Today I’m reposting an oldie but a goodie…. the very first big, complicated sewing project I tackled when I first became a mother. I made this quiet book eight years ago for my little baby who is turning nine in a few weeks. I am going to have a nine year old! Ack!
But enough reminiscing.
First page: an artist’s palette. Each of the colors snaps onto the palette. It’s a matching game.
Then we have Mr. Elephant. If you pull on his tail, he sucks the peanuts up his trunk.
On the next page, the belt on top of the pants can be latched and unlatched. Luckily these pants won’t fall down… hee hee!
One of my favorite pages is the treasure chest. It has a real lock and key and when you unlock it, you can reach into the pocket on front. Sometimes I put fruit snacks or secret messages in there for my kids to find.
The next page is shoe tying. I have since changed out the purple cording for real shoelaces. That cording was a nightmare for me to tie and impossible for any child.
The next page is a piggy bank and a tithing envelope. The kids use the fake money to decide how much money they should save and how much goes to tithing.
Then we have the face page. It’s everyone’s favorite page. The face pieces are all lined with felt so they stick to the felt face shape. If you look carefully, you can see that the page is actually a big pocket so that all the face pieces can be stored inside.
After all these years, I still haven’t finished the “family tree” page. There are supposed to be apples with pictures of our family on them that they can velcro on and off the tree. Oh, well. It was a good idea.
The next page is Jonah and the whale. The whale has a zippy mouth so he can eat Jonah.
The red, white and blue page is a big pocket that holds paper dolls.
My son loves the race track page. The little micromachine car can drive around the track and “park” in the light green pocket. All of the road signs snap on and off too.
Next we have hair braiding. The flowers on her hat can also be buttoned and unbuttoned.
The fishing page is fun. I put paper clips inside the fish so that the magnet on the end of the fishing pole will grab them. All the stuff can be stored behind the page… do you like that water scalloped edge on the pocket?
The very last page has two pockets. One holds crayons and the other holds a little pad of paper to draw on.
The book cover is made of denim. Each page in the book has three buttonholes down the sides. I slid metal rings through the buttonholes to bind the book together. The pages are all stabilized with iron-on fusing.
I also made a bag to store it in:
This project was a labor of love, but definitely worth it. My kids still love this book!
This is SO awesome! I would love to have a book like this when I have children! Great job!
Thanks, Heather!
Wow, I can't believe I haven't seen this on Pinterest yet – I just pinned it for ya! This is really spectacular…I'm so impressed! This would also be a good chance to practice some sewing skills like zippers. I would probably change a couple of things, being that we are a non-religious family, but the piggy bank is a good idea nonetheless. Beautifully done! And yes, I love that scalloped water edge! A lot of this seems self explanatory, but did you have any sections you felt could be spelled out to a newer sewer like myself?
My only suggestion would be to line every page with stiff iron-on interfacing. It keeps the fabric from puckering when you do all of the zig zag stitching on the edges of shapes. You will learn the most by doing, so I say give it a try!
Wow – that is one of the best books I have seen yet and not as bulky or cumbersome as some tend to get – good job!
Thank you so much! It sure has been fun for my kids.