Today we’re making something very cute: This lovely felt cloud mobile – hand-stitched and done in an hour tops.

Also, I promise you it’s so easy. I made this with my 5 year old and she only needed very little help. If you have never done hand-stitching or the blanket stitch in particular before, fear not. I’m gonna show you how. :) Let’s go!

What you’ll need

• scrap paper
• pencil
• scissors
• pen/marker
• sheets of hobby felt – 3 colors light preferably
• embroidery floss – 3 colors matching the felt
• embroidery / tapestry needle
• pillow stuffing
• white thread
• hand sewing needle

Here’s what you do

First you wanna make the templates for the cloud shapes. I made two shapes total by sketching them roughly onto some scrap paper with my pencil and having Ada cut them out.

She loves cutting shapes.

This is how they turned out.

After cutting the templates you trace around them on the felt with your pen or marker. Trace loosely around with a bit of margin so you can cut the pen lines away without making your final shapes too tiny.

Cut two big clouds in one color, cut two small cloud in the second color and cut two smaller clouds in the third color.

Hold your pairs of cloud shapes together so all the edges align.

Now comes the really fun part!

Cut a nice length of embroidery floss. It’ll look a lot neater if you can go all the way around in one go without having to add more floss.

Tie a knot and thread your needle.

The blanket stitch

You need to learn how to make your anchor stitch, the actual blanket stitch and how to finish stitching.

Here’s a video on how to do the blanket stitch but I want to show you in photos as well.

How to start the blanket stitch – a.k.a. the anchor stitch

Start by putting your needle between the two felt layers and sew through the back layer only. This way the knot ends up on the inside of the cloud. Pull the thread all the way through and bring the needle to the front again.

Now insert the needle in the same spot but go through both layers, exiting through the same hole as before. You will now have your first blanket stitch “loop” over the edge.

Before you pull tight, put your needle under that loop. Now you can tighten it.

Note: When I say “tighten” I don’t mean a lot. You don’t want it to be so tight it scrunches the felt too much but you also don’t want any slack embroidery floss.

Now you’re all set up to do the blanket stitch all the way around.

How to do the blanket stitch

The blanket stitch consists of two repeatable steps. It may look advanced but it’s really not and once you get the hang of it you’re golden. So here goes…

First, sew from front to back through both layers (as pictured).

Second, before you tighten the floss, thread your needle through the edge loop from behind (from back to front). Pull tight.

Viola! Now repeat those two steps all the way around.

How to finish stitching

When you get to the end, you must sew through the same hole you started in. Pull through the edge loop like usual.

Now go through the same hole in the front layer again and steer the needle out between the two layers so the floss comes out between the felt layers and the stitches you’re made. Pull tight and tie a knot as close to the edge of your felt as possible.

Cut the embroidery floss close to the knot. Tuck the knot and end into the felt shape with the end of your needle or something else that’s small and pointy-ish.

Important note: You need to stuff the cloud with pillow stuffing before you sew the layers together all the way around, but I thought I’d share the whole stitching tutorial in it’s entirety first.

Stuffing the cloud shapes isn’t difficult at all. Just leave an opening about the size of your finger so you can poke the filling around in there before you finish the rest of the edge.

 

Finish all three clouds like the hand-stitching champion that you are. <3

Now it’s time to connect the pieces and turn these babies into a mobile.

I like sewing double threads through the top of the big cloud so I can more easily hang it. Make the top thread nice and long so there’s room to adjust how it hangs and room to tie it. You can always cut off excess thread when it’s up.

Sew the smaller clouds to the bottom of the big one. And make sure these threads are nice and short so they won’t be hanging too far from the big one.

What a sweet little project! I’m a sucker for anything that’s easy to finish and this one is.

Let me know how you fare and have fun!

xo Nina