Butterfly Mobile

A while ago I was browsing around on Pinterest and came across a lovely butterfly mobile made of felt. It piqued my interest and I pinned it for future reference.

The creator, Laura Howard, blogged a tutorial which includes a how-to on the constuction as well as a printable template for the butterfly pattern. I picked up some felt, wool roving, and needle felting equipment from the local textiles shop as well as an embroidery hoop to use for the ring at the top.

I used washi tape (Japanese masking tape) to cover the wooden embroidery hoop. I had originally done alternating stripes of pink and purple washi tape but decided in the end to go for all purple. I also found that my felt was rather floppy. I ended up getting some sparkle spray paint that added both stiffness and happy sparkle.

I made my own felt beads using the roving and needle felting equipment (and a few plasters along the way). I deviated from the original tutorial by using 5 strands of butterflies and using heavy sewing thread for the strands. I pulled the thread through each felt bead three times to secure them, and used a simple running stitch to attach the butterflies.

As in her tutorial, I made the threads extra long, attached them to the hoop then continued them up and attached them together and formed a loop for hanging. I also added a couple felt beads to the leftover thread after making the loop. It just felt more complete to me.

Thing 1 is absolutely delighted with her new mobile, and so am I. It adds lovely colour and dimension to her room.