Monday, March 29, 2010

Felt Cross Tutorial

With all the yummy Easter candy floating around,
the scary man in an Easter bunny suit at the mall
and the million Easter egg hunts we are going to
I really wanted to emphasize to Mackenzie and Wesley
the true meaning of Easter.

That Jesus died on the cross for our sins
and rose again to give us new life.

Since Mackenzie is only 2
and has the attention span of an ant
I wanted to make something tangible for her to play with
and for us to use as we teach her about the cross.

So I made...

A felt cross

with nails, a crown of thorns and a heart
all with velcro on the back
so you or your kids can put them on the cross as you tell
the story of Easter.

Supplies:
1/4 yard of brown felt
small sheets of red, black and dark brown felt
glue gun
velcro
sewing machine

Step 1: The Cross
Cut two rectangles from your brown felt
Mine were:
19" x 5 1/2" and 14" x 5 1/4"

Step 2:
Take the largest rectangle and pin it to a slightly larger piece of brown felt.

Step 3:
Sew around the parameter and then trim the extra felt away.

Step 4:
Take the smallest rectangle and lay it horizontally across the rectangle you just sewed creating a cross. Lay a slightly larger piece of felt behind the largest rectangle and pin.
I feel like this is tricky to explain...just look at the picture :)
(The vertical rectangle should be sandwiched between the horizontal pieces of felt).

Step 5:
Sew around the parameter of the smallest (horizontal) rectangle catching the vertical rectangle as you go. Trim away the extra felt from the back piece.

Step 6: Heart
Cut a heart shape out of felt.

Pin the heart to another piece of red felt. Sew around the parameter and then trim away the extra felt.
(The reason we are making everything with two layers of felt is so that it's more durable).

Step 7: Nails
Cut 3 nail shapes out of black felt. Pin to a slightly larger piece of felt. Sew around the parameter and then trim away the extra felt so you have 3 double thick nail pieces.

Step 8: Crown of Thorns
Cut out 2 strips of felt that look similar to what I have above. It doesn't have to be perfect...just something that kind of looks like thorns on a stem or vine.

Sew the top of the two pieces together

and loosely twist the two pieces together.

Cut an oval out of brown felt (and go through the process to make it double thick). Lay the crown of thorns onto the oval and sew in a few spots to secure.

Step 9:
Glue squares of velcro to the back of each of your pieces and to the cross itself.
(I used the soft side of the velcro for the cross accessories and the scratchy side for the cross).

Step 10:
Glue a piece of ribbon to the top backside of the cross so you can hang your cross for all to see.

"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."
John 3:16

4 comments:

Teresa said...

What a great idea!

Deb (Two Cheeky Monkeys) said...

Fantastic idea, I might have to try this out too. All I've managed so far is decorated egg shapes with John 3:16 printed out onto them. Better get cracking, Easter is almost here!

Puwi said...

thanks fot the tutorial..
and happy Easter :)

saffiertje said...

This so awesome! It's true that easter is a lot of nice things with eggs and so, but the job that Jesus did for us on the cross... how do you tell the story??? This also will be great for sundayschool!!!!!
Do you know the book without words??? gold, black red green white colors??? This book tells the story of salvation,the way to Christ... Great teaching fort little ones... My gilrs love those color books and can't read yet, but know the meaning of the colors!!!! Also grea for autistic kids... One boy in my sundayschool class is autistic. Whit this book he tells a lot of people how we can come to Christ!!!!!
Awesome....

Love Miranda