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Dare to Make It: Holiday

Dare to Make It: Holiday
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If I Knew You Were Comin' I'd Have Stitched a Cake: How to Make Felt Food

December 17th, 2008 in sewing, gifts, holidays     
erika_kern Erika Kern, contributor
Love it! 18 users recommend
Just $2 worth of felt, some creativity, and a little time yield a bevy of softy sweets! 
Snaps mean your little baker can decorate and redecorate the cake as often as he or she likes.
Felt frosting flowers snap into place, bidding the baker the happiest of birthdays!
Just $2 worth of felt, some creativity, and a little time yield a bevy of softy sweets! 

Just $2 worth of felt, some creativity, and a little time yield a bevy of softy sweets! 

Photo: Erika Kern
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Shhhh, don't tell my friends Gavin and Lily, but they're getting a play kitchen from Santa this year. Nice, huh? Sadly, play kitchens, just like real kitchens, don't come with food. That's where I come in! I'm making them all sorts of fabulous felt food, which is great because felt is as cheap as it is fun. Got little foodies on your list? Start with this cake and then use the same techniques to make cookies, cupcakes, eggs, sandwiches, and more. Your pantry is only limited to your imagination!

To make this cake, you'll need:

  • Felt (I used the 9-inch by 12-inch sheets you can find for 25 cents at your local fabric or craft store. The body of the cake takes three sheets of felt.)
  • Embroidery floss
  • Sew-on snaps
  • Stuffing
  • Fabric paint
  • Glue
  • Needle and thread

First, decide on the color of your cake. I used light brown because I love a chocolate cake! Take one sheet of the felt and cut two 4-inch by 12-inch strips. Overlap the two strips at the 4-inch side and bind them together using a blanket stitch. This will be used as the side of the cake.


 Use a template to cut two circles for the top and bottom of your cake. I used a 7-inch plate. If you make your cake bigger than 7 inches, you'll need to use felt by the yard or you will have more seams along the side of your cake.

After you've drawn your circles on the felt, cut them out and decide where you want to put the snaps for your decorations.


 Sew snaps onto the top of your cake. Sew them down really good since little hands will, hopefully, be pulling on them over and over again.

Use a blanket stitch to sew the top onto the side of your cake. Stuff your cake, then sew on the bottom, using the blanket stitch once more.

The finished cake base with snaps.

Now comes the fun part . . . the decorating!

Cut several 1-inch by 12-inch strips of felt for the edges of your cake. A 7-inch cake like the one I made takes about five strips for both the top and bottom.


 Sew on frosted edges using three or four stitches spaced about 1 inch apart to secure the felt. Let the felt puff out so it looks like piped frosting. Allow a bit of overlap if you have to use more than one piece of felt for the piping and let your stitches cover the seam.

Snaps mean your little baker can decorate and redecorate the cake as often as he or she likes.

Cut shapes from felt and add snaps to make the interchangeable decorations. Use fabric paint to make piped letters or sprinkles and glue to add layers to decorations and flowers.

The flowers are made by wrapping petal-shaped pieces of felt around each other. A bit of glue and a few stitches hold them together until the snaps are attached. I did a basic "Happy Birthday" and "Merry Christmas" but you can make decorations for any holiday and any occasion. Let your creativity run wild!


 Once you've mastered the cake, a whole bakery of felt treats awaits you! Happy holidays!

 

posted in: sewing, gifts, holidays, kids, food, toys, cake
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Comments (12)

KayleeTea writes: Love this! I just bought a kit to make felt muffins...I am going to make all the yummy stuff first. The bonus is, if your like me and you spend your kids college money on a pink retro kitchen set because you cannot imagine her playing with anything less, you become very worried about wooden play food damaging it, so I am making a ton of felt food, BTW American Felt and craft sells foam rounds and wedges and a million diffrent colors of wool blend felt, I am hoping that they will make up for my rusty sewing skills.
Posted: 8:42 pm on May 16th
beaderonboard writes: What a great idea - Thank You
Posted: 10:49 pm on February 2nd
JennlovesSteve writes: this is so cute
i am going to make some for my classroom
Posted: 4:26 pm on January 24th
erika_kern writes: Oh, don't worry, I made veggies too.
Velcro would be great but I just found the snaps a better fit for how I wanted it to look but I could see velcro working splendidly!
Posted: 12:11 pm on December 29th
pastormom writes: My oldest is in college now, but I have fond memories of the days of play kitchens. I've sewn many a "felt-food." I love the craft, I just wonder about the snaps in this project. While snaps are an important fine motor skill activity, I find it much simpler to sew velcro for attachment. Also, where are the veggies? Kids need fun veggies!
Thanks for the idea. No grandkids to sew for yet, but I'll keep this in mind...
Posted: 11:17 pm on December 24th
erika_kern writes: About magnets: Yeah. . . if I were to use them I'd sew them into the the inside of the toy.
Posted: 8:11 pm on December 21st
marchwind writes: Really gorgeous! I like felt but only have seen it used for childern crafts this opens a whole different use. Thanks,
Posted: 9:04 pm on December 20th
BeckyMc writes: Careful with the magnet idea. They can be fatal if little ones swallow them. So only use them in items too big to swallow, and make sure a clever child cannot remove them to put them in his or her mouth.
Adorable cake! I made felt fruit for my granddaughter this month. I think she'll be getting a cake in the future!
Posted: 12:08 pm on December 20th
erika_kern writes: OOOHHHH Magnets!!!! I love the magnet idea. I wish I'd thought of that!

Yeah, felt treats are great but every time I look at them I want the real thing so I'm a goner either way!


Posted: 11:11 pm on December 17th
cathyofcalifornia writes: golly erika these are so freakin' cute. i should take a cue from this post and have more felt treats around my house
instead of the real ones that i've been eating way too many of this holiday season.
Posted: 10:21 pm on December 17th
LindaPermann writes: gavin and lily are lucky ducks- this is an adorable gift!
Posted: 4:24 pm on December 17th
croqzine writes: Ooh, fun! I bet it would be great if you put strong magnets inside the cake instead of snaps, too...
Posted: 3:47 pm on December 17th
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