Felt Star Baby Mobile
May 17, 2016
With the babies' arrival about two months away (OMG) Charlie and I have been focusing on getting their nursery set up and ready for the little arrivals.
We've decided on a loose 'outer space' theme, (find more on how to decorate a space nursery here). Our chalkboard wall gives a dramatic background, but we've based the rest of the design around bold, primary colours and shapes meaning we can change up the decor as the bots grown up.
I really wanted to have a star nursery, but couldn't find one that has the bold colours and shapes I had in mind. Whilst searching Etsy I stumbled across these gorgeous felt stars from Crafty Wool Felt. They were just the thing I was looking for... although not part of a mobile. After a quick search and discovery of a simple wooden, mobile hanger from Monkey Town Mobiles, I knew I had a DIY on my hands.
What you'll need for one mobile:
10 felt stars in a range of colours
1 mobile hanger
thin, white ribbon
white cotton and needle
scissors
All purpose, strong glue
How to make your mobile:
IMPORTANT DISCLAIMER
When making anything that's going to be use with or around babies and children, safety has got to be your number one consideration.
The risks with a mobile include the hanging items falling from the mobile and presenting a choking hazard, or the mobile itself falling from where it's suspended and causing injury.
When attaching all components double and triple check that they are well secured. When the mobile is in use be sure to check it regularly for wear, and when securing it to the ceiling, if you're uncomfortable putting in a solid and safe fixture get a professional to install one.
As much a making things for your little ones is lovely and sentimental, never compromise safety for cuteness- if you can't be sure your DIY mobile is safe, secure and well made it might be a good idea to keep on searching Etsy and asking a talented crafter to make something custom for you!
Cut ten length of ribbon to suspense your stars from. I wanted to have a random looking patter so cut ribbon at the following lengths:
4 pieces at 12 inches
4 pieces at 10 inches
2 pieces at 8 inches
To attach the ribbon to the felt stars, sew a few stitches right through the star (from the top of one points, through the middle, out the bottom, back up through the center and out the top) to ensure a good strong connection. As felt is a tangled bundle of fibers, by just sewing the ribbon to one of the points you run the risk of the fibers not being strong enough to stand up to the stitches and the star falling off of the ribbon.
Sew the end of the ribbon to the star, test that the stitches are good and strong before tying off and trimming the fly away bits of cotton. Repeat with all the stars, try and keep duplicates of the same colour on different lengths to add a random quality.
To attach the stars to the mobile arms, blob on a little glue then wrap the ribbon once around the arm, tucking the end under the ribbon and sew to secure.
If your mobile is like mine it will have four arms, attach two stars to two opposite facing arms, and three stars to the other arms. Be sure to space them along the arm evenly, think about which colours will be next to each other on the finished mobile when placing them on the arms.
Attach the arms into the central mobile connector and allow to dry before hanging. Hang from the ceiling using an appropriate fixture, ideally securing a hook into a solid beam, or alternatively using a heavy duty wall plug, designed for use in plasterboard, and a corresponding hook- if in doubt ask a professional for help!
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