project: felt feather clips

Today I take a risk. My sister doesn't usually read my blog, so I'm going to trust that she's not reading this. Because I'm showing off part of her birthday gift! Anna has been admiring the scrappy buntings from The Pleated Poppy for a while now. But she's in the middle of redecorating her room, and I'm unsure if the colors will all work with the (super sweet!) mix that are in the buntings. I even thought about making something similar, but you know...it would be safer if she chooses her own fabric.

However, I know that Anna likes clipping things here and there, including along a clothesline of sorts, so I decided that some decorated clothespins would make a nice little extra for her gift. They are so quick to make that I crafted them in between her trips through the living room! These have been left plain, but they'd be great with a magnet on the back for clipping up recipe cards or artwork to the fridge, or with a thumbtack to use it on a bulletin board.



Here's what you need:

Felt
Wooden Clothespin(s)
Hot Glue Gun
Scissors
Iron (optional, but helpful)

PDF Template with 2 Feather Shapes



Cut out the feather shape of your choice from felt. By the way, I'm using wool felt, which is really wonderful to work with. Mine came from Magic Cabin.



Fold the feather in half lengthwise and iron to crease the middle. You can finger press this, but for a really crisp crease, an iron is your friend.



Snip along the edges to give your feather some texture (or barbs, if you want to get all feather technical!).



Run a thin line of glue along the back of the feather on the crease. Work quickly so your glue stays hot!



Press the feather onto the clothespin so that only the crease is pressed onto the wood. Holding the feather so it's folded makes this easier. DON'T flatten the feather out until the glue has hardened or you'll lose the dimensional quality and the crease will disappear.



Once the glue is cool and firm, you can unfold the feather more. The glue will be mostly hidden, but if you have a glob like this, it's pretty easy to scrape it away.




The PDF template has two shapes so you can make the first one (which matches the feathers from this month's wallpaper) or a feather that is wider at the tip. For that one, I snipped the edges a little differently to have one spot cut away. You could also cut these with much narrower barbs.



I'm excited to make a whole flock of these to give my sister. I have visions of how she might use them, but the beauty is that she'll be able to put them to use in her own way!