Felt Play Barn Toy Tutorial

Alright, here it is, finally. I got quite a few emails asking for a tutorial, but I've been in one of those "start a million projects and don't finish them" moods lately, so it took me a while to get everything together. Anyway.

Materials:
4 sheets red felt
3 sheets brown felt
scrap of tan felt
polyester quilt batting
black or dark brown embroidery floss
tan embroidery floss
brown button
red thread

Tools:
scissors or rotary cutter and self-healing mat
ruler
sewing machine
embroidery needle
pins

Step One - Cut 

• Cut two sheets of red felt in half width-wise to make four 6"x9" pieces.

• Cut three 5"x6" rectangles from remaining sheets of red felt.

• On one of the 5"x6" pieces of red felt, cut the barn door. First cut a 3" horizontal slit 1/8" up from one of the 5" sides, centered. 2" above that, cut a parallel slit.  Then, from the center point of those two slits (1 1/2" into the slits), cut a perpendicular slit to connect them.

• Cut one 5"x9" piece of brown felt.

• Cut two 9"x10" pieces of brown felt.

• Cut two 5"x6" pieces of brown felt.

• Cut two 6"x9", one 5"x6", and one 9"x10" piece of batting.

Step Two - Embroider

• Using 3 strands of black or brown embroidery floss, blanket stitch around the top, middle, and bottom of the barn doors.  Frame the doors in a running stitch with 3 strands of the same floss.  Sew a brown button on one of the doors to make a "handle."

•  You can also take this time to embroider flowers, grass, or other embellishments on the sides of the barn (two of the 6"x9" pieces of red felt and one of the 5"x6" pieces of red felt).  You might also add an embroidered or appliqued word or name to one of the sides.  I skipped this step for the purpose of this tutorial.

Step Three - Sew Barn Sides

• Make a sandwich of two 6"x9" pieces of red felt on bottom and one 6"x9" piece of batting on top and stitch around 3.5 sides.  If you want more control, stitch the batting to one piece of felt first, then stitch the other piece of felt underneath (make sure batting is on top).

•  Clip corners and turn.  Top stitch around all four sides with a zigzag stitch, making sure to fold in the open edge and catch it in the stitching.

• Repeat previous two steps for the remaining two 6"x9" pieces of red felt and one 6"x9" piece of batting.

• Repeat first two steps for two 5"x6" pieces of red felt (not the one containing the barn door) and one 5"x6" piece of batting.

• You should now have three padded barn sides, and one single-layer barn side with barn door.

• Sew all barn sides together with a zigzag stitch to form the walls of the barn.  Keep wrong sides together while sewing.

Step Four - Sew base and roof

• Sew 5"x9" piece of brown felt to bottom of barn sides, keeping wrong sides together, to form barn floor.

• Make a sandwich of of two 9"x10" pieces of brown felt on bottom and one 9"x10" piece of batting on top and stitch around 3.5 sides.

• Clip corners and turn.  Top stitch around all four sides with a zigzag stitch, making sure to fold in the open edge and catch it in the stitching.  This will be your barn roof.

• Stitch 9" sides of roof to 9" sides of barn, keeping wrong sides together.

• Stitch 5" edge of one 5"x6" piece of brown felt to 5" top edge of barn wall, keeping wrong sides together.  Repeat for other 5" top edge of barn wall.

• Upend barn to trace roof line around newly-attached pieces of felt.  Cut around tracing lines.  Stitch semi-circle around roof line to close off the roof.  Repeat on other side.

• You should have a fully-constructed barn at this point.

Step Five - Hay Loft

• Cut three rectangles of brown, red, and tan felt, each about 1.75"x2.25".

• Cut red felt piece in half width-wise.

• Round one long edge of tan felt piece.

• Use 3 strands of tan embroidery floss to attach tan felt piece to brown felt piece with a running stitch.

• Thread two strands of tan embroidery floss on needle, and knot ends and tail together.  Poke needle through back of brown/tan felt piece and pull all the way through to the knot.  Snip at bottom of felt piece.  Repeat many times to form hay.

• Blanket stitch around short sides and one long side of each red felt piece, using three strands of black or brown embroidery floss.  Use a running stitch along un-stitched sides to attach to brown/tan felt piece.

• Stitch entire hay loft to front of barn roof.

That's it! You're done!

It even folds flat for storage or travel.

If you don't feel like going to the trouble of making one, I should have a few up in my Etsy shop by the end of the week.