Monday, March 7, 2011

Shut Up and Sew: Like Daddy's Truck, But More Snuggly

Jayce 1

A few weeks ago I realized that as soon as I found out the sex of our new baby, that I would be diving headfirst into making little baby things and nursery things. I decided that I wanted to focus on making a little something for my son before my attention was divided, and with Valentines Day on it's way, I'd have the perfect excuse.

I had big ambitions for a few felt projects that I was going to tackle before Christmas and never got around to, so I had lots of unused felt to play with. I decided to make something snuggly for my son, and since he is 2, his favorite types of things right now are trucks, trains and doing whatever his dad is doing. So I decided to make him a miniature snuggly version of his dad's truck.

IMG 2521

I found an adorable tutorial over at Make It and Love It, which you can find here.

Her tutorial calls for a long strip of felt (34 inches) which I didn't have, but I did have three 12 inch rectangles of fabric. I decided to make the best of it, sew them together and hope that it wouldn't turn out too wonky looking. Hopefully it didn't. (Be gentle if you disagree.)

Truck 11

I made a little pattern from some scrap paper, cut out my shapes, and used those to cut out my felt.

Week 3 2

I then sat down at the sewing machine and took a big breath. Ashley's tutorial is written clearly, but the item to be sewed actually takes shape as it is being sewn at the machine. Some of the other tutorials I've tried mostly because I looked at the pictures and thought, "Well, that looks easy enough." This project looked a bit daunting to me. But the end result was so cute and I knew my son would love it, so I pushed on.

Week 3 4

I sat down with this (above), and eventually it started to look like this (below).

Week 3 6

My finished, pre-stuffed truck.

Week 3 7

I then followed Ashley's amazing tips on cutting corners and curves, which you must read here. SO so helpful, and made a big difference in getting the outer corners to poke out a bit more and gave me some slack at the inner corners. I then flipped the truck it right side out, stuffed it, and admired it. I showed it to my husband and we both smiled at it. I may have snuggled it a little bit - It's quite the snuggly truck!

Truck 4

I was very pleased to see that the lines from my sewing 3 pieces of felt together fell in places that were kind of appropriate for a truck body to have horizontal lines running across it. Such as, across the top of the "windshield" area, or near the back of the "truck bed." We'll just pretend that I planned it that way.

Truck 3

I traced a small cup on black felt for the wheels, pinned the center and sewed these on the sewing machine.

Truck 7

I cut them out, flipped them inside out and they were ready to be stuffed.

Truck 5

After I stuffed and stitched up the tires, I sewed them onto the body of the truck, but they were still a bit too wiggly for my liking. So I added a few lines of fabric glue between the wheels and the truck body to make sure that the tires were standing upright.

Valentine 13

Since my truck is being modeled after my husband's truck, I went for a full windshield and played around with the truck's face a little bit. But in the end I just couldn't resist giving him a grill nose, smile and headlight eyes! It was just so cute!

Jayce 2Jayce 1

I finished it off with some taillights and a fun little license plate which I painted on with fabric glue.

Jayce 13

My son loved it. We set it on the table so that it could sit with him while he ate, and he smiled at it as he munched on his carrots.

Jayce 19

If you like this truck at all than you need to try the tutorial! It was easier than I had anticipated, and you can't beat the price of the materials. (Felt is just SO wonderfully inexpensive!!!)

I'll be linking to these great parties. Have a great week!

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22 comments:

Handbags*and*Pigtails March 7, 2011 at 6:24 AM  

that is absolutely adorable!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
XO,
Sarah

Tiffany March 7, 2011 at 6:27 AM  

That is so crazy cute! Tyson would LOVE that! The license plate is my favorite part!

Jessica March 7, 2011 at 6:29 AM  

Cutest thing ever!

Amanda March 7, 2011 at 8:06 AM  

Amazing..and so cute :) I have to make one of these! Thanks for sharing the link.

Beth Adams March 7, 2011 at 8:39 AM  

Wickedly cute! Love the face on the truck. It looks so friendly.

Patrice March 7, 2011 at 8:51 AM  

So cute Erin! Laurelei would love this too! She is big into cars and trucks as well!

Amanda March 7, 2011 at 11:49 AM  

I like your nail polish color! :)

Unknown March 7, 2011 at 1:15 PM  

Adorable! The face is the cutest!

Nan ~ Playful Decor March 7, 2011 at 9:13 PM  

OMG!!! I have been looking for soft trucks - I even tried to make one a few years ago, without a tutorial, ahemm... I need these for my biz but need someone else to make them. Anyone, anyone?? (Bueller, Bueller? LOL)
Erin, I'd love to include this in my kids'room accessories gallery. Please email me if you'd like this included!

janimal March 8, 2011 at 8:12 AM  

Oh my that is AWESOME! You are a great mommy. Way cool.

Unknown March 9, 2011 at 3:54 AM  

That is adorable! Well done. I love working with felt too.

Be Colorful Coastal March 9, 2011 at 11:00 AM  

I don't know what is cuter, the little white truck or that little guy's grin. Love it all. Thanks for sharing with us over at Motivated Monday at BeColorful.
Pam

Michelle @ Delicate Construction March 9, 2011 at 7:45 PM  

So adorable! What a sweet idea!!! I am visiting from Someday Crafts and I am a new follower!
Have a fantastic day!
Michelle
www.delicateconstruction.blogspot.com

Wendy March 10, 2011 at 4:10 AM  

This is fab, it looks so cute! I'm very impressed

Anonymous March 11, 2011 at 2:06 AM  

That is too cute!

Stephani March 11, 2011 at 10:38 AM  

That is adorable! I love felt. It's so amazing all the things you can do with it! I'm glad your son enjoys it!

Luxy Living March 11, 2011 at 10:42 AM  

Cuteness!

Fabulous weekend to you!

Fuchsia

restlessrisa March 11, 2011 at 8:31 PM  

This is so cute! I love felt!

<3

Risa

Anonymous March 11, 2011 at 9:14 PM  

Adorable! I don't even have a little boy but I want to make one of these!

Sarah March 11, 2011 at 11:26 PM  

This is adorable! What a great idea, thank you for sharing.

I am a new follower from Chic on a Shoestring, I would love if you could stop by www.mooseandtater.com

Megan March 12, 2011 at 8:11 AM  

this turned out so cute. It looks like it will be well loved.

megan
craftycpa.blogspot.com

Kris and Kally April 1, 2011 at 2:13 PM  

I teared up a little with this post! Maybe because my two year old is the same way and I love that he LOVES his Dad so much! Definitely making one for my little guy...but in red! (Like Dad's truck!)

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