Tutorial: Felt Sugar Cookies

'Take some more tea,' the March Hare said to Alice, very earnestly.

'I've had nothing yet,' Alice replied in an offended tone, 'so I can't take more.'

'You mean you can't take LESS,' said the Hatter: 'it's very easy to take MORE than nothing.'

~ Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

 

 
Evenings around here have fallen into a certain routine. At 7:00 it is time for my son's last feeding. At 7:30 he goes to bed. Then we start the evening routine for my daughter (more info here). Around 8pm she is in bed. Once I pick-up the house, clean the kitchen, prep and package the bottles for the next day (and thawing milk if needed), make lunches, and lay out our bags for the next morning, I flop into a chair in the living room and start making felt food. Ah... relaxation.

I discovered felt food in December while looking for stocking stuffers, and my daughter loved them. And I loved making them. So, I made her food on our post-Christmas trip to the beach. And I made her food when we got home. And I made food for her friend's birthday present. It became an addiction. Now I have plans to make her a special food for every holiday this year.

The great thing about this project is that it is so easy. I say that as someone who cannot sew. Seriously, I can't even thread the machine. It is on my list of skills to learn. However, even I, with my completely inept sewing skills, can do the basic stitches needed to make this food.

To kick-off the series of Felt Food Tutorials, let's begin with the simple Sugar Cookie.

FELT SUGAR COOKIES HOW-TO

Supplies:
Note: The supplies can vary based on how you want to decorate your cookies. However, I am going to provide instructions for a simple "sprinkle" cookie.

• 2 pieces of felt, one a cream color and one the icing color (pink in this case)
• Embroidery Floss to match the felt (cream and pale pink)
• Beads
• Cotton Balls (Batting would probably be better, but I have cotton balls laying around)
• Needle
• Scissors
• Card Stock (or paper or cardboard; this is just for the template)
• Something to outline your cookie shape... a cookie cutter, a glass, whatever you want
• Pencil
• Pins

Directions:

1. Making a Template: I highly recommend that you make a template if you are making one. I made my first batch of brownies for my daughter without a template, and the result was four different sizes. She still has a blast with them. But it annoys her perfectionist momma. So, I now always start with a template.
   
   For the sugar cookies that I made with the Tea Party Gift set, I just traced around a glass to make a circle shape. However, I am currently working on heart-shaped cookies for Valentine's Day. So for this tutorial, I'll be using a heart.  I have a collection of heart cookie cutters, so I used the larger one to outline the cookie shape and a smaller one to outline the icing shape.  Trace the template shape onto the cardstock and cut it out.
    
2. Pin the larger template to the cream felt and cut out.  Repeat.  Pin the smaller template to the pink felt and cut it out.  At this point you should have two matching cream pieces and one pink.
    
3. Center the smaller pink heart on the larger heart and pin them together.  This will help keep things straight.  Next thread the needle with the pink embroidery floss.  I tend to separate the floss and use three strands at a time.  Tie a not in one end and run the needle from the back of the cream heart.  Place a bead on the strand and run the needle back through the felt.  Continue stitching on the beads.  You can add as many sprinkles as you like.  Once done, knot off the thread.  The pink icing should be secured to the cream heart at this point.


4. Next thread your needle with the cream thread.  Place the two cream hearts together.  Using a simple blanket stitch, sew up the edge of the cookie, leaving a small gap.  (FutureGirl.com has a great tutorial on the blanket stitch.)
    
5. Stuff a small amount of filling into the cookie.  Since I use cotton balls, I tend to pull it apart a lot so that it is one light and fluffy mass.  This is to avoid lumpy cookies.

6. Once the cookie is stuffed, finish stitching up the cookie and knot the thread off.
    
7. Look back, admire your work, and have a tea party!

There are so many great variations you can do for this.  I've already mentioned that I did a basic circle for the tea party set, as seen here.

Obviously you can do hearts for Valentine's Day.  Maybe clover cookies for St. Patrick's Day, or egg shapes for Easter, or trees for Christmas.  This could be way too much fun!

This project is linked up with...

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