SYTYC: Dinner for 2

Dinner-for-two TUTORIAL: Felt Food

When Harvest is done and the pie has been baked,

stuff those big pockets full of goodies to take.

Making Felt Food is easy and quite fun. And the possibilities are endless. Today we're making Dinner-for-Two. Get ready to feast on turkey drumsticks, homemade bread (with butter or strawberry jam), steamed broccoli, grapes that pull apart in the bunches, and of course, pumpkin pie for dessert. Made simple for little hands, the food pulls apart from velcro attachments.

Skill Level: Easy
Needed:
* felt
* stuffing/batting
* sew-on velcro
* embroidery thread
Average Sewing Time: varies

1. Felt. You can buy felt squares for about $.25 at craft and fabric stores (or by the yard). This works fine, yet it's usually poorer quality felt. I love to buy partial-wool felt by the yard. It's more pricey (anywhere from $6/yard to $17/yard). BUT, I often buy just 1/8th of a yard so the cost is cut way down. These felts are higher quality and come in more stunning colors.

2. Patterns. Decide what items you'd like to make. Use things from around the house to create your pattern (such as this coaster below, used to trace a "plate").

Or draw your own patterns. Then trace them on to your felt with a Marker or Fabric Pen. Most items here are made of TWO pattern pieces (So, one fork needs a top and bottom piece...so cut out two pieces) :

3. Sew. Felt items can be sewn by-hand or with your machine. I do a little of both. For the dinner plates I sewed the gray plate border to the top layer of the plate with my machine (to hold it in place) and then I stitched it with red embroidery thread for decor.

Then, I sewed the top layer of the plate to the bottom layer (with my machine) and that was it!

Of course a girl can never decide what her favorite dishes are, so I made a little of both....

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PUMPKIN PIE

This is my all-time favorite holiday dessert. This little pie comes apart in two servings and has whipped cream as an option. (Usually my ratio of whipped cream to pie, however, is switched).

1. Pattern. Draw a picture of a pie on paper and cut it out. I originally thought I'd cut the finished pie into 4 pieces but when all was done, those pieces would have been way too small. So I halved it instead.

Start with the crust. Trace it to a "heathered oatmeal"- colored felt (found at Joanns). You only need ONE pattern piece for the crust.

Cut out the center:

Cut TWO pumpkin center pieces just slightly larger than the visible cutout (so it overlaps slightly in the back). Cut ONE pie pan pattern piece. Cut ONE strip of sew-on velcro

Sew one side of the velcro to the top of the pie pan with your machine:

Sew the other side of the velcro to the bottom of one of the pumpkin pieces (this is how the pie connects to the pan when you're done.)

Then sandwich your two pumpkin pieces together:

And sew around them with your machine (this way the velcro stitching doesn't show on the front and the pie isn't flimsy):

Pin the crust to your pumpkin pieces (make sure the velcro part is on the back):

and sew the crust to the pie with your machine:

Almost done. Decide how many pieces you want and cut the finished pie top (NOT the pie pan) in half:

For the whipped cream, cut three odd-shaped circle pieces of white felt:

Stack them one by one and sew the tier together with your machine. No velcro is necessary on the back:

And enjoy!

Hold the whipped cream? No problem.

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GRAPES

These grapes are especially fun because they pull apart by the bunch, just as real grapes should. (sewing and attaching all the bunches is a bit confusing to explain, so I'll try my best). Here we go.....

Start by tracing and cutting LOTS of grapes (each grape is made of two circles). I used my bobbin as the pattern and I used two colors of felt to give it more dimension:

Decide how large you want the whole bunch to be and cut out THREE grape-bunch pieces:

Then start linking your grapes together in rows. Vary the colors any way you like. Sew down the middle of one grape and slide the next one in after it.

Keep adding grapes till the row fills the width of your grape-bunch pattern piece.

When you have enough rows, sew them together to create a grid. I sewed mine diagonal:

Next, decide how you want your grapes to pull apart. My bunch pulls apart at the top and bottom and the top portion pulls apart in two. SO, using the first large grape-bunch pattern pieces, I cut the top half off (to match the top bunch that will pull off) and sewed a large piece of velcro on the back:

Then I laid the grape grid on top of that piece that I just sewed the velcro to and connected them by sewing little grapes on top of the entire grid (yes, this is time-consuming piece to make). Sew the grapes on top in a circular motion, around each little grape. Follow this step for the rest of your grape bunch. If you want to have just ONE grape pull off, then sew a small piece of velcro to the grid and a small piece of velcro to one (or two) little grapes in the bunch:

Once the top grid is finished, sew the coordinating velcro pieces in matching spots to your second grape-bunch pattern piece (this is how the grapes connect to the bunch back). Create a stem by rolling a small square of felt together. Sandwich this inside of the second grape-bunch pattern piece and the third grape-bunch pattern piece and sew the whole thing shut:

Attach your velcro'd bunches and eat up!

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DRUMSTICKS and BROCCOLI

With so many foods to choose from, let's hope our little one remembers to eat her veggies. Thankfully in our house, broccoli is like candy. Bizarre and wonderful.

For drumsticks and broccoli, draw your pattern pieces, trace onto felt, and cut TWO of each piece. Sew around the drumstick, leaving a small opening to fill with stuffing: