Lynda Nolan from The Quilting Patch in South Nowra, loves seeing just how far she can push a piece of felt. Lynda has created My Little Train Set – an interactive toy for small hands. With Christmas just around the corner, this would make a perfect gift!
Before we start… All of the train pieces are made of felt fused to quilting cotton as the cotton without the felt is too flimsy for this particular toy. Righto; now that we’ve got that out of the way, let’s start…
Finished Size approx. 22 ½ x 5 inches (56cm x 12cm)
GO! Dies Used:
GO! Trains AQ55367
GO! Rose of Sharon AQ55045
Big Red Engine
Materials Used:
2 pieces red fabric with appliqué paper attached 6” x 5” (15cm x 12cm)
2 pieces acrylic felt 6” x 5” (15cm x 12cm) to match fabric colour
Threads to match
Blue felt with appliqué paper attached 2” x 3” (5cm x 9cm)
Additional Requirements:
Hand sewing needles
Toy squeaker
Toy fill stuffing
2 large black buttons for the back wheels
2 medium black buttons for the front wheels
20cm of 6mm black ribbon
Cutting Instructions:
Fuse the red fabric to the red felt and cut two engine shapes. When cutting, lay fabric right sides together so that you get a left side and a right side.
Cut two blue windows with train die
Cut two lengths of black ribbon 4 inches (10cm) long.
Sewing / Assembly Instructions:
Step 1:Iron felt windows into place and sew down.Step 2:Mark with a pin where the ribbon will be attached. You will want to make this point (on all the pieces) in line with the front lip of the Blue Coal Tender so that the whole train hangs evenly. This will allow the train to hang upright when tied together as bunting. Tie each 10cm piece of ribbon together in a loop so that when the knotted end is inserted during the construction, a small loop is visible at either end of the train piece.Step 3:Place engine pieces together wrong sides together. Inserting the ribbon at marked places, sew the edges together using a hand sewing needle and blanket stitch, using double thread for strength. Anchor the ribbon securely with the knot on the inside before moving on. Leave a 2 inch (5cm) opening at the bottom for stuffing.Step 4:Stuff the red engine with clean toy fill, embedding the toy squeaker in the middle (avoiding where you will be placing the button wheels). Sew opening closed.Step 5:Sew buttons on securely for wheels, passing the needle through the body of the engine and through the buttons on both sides of the engine. Make sure that the engine is level when buttons are attached (if you place your back ‘wheels’ too high, the engine will forever be appearing to be going uphill).Step 6: Give your engine a test squeak.
Blue Coal Tender
Materials Used:
2 pieces blue fabric with appliqué paper attached 6” x 5” (15cm x 12cm)
2 pieces acrylic felt 6” x 5” (15cm x 12cm) to match fabric colour
Threads to match
Additional Requirements:
Hand sewing needles
4 medium black buttons
20cm of 6mm black ribbon
Cutting Instructions:
Fuse the blue fabric to the blue felt
Cut two tender shapes. When cutting, lay the fabric right sides together so that you get a left side and a right side.
Cut two lengths of black ribbon 4 inches (10cm) long
Sewing / Assembly Instructions:
Step 1:Mark with a pin where the ribbon will be attached (remember to check where you placed the ribbon on the last piece). This will allow the train to hang upright when tied together as bunting. Tie each 10cm piece of ribbon together in a loop so that when the knotted end is inserted during the construction, a small loop is visible at either end of the train piece.Step 2:Place tender pieces wrong sides together. Sew the sides and base together using a hand sewing needle and blanket stitch. Insert the ribbon at the required positions. Leave the top of the coal tender open. Continue the blanket stitch around the top of the coal loader around both edges, (attaching the felt to the fabric will protect from fraying later on).Step 3:Sew buttons on securely for wheels, making sure that the coal tender is level when buttons are attached (match the ground clearance of the engine – this detail will be very important to the little engineer you are making this for).Step 4:Place something in your coal tender. Anything will do, it’s just fun to see it in action; you’re about to fill this with white puffs of smoke. Which leads us to the next set of instructions…
Little White Puffs of Smoke for the Coal Tender
Materials Used:
White felt
Matching thread
Iron on wadding (like pellon)
Additional Requirements:
Hand sewing needles
Cutting Instructions:
Fuse the white felt to the iron on wadding.
Cut cloud shapes with the Rose of Sharon die; two of the same shape per cloud
For each cloud, cut a smaller cloud or circle with the scrap felt/wadding
Sewing / Assembly Instructions:
Step 1:Place two cloud shapes together, right side out and stitch it together around the outside using a blanket or whip stitch.Step 2:If your cloud is looking a little flat and needs extra puff, place one of the smaller shapes inside before you finish stitching the cloud.Step 3:Make a handful in several sizes to fit into your coal tender.Note: If you want coal for your tender or more realistic steam clouds, use black or grey felt and toy stuffing to give them puff. I used white because the iron on wadding did not show up and they look so darn cute.
Yellow Tanker
Materials Used:
2 pieces yellow fabric with appliqué paper attached 6” x 5” (15cm x 12cm)
2 pieces acrylic felt 6” x 5” (15cm x 12cm) to match fabric colour
Threads to match
Additional Requirements:
Hand sewing needles
Toy rattle
Toy fill stuffing
4 medium black buttons
20cm of 6mm black ribbon
Cutting Instructions:
Fuse the yellow fabric to the yellow felt and cut two tanker shapes. When cutting, lay fabric right sides together so that you get a left side and a right side.
Cut two lengths of black ribbon 4 inches (10cm) long
Sewing / Assembly Instructions:
Step 1:Mark with a pin where the ribbon will be attached. You will want to make this point (on all the pieces) in line with the front lip of the Blue Coal Tender so that the whole train hangs evenly. This will allow the train to hang upright when tied together as bunting. Tie each 10cm piece of ribbon together in a loop so that when the knotted end is inserted during the construction, a small loop is visible at either end of the train piece.Step 2:Place tanker pieces together and sew the edges together using a hand sewing needle and blanket stitch, inserting the ribbon at the required positions and leaving an opening at the base to stuff.Step 3:Stuff the tanker, embedding a toy rattle within the stuffing, avoiding the wheel placement.Step 4:Sew buttons on securely for wheels, making sure that the tanker is level with the rest of the train.
Green Caboose
Materials Used:
2 pieces green fabric with appliqué paper attached 6” x 5” (15cm x 12cm)
2 pieces acrylic felt 6” x 5” (15cm x 12cm) to match fabric colour
Threads to match
Additional Requirements:
Hand sewing needles
Sewing machine with matching threads
4 inches x 3 inches (10cm x 8cm) soft tablecloth plastic
Half a cup of glass weight beads, poly pellets or wheat
Several small items to ‘find’ in window (I used colourful buttons)
4 medium black buttons
20cm of 6mm black ribbon
Cutting Instructions:
Fuse one piece of green fabric to one piece of green felt.
Cut one caboose shape out of fused felt fabric.
Cut one caboose shape out of felt
Cut one caboose shape out of fused fabric
Cut two lengths of black ribbon 4 inches (10cm) long
Sewing / Assembly Instructions:
Step 1:On the green caboose shape (without the felt attached), mark out the viewing window on the wrong side of the fabric (if you have left the appliqué paper backing on your fabric, this will make this step easier). Make sure to leave space all around the window for sewing (I left 1.5 – 2cm all the way around my window). Do not cut anything out yet.Transfer these dimensions onto the single piece of green felt. Cut only the rectangle on the green felt.Step 2:Inside the rectangle just marked on the green fabric, mark ½ inch all the way around (1.25cm). Cut out your inner rectangle and snip diagonally into the corners of the larger rectangle.You have just created the seam allowance and turn under for your viewing window. When you stitch everything together, this will give you a neat finish without any worry of fabric fraying and still containing all the I-spy objects.Step 3:With your fingers, press over your seam allowance on the green fabric caboose. Because you have appliqué paper attached (without the backing paper now), the glue will help to hold the folded fabric in place.Step 4:Place the felt with the window cut out of it on a flat surface.Step 5:Sandwiching the plastic for the window in between the two layers, lower the green fabric window (right side up) onto the felt piece, lining up the edges and window frames.Weight down with a book for a few minutes to help handling for the next step.Step 6:Using a sewing machine with a thread colour that matches your fabric, sew all three layers (fabric, soft plastic and felt) as close as possible to the edge, all around the window frame.Step 7:Still using the machine, line the two caboose pieces up and sew around the edge of the train piece, inserting the ribbons as before and leaving the required 2 inches (5cm) opening at the base.Step 8:Gently insert your pellets of choice and I-spy items. Stop filling when there is still some space so that the contents can shake around easily; you do not want this tightly packed.Step 9:Still with the sewing machine, close the gap at the bottom of the caboose.Step 10:Thread a hand sewing needle with sewing thread to match the colour of the caboose (double thickness) and hand blanket stitch all the way around the outside of the caboose, the same way that you did for all of the other components for your train.Sewing with a machine means that all the contents of the caboose are contained, but going back around with the hand sewing makes the caboose match the rest of the train and takes care of the fray issue.Variation; instead of an I-spy carriage, this caboose would look great with a dinosaur or circus lion prowling around inside. Just make sure to choose items which will not poke through the plastic with sharp edges. You can also make the train longer simply by adding more carriages.
Finishing Instructions
Fill your coal tender with fluffy little white smoke puffs.Using a fine ribbon, join your train up and hang as bunting somewhere it can be easily found and played with.
Congratulations on finishing your My Little Train Set!
