Anastasia has been very into her play kitchen and cooks all kinds of interesting things. Our kitchen came with this tiny wooden pizza that Anastasia bakes for me EVERY DAY! I looked for a cute little wooden pizza with movable toppings and found a Melissa and Doug one (made in China) for $15, an Erzi one (made in Germany) for $21 and a soft one by Haba (made in China) for $21.50. And not one of them was precisely what I was looking for (yes I am a total snob). So I made a felt pizza myself.
I used 2 circles of tan felt for the crust, one smaller circle of red felt for the sauce and a curvy white circle of white fleece for the cheese. I then sewed the smaller pieces to the bigger pieces, sewed two lines down the middle, cut between them and did the same with each half. Make sense? Easy peasy. Then I cut the toppings out of wool felt: pepperoni: red circles, peppers: green rectangles, and the mushrooms. Wool felt is much tougher and holds its shape much better than acrylic so it was worth it to use for the toppings. And the toppings stick pretty well to the cheese. I mean, a few fall off if you hold it upside down but why would you hold a pizza upsidedown?
So I made two, one for Anastasia for Christmas, and one for my Etsy shop... I figure if I add one or two things a week that is better than nothing. Check out more felt food at One Pretty Thing. I am so inspired!!!!PS- If you are in the market for a little play kitchen, I highly recommend the French Kitchen from Educo. It is small, but perfect for toddlers and houses with small rooms and little space. It seems to be very sturdy and well made. I like how simple it is compared with most kitchens. Anastasia plays with it every single day. On the down side it was made in china and has a natural wood finish so it doesn't clean easily. I put a coating of Grape Seed Oil on it, and it did get colored on with Crayon Rocks (which are far more vivid than Crayola) and I cleaned it up almost 100% with GooGone.
2 comments:
I totally hear you in your last post... and with the holidays upon us it seems so much harder, because there is a time limit on getting things done!!
Ever since making Anja's squirrel costume, I've been totally inspired to work with felt! I made her a stuffed acorn (the acorn top comes off to double as a woodland creature hat!) and I loved it. It was so easy to work with, and so sturdy feeling. I'm glad to hear the comparison about wool vs. acrylic. Is wool felt super expensive? I also want to try felting some Goodwill sweaters to make things like felted blocks for Greta, and for gifts. I'll take all the suggestions/advice you have to offer!
Anja's costume was adorable! The felt acorn sounds SOOOO cute too. You need to post pictures of it!
100% wool felt is SUPER expensive. The mote wool in the felt, the more expensive it gets. Joann's sells 20% wool 80% acrylic felt that is a little nicer than the 100% acrylic and not TOO terribly expensive. Sometimes you can find it in the clearance section for $2 a yard or so. You can buy wool felt online and for 100% wool it is 2.50 a sheet which I guess isn't horrible if you have a lot of small projects. You can also find wool and blends in bundles:
http://www.prairiepointjunction.com/woolfeltbundles.html
I think I might order some from them when I run out of what I have. The wool is a little stiffer, and it just holds together much better than acrylic. And it is softer. I use felted sweaters in place of wool felt for a more rustic-homemade look. I just wash sweaters in hot water like 2 times (until its as thick and dense as I like) and throw it in the dryer... and cringe that I am sticking wool in the dryer... lol. And thats that. It does fray a little so you can't leave too many raw edges. Now that I wrote a novel, I hope it helps!
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