In honor of our wooden kitchen spotlight week, I thought I’d share a little on the pattern used to make the play felt food. I used a Simplicity pattern number 2445. My mission last fall was to make every piece that came with the pattern, which I did accomplish, even if it was after Christmas when it finally happened.
I was impressed with all the features of this pattern. It really has a lot of things that you can create. It comes with pattern pieces and instructions for the following felt food items:
- Shopping bag
- Egg carton
- Eggs
- Banana
- Strawberries
- Apple
- Squash
- Eggplant
- Pumpkin
- Tomato
- Carrot
- Orange
- Orange Slice
- Cake with cream and flowers
- Cupcake with choice of 4 decorations- whipped cream, cherry, flowers, and leaves
If you remember from the Butterick Play TeePee pattern review, if I use a pattern, I am a total Simplicity pattern girl. I think they have the clearest instructions and pattern pieces of all the pattern companies that I have tried. So, for the most part, I liked this pattern and didn’t find too many complicated sections. Here’s a highlight of a few pros and cons:
PROS:
- If you’ve never made play felt food before, this pattern is a great place to begin. It does an excellent job of demonstrating how to piece the food together. For me, it allowed me to make the pattern food and enabled me to design other play food pieces on my own.
- The fruit and vegetable pieces are easy and perfect for beginner seamstresses.
- The detail of the pattern and food is excellent.
- This pattern allowed me to make durable play food for my daughter at a fraction of the price of brand-name felt play food.
CONS:
- The egg carton, cake, and cupcakes are not necessarily good beginner projects. The egg carton requires the use of stiffening material and may be difficult to maneuver. I think the cake and cupcakes could have been designed better. If you aren’t 100% perfect with the execution of the cake and cupcakes, your desert items will not have flat bottoms and will not stand upright. This was probably my main issue with the whole pattern. I made 4 cupcakes, and only 2 of them will even stand upright. The cupcakes also require precise sewing in order for the “icing” portion to join correctly with the bottom cupcake portion.
- The carrot stem will not stay in place if the directions are followed. I had to add an additional stitch to hold the stem inside the carrot.
Has anyone else tried this Simplicity pattern? Let me know what you think and/or any problems that you encountered with this pattern piece!
I’m a beginner and I’m having some issues with the egg carton now. I was able to get all of the little pieces put together on their own, but now that it is time to sew them together they don’t really look like they’ll add up into the egg carton you have. Specifically, my lid looks too short to cover 3 eggs spaces wide. Maybe 2 1/2, but not 3. I’m hoping that it comes together a bit better once I get into it. Otherwise I agree, this pattern set is great! I’ve taken a few of the pieces and enlarged them with a copier as well, so I have a few sizes of squash and pumpkin. I skipped the recycle emblem, my plan is to go buy some iron on transfers that I can print on my computer to say something like “Megan’s Market”, put that on the felt and then put that on the bags instead.
Great blog, thanks so much for the fun posts!
Thanks so much for your comment on the Simplicity Felt Play Food pattern post on Bear Rabbit Bear. I love your ideas and how you are personalizing your bag! I think the iron-on will be easier than the sew-on symbol- that symbol was probably one of the most challenging aspects for me!!
As far as the egg carton goes, mine did not look small enough at first either. Once I put it all together, I tried to form the sides in a little bit and forced them into the egg carton. Keeping it closed like this for a few days allowed the sides to kind of morph into the correct size. The material for the egg carton is somewhat difficult to work with, as I’m sure you’ve discovered. I had never used this material before this project, and I am not sure that I am a big fan!! But it serves the purpose, and my daughter loves her egg carton!!
Hope this helps!
Melanie
I’m so glad I found you! I’ve been looking everywhere, but couldn’t find anyone who was doing the Simplicity pattern. May I ask, how did you sew the tomato?
I cut five pieces, sewed two together and attached the third to the unsewn end. I did this for all five. When I turn it inside out, the tomato isn’t smooth (you can see the stitching). I see that yours is perfect, so there has to be a way. I looked everywhere on the instructions and all it says is “sew the long edges together leaving a seam open”.
Any advice?
Hmm…I can’t quite picture what yours looks like…do you have a picture that you could send me (bearrabbitbear@hotmail.com) or upload to my facebook page (www.facebook.com/bearrabbitbear)? I can’t get a mental picture of why the stitching is still visible…
I’ve never sewn anything like this, but I love the pattern! Maybe a stupid question, but how and where did you buy your felt? Is there a way to buy small pieces?
The big pieces of felt (like the ones that I needed a lot of one color- green, read, brown) I purchased at JoAnn’s by the yard. The small pieces I purchased at AC Moore. They come in “sheets” the size of a piece of 8 1/2 x 11 piece of paper.
For the tomato – did you clip little “V’s” out of the seam allowance after you sewed? It’s on a concave curve so you have to do this to get it smooth. Also when sewing, don’t pivot on the needle–instead keep pulling and turning the fabric for the curved sewing.
It’s been so long since I’ve made these I barely remember! 🙂 Thanks for the tips!
I do recommend using wool felt rather than the thin sheets available at craft stores. Etsy.com has sellers and at reasonable prices for different sized sheets and the colors are so much better. I used to use the craft stores acrylic felt sheets for quiet books, but then discovered wool felt which is thicker and easier to sew and would never use anything else. I have made a lot of felt food and grocery items with the wool felt and I know the items will last through many years of play.