{d.i.y tutorial} Felt Fairy Mushroom house Pincushion project

Well I'm back from tiptoeing through the tulips and have been inspired to create something from my visit to all the open gardens that we visited. The girls and I had a great jaunt to the Southern Highlands of NSW and have eaten waaaay to much!

On our visit I took some gorgeous little girls out for a day trip. They loved exploring through the gardens, running along the paths, marvelling at the lovely flowers and trying to find flowers in their favourite colours...all things little girls love to do. The topic of conversation during the day was pixies and fairies. They loved the thought that there might be a fairy hiding along a path, behind a garden wall or amongst the pretty petals. Upon returning home they just had to make a house for the fairies!

So, after watching all this buzz of excitement I couldn't help but be inspired to create my own fairy and pixie house. This leads me to this weekend's free Red Brolly project....a felt fairy mushroom house pincushion!

It's a simple little project that you can finish in a couple of hours. It can be hand stitched or mostly sewn on the machine. The amount of detail you'd like to add is really up to you. There's room for little windows with window sills and flowers and curtains to peek through, roses rambling over an arch above the tiny front door and sweet, leaf roofs above the windows.

You can be imaginative as you like, you could add a chimney, a door mat, a welcome sign...lots of possibilities. When starting to stitch the garden details I found myself really being lost in the project and started getting carried away with all these ideas of fairies and their houses.

This is a project for both beginners and advanced stitchers. You advanced stitchers will like it because you can add lots of detail- woodwork on the doors, a rambling garden, lots of flowers etc. But, beginner stitchers don't be put off. I only have used 4 different stitches when making the pincushion....running stitch, back stitch, colonial knots and lazy daisy (detatched and chain). Now, I know you can do all of these and I've given you a tutorial on how to stitch colonial knots and lazy daisies.

Here's what you'll need to make one of these cute little felt houses.

-Your free Red Brolly printable Mushroom house PDF pincushion pattern

-Some gorgeous good quality felt in lots of lovely colours

-Some thread- for my blue fairy house I used the variegated thread

-Scissors

-Stuffing

-embellishments such as tiny dolls buttons, little bells...if you like.

Note: All seam allowances are 1/4"

Finished size measures 4"

 

Step by step instructions

Step 1- Making the Mushroom cap/roof

Trace around each of the felt pieces onto the felt and cut out. Remember to mark the bottom side of the mushroom cap.

Take the 4 pieces of the mushroom cap. Match 2 pieces together, remembering to make sure the bottom sides line up. Pin along one side. Repeat with the other 2 pieces.

Stitch along one side of each of the pieces as shown above. Then clip the curves. You should now have 2 halves to the mushroom roof.

Open out the 2 pieces and place right sides together and pin.

Stitch the 2 sides together.

Turn right side out. Now it's time to add the spots to the roof. You can either simply glue them, or stitch them on. Place spots where you like. If you are adding an attic window, now is the time to do so.

Turn the roof inside out again. Take your bottom circle for the mushroom cap/roof. Pin into place.

Stitch all the way around, but leave a small hole to push the stuffing in. Turn right side out.

Take some of your stuffing and push it through the hole, you can decide how firm you would like the roof. If using for a pincushion, you want the roof to be quite firm.

Close the hole together using slip stitch. Put to one side.

Step 2- Making the house

This is the fun part. Assemble all your house pieces together.

Fold the stalk piece in half to find the centre, crease. Take the two door pieces. Place the smaller piece on top of the larger piece-to make the arch- and then position in the centre of the stalk piece. This is where you made the crease. Stitch in place.

To make the windows, take your window rectangle and place into position. Take your curtains, position those and then stitch securely. Place the window sills onto the windows. On my blue house I've placed them above the window, on my pink house I've made them into window boxes. Sew into position.

Add the little leaves over the windows/doors if you've decided to use these. Using a variety of stitches, stitch flowers, leaves, grass onto your fairy house. I've also added teeny tiny dolls buttons for flowers on my pink house.

Note: Chain stitch is just lots of lazy daisies joined in a row

Once finished, match sides of stalk together, making a ring. Make sure it is inside out- right sides facing each other.

Turn right side out.

 

Step 3- Assembly

Take your roof piece and your house/stalk piece. Position the stalk piece under the roof. Using slip stitch or ladder stitch, attach stalk piece to roof.

Take some of your stuffing and push into the stalk until you get it quite firm. It needs to be able to support your pincushion.

You could add a weight in the bottom for extra support, or cut a cardboard circle and place at the base once you have finished stuffing.

 

Take the felt circle you have cut for the stalk base. Cover the base of the stalk, using running stitch, sew all the way around.

Drum roll please.....dadadadadadadadadadada.........!!! Turn it right way up and TA-DA, one cutesy felt fairy mushroom house pincushion.

Have a great weekend stitching!

Comments

[Says Melody]

You are so clever, Bronwyn . This is fabulous.

[Says Estelle]

Soo cute. Now to find my felt and create a fairy house

[Says Larissa]

Soooo cute Bronwyn!!! ... But ... I tried to print the page/s out so I could have the information out in front of me while I make one, but it didn't want to work. Is there a clever trick? Or is it possible to get it as a PDF downloadable document? ... Is anyone else having this problem? I *desperately* want to make some of these, but would really love a copy on paper!!

[Says Pamela Susan]

Are you kidding me?? This is BRILLIANT!!! So clever, so gorgeous. Will be making this asap. And how fun that I found you... I was just logging into my typepad account to blog about making fairy houses with my three daughters in the forest across the street. Will have to send you a link once the post is done. :)

[Says Nancy demase]

I too like Larissa have tried to print it but doesn't seem to want to work.Would like to make one but can't get it to work, maybe I'm not doing something right!! Help please!!

[Says Anne Lise]

Lovely, Bronwyn! Thankyou.

[Says Fleurette]

So cute!! thank you.

[Says bronwyn]

Hi Ladies, the PDF file just has the pattern for you to print and cut out. It's a PDF file so it should work.

If you are after the assembly instructions which are on the blog, you will need to print out the web page. This I'm not quite sure how to do on everyone's computer, but on mine I just need to select what I would like to print by holding my mouse button and highlighting what I would like to print. When pressing the "print" button, it comes up with a choice of what I would like to print...all, pages or selection. If I choose selection it will print only what has been highlighted with my mouse.

Let me know how you go. I can out up a JPEG file of the pattern if it helps you. Hope this helps :-)

Bronwyn

[Says Meredith]

Hi Bronwyn - how utterly gorgeous are these! You are so generous to share this delightful pattern, can't wait to make some..Thank you so much!

[Says Delia]

thank you for a great idea.
Delia

[Says nealich]

Oh, what a wonderfull idea!!! Thank you so much!!!

[Says Cat]

This is darling! I love your felt colour choices too, just perfect. I have pinned this to Pinterest to make some time (hopefully soon)

[Says Donna Frandsen]

Your little fairy houses are so adorable! I just found your blog and I am blown away by the wonderful free patterns that you offer. I love the wish quilt. I am so impressed with your talent. Your artwork and style are so charming! Thank you so much for sharing with us. I love stitching and am excited to have such beautiful things to work on.

[Says simone]

So so so very very cute! Absolutely gorgeous. Thank you for sharing!

[Says christine]

Lovely project. Thank you

[Says Larissa]

Thanks Bronwyn ... Unfortunately my issue is with the tutorial - when I tell it to print, (and I always preview it before I print my pages) only the sidebar on the left shows up ... not the actual post. I haven't had a problem with this before on others, and I can't remember it happening on yours either, though I was just using the jpg pages ie. for the wish quilt, before. I *can* get the jpg/pdf page for the pattern pieces/shapes ... its the tutorial on the blog I'm having issues with ... I might just see if I can copy and paste it into a Word document if no one can think of anything else to try. These are just so darn CUTE I want to make a ton of them!!!

[Says Lynn B]

Ooooo Bronwyn,

I can't keep up with you, I have a list as long as my arm of your creations I want to make, they are all so fabulous, now I have to put the mushroom house on my list too, I just can't wait to make this, it is soooooo cute, thankyou so much!

[Says Christine]

OMG Bronwyn they are beautiful. I can't wait to make a few. I too cannot print off the tutorial. When I hit print it only prints the side bar.

I must say how much I enjoy all that you share with your followers.

Christine in London, Ont, Cdn

[Says Le rat des fils]

I love your little pincushion.
Thank you for the pattern.

[Says Janice Corona]

THESE ARE SIMPLY ADORABLE, I WANT TO MAKE THESE WITH MY GRANDDAUGHTERS, WELL ACTUALLY I WANT ONE JUST FOR ME...LOL...SO SO CUTE..CANT WAIT TO MAKE ONE...HAPPY SUNDAY WITH LOVE JANICE @SPOONWITHER.BLOGSPOT.COM

[Says SuzK]

These are totally adorable - thank you so much for sharing this tutorial with us.

[Says Jody Herbert]

Thankyou for this lovely tutorial and pattern. My 8 year old daughter and I had such fun making this up for her. (we slightly enlarged the pattern to make it a bit easier for her) It was a great project for her to do over these school holidays.

[Says Mhairi]

This is so cute. I love this toadstool and the stitchery on it. Thanks so much for your generosity and for sharing these great projects.

[Says Kathy]

Oh my gosh, this is just adorable! I'm going to do this...and it will be a great project for my dear grand-daughter as well! Thank you so much for sharing it!
www.shawkl.com

[Says SuzK]

This is totally precious! How generous and sweet of you to offer this pattern free! I can't wait to get started!