Chicka Chicka Boom Boom Felt Board Book Tutorial

I have such a fun tutorial for you! Inspired by my stack of felt scraps and ball of embroidery floss I wanted to find something to do with them all! All of the colors reminded me of the bright graphics in Chicka Chicka Boom Boom-a book which we have been reading a lot of lately!



Since my kids don't have a felt board yet, I had to make one to go with the letters. I decided to make one that was more portable than the large black, flannel board that comes to mind. I thought if I made it more like a book, then it could be used for any story!

I also made a little envelope for the letters and story pieces. I think I will make an envelope to hold felt pieces for each story that I make.

On with the tutorial...
You can download the pattern pieces here

You will need:
assorted felt scraps
assorted embroidery floss scraps
1/2 yard white felt
1/2 yard grey felt
1/4 yard fabric for envelope
1/4 yard fabric for envelope lining
cardboard
glue
interfacing
button

1. Cut out all of the letters provided from assorted felt colors. (I cut the letters with double thicknesses)



2. Use a blanket stitch or other methods to embellish the letters. Mix the colors and make it visually interesting for your child.

3. Cut out the tree stem, leaf, and coconut patterns provided from brown felt, assorted green felts, and light brown felt, accordingly.

Set your felt story pieces aside.

Book
1. Fold your white felt in half, and measure a rectangle at 9"x12" with one of the 12" sides being on the fold of the felt.



2. Repeat with the grey felt.

3. Cut out the circle pattern from pink felt. For the initial, I used a 550pt Arial Bold font in the letter 'A.' Position and pin them to the white felt.



4. Attach these to the front of your white felt-I used a top stitch.



5. Cut 2 pieces of cardboard measured at 8.25" x 11.5"

6. Position them on the right and left ends of the wrong side (back) of the white felt. You want them to be towards the right and left edges of the cover so that the middle has a void with no cardboard. This will help the book close nicely.

7. Glue the cardboard down, then glue the grey felt on top of that.

8. Using all 6 strands of the embroidery floss of your choosing, blanket stitch around the perimeter of the book.

9. Your book is now finished!


Envelope:
1. Cut out a rectangle measured at 9.25" x 16.25" of polka dot fabric for the outside of the envelope.



2. Cut another the same size out of white, for the lining.

3. Fold the polka dot fabric into thirds-With the wrong side of the fabric facing up, fold the bottom up, then the top down.

4. Now measure along the bottom of the fabric to find the middle. Mark the middle and then draw a line from each of the top corners to the middle to make the point of your envelope. Round the point off and cut along the lines you just drew.



5. Lay this over the white fabric and trace the polka dotted fabric to match the envelope points. Cut this out.



6. Lay one of the envelope pieces over your interfacing and trace it out. Remove the fabric and draw around the perimeter, 1/4" inside around all edges. Cut out.



7. On the wrong side of your polka dot fabric, iron on your interfacing according to the manufacturer's instructions.

8. Lay the right side of the polka dot fabric with the right side of the white lining of the envelope.

9. Pin around the edges and sew around the perimeter with 1/4" seam allowance.



10. Leave an opening at the bottom to turn the envelope right side out.

11. Make sure to clip all the corners. Turn out the envelope and shape the corners with your scissors.



12. Press the envelope.

13. Fold the bottom up 5". Press.



14. Fold the top down. Press.

15. Unfold the entire envelope. Top stitch along the bottom edge of the envelope only.

16. Fold the bottom piece back up and pin into place. Beginning in the bottom left corner, top stitch around the left side, top, and right side. Do NOT sew along the bottom edge.



17. Fold the top flap back over the envelope pocket.

18. Place your button on the point of the envelop and mark it's position.

19. Using the button hole attachment, make the button hole on the top flap of your envelope.



TIP! Place a pin in the top of the button hole and use your seam ripper to cut the button hole!



20. Close the envelope and mark the center of the button hole slit.

21. Sew the button on!



Finished!



If you're inspired to use up some of that scrap stash, head on over to Grosgrain to check out Kathleen's contest!