How to Make Fruit & Vegetable-Shaped Toys Using Fabric

Use felt to make fun play food.

Children constantly use their imaginations and love to pretend. Pretend play can teach children problem-solving and social skills as well as other important lessons. Both boys and girls love to play in a pretend kitchen, cooking up their favorite meals and desserts. Instead of spending a lot of money on plastic play food, make your own play food out of soft fabrics. All you need is some imagination and basic sewing skills to make play food that is safe for your little one.

Things You'll Need

• Felt
• Embroidery thread
• Needles
• Fiberfill or wool stuffing
• Rice or doll beads

Instructions

1. Choose your fabric. The most common fabric used for creating soft play food is felt. Felt is very durable, inexpensive and comes in a variety of colors. You can find it in most craft stores. Choose a wool blend for the best durability. Select similar colors to the fruit or vegetable you plan to make.

2. Find a pattern. When you become more comfortable making felt food, then you design your own patterns. However, you should start with a pattern to avoid frustration. You can find free patterns or for-sale patterns on the Internet by doing a basic search.

3. Trace the pattern pieces on the corresponding colors of felt. Use sharp sewing scissors to cut out the shapes. Save any scrap material because you can use it for small details in future sewing projects. Lay the pieces out in front of you.

4. Sew the pattern pieces together. Patterns have instructions that tell you how to sew the pieces together. Don't forget to leave an opening so you can stuff the toy.

5. Stuff your fabric food with fiberfill or wool stuffing. You can also add details like rice or doll beads to the bottom of your felt food to give it some weight and help it stand up on its own. Close up the opening with a few stitches.

References

• Felt Food 101: How to Make Felt Food

Resources

• Read this Article in Spanish
• Mr. Monkeysuit: Felt Strawberry