12) Insert the stem onto the glue on the cap at a 90 degree angle and press firmly but gently in place.

13) Use a knitting needle (I used a bamboo skewer) to push any exposed stem edges back into the cap opening.

14) The dots: Pour some white acrylic paint onto a paint palette and dab the back end of a wide paint brush handle into the paint. Apply the paint to the top of the stem to form dots. Depending on the type of felt you use and the look you want, you may need to apply two coats of paint for each dot.

15) If you like you can add a short length of brown crochet thread or cord to the top center of the cap for a hanger, but it should also be able to stand up on it's own. And that's it! All pau. Easy right?

OPTIONAL) I sprinkled ultra-fine glitter over the white dots while the paint was still wet for a shimmery effect, which was really hard to photograph, but looks so great in person.

And I also couldn't resist adding a face.

 

Happy mushroom Monday everyone!

Comments

[patty]

boy would i love a mushroom kit! hint hint!!

[Ames]

Great tutorial, and so sweet!

Just wanted to let you know there's an award for you on my blog too :)

[terete]

lovely!!!Thanks for sharing

[happy zombie]

I love it! Thank you for sharing, and great tutorial.

[t. miyashiro]

oh my gosh - I love it! I see a new cell phone charm in my future :) The face is perfect!

[Charlotte]

So adorable :) !

[Kiiss]

This is just too cute. I will be making some tonight. Thanks!!

[Jennifer]

thanks so much for the tutorial. The addition of the face at the end made me laugh out loud - it was an oh my heavens that is too cute kind of a laugh! I've been enjoying your blog for months...so much cuteness i just love it.

[Lynne Shaw]

Brill tutorial. I wanna buy felt and make one of these straight away!

[KristyH]

Hi! I would love to use your drawing of red riding hood for Doll Quilt Swap 4 that I am participating in. Wouls you mind if I used it as an embroidered center of my mini quilt?

[val]

too, too cute!

[linda]

oh thank you so much for this tutorial. It is just adorable!!!!!!!!!!!

[Tânia]

Hello! Your things are beautiful! I like sooo much! Congratulations! Kiss =)*

[Nana]

lovely mushroom! gotta try and do this asap!
and would you give me permission to post a small picture from this tutorial in my blog, as well as the link to this how-to page?
thanks!

[Christine]

My son (15), daughter (10) and I each made one of these this evening. They all turned out very different and VERY cute! We had a lot of fun. We plan on making several for gifts in the future...and more just to play with (says my daughter)! Thanks so much for posting this tutorial...it was great!

[Scribbles & Bits]

Too cute!!!! I definitely want to find the time to make one of those!

[Lauren Davis Art]

This is wonderful, The combo of the Frog and Mushroom as SOO CUTE and SWEET!!!!!! I Love it, thanks for sharing!!!!!

[rockfairy]

Excuse my english cause I'm french but I went here now for the first time and I think that your blog is very very cute ! I love all that kind of little stuff, the houses in milk box ou bottle of coca... so cute and beautiful pictures !

C'est trop mignon ! (in french!)

Kisses

[Cele]

That is so lovely.Think I might try this.

[Ellen]

Adorable! Thanks so much for the tutorial. I love mushrooms.

[Debbie]

You are a very talented person! Thank you for sharing this with us!

[lily-kaninchen]

So sweet! Thank you very much for the tutorial! :)

[lisa]

Thank you very much for the tutorial! I made one last night and posted it here :)

You are too right about photographing the glitter...!

[Michelle Clark]

Oh my goodness this is too cute. I must make one. Thanks

[Novell]

So cute! Everything is so cute!!!