A few years ago I was inspired by the great, geeky quiet books on this blog. My husband and I currently don't have any children of our own but friend of ours had recently had a daughter and we wanted to make them something. Since they are both fans of the Dresden Files by Jim Butcher my husband suggested I make a Dresden themed quiet book. I can't remember exactly but I think it started out as a gift for her first birthday...
We ended up having several conversations about pages ideas. The books have some creepy supernatural stuff so we needed to find things that would obviously connected but still kid friendly. The whole point of quiet books is that they are interactive so we also needed to be able to translate those ideas into pages that moved. In the end we picked 5 ideas and got to work. All of the shapes used were either drawn by hand or traced.
Basic Materials:
Felt Squares in various colors
Craft glue
Sharpie Markers or Fabric Pens
Velcro
Sewing Machine and Thread
Basic Materials:
Felt Squares in various colors
Craft glue
Sharpie Markers or Fabric Pens
Velcro
Sewing Machine and Thread
Page One- A Phone to call Harry at his office.
Additional Supplies:
Spiral Shoelace
Stuffing
Step One: Cut out all the felt shapes. I used black for the main part of the phone, grey for the hook, and white for the numbers. The handset is stuffed so you need two matching pieces.
Step Two: Use craft glue to glue phone to page. I laid everything out first to get an idea of where things needed to go. Hook first, then the phone base on top, then the number pad over that. Leave a small unglued section on one side so you can tuck the shoelace underneath then glued that section.
Step Three: Use marker to draw number on the phone and write message on background.
Step Four: Sew on side of Velcro near the phone hook and the other on one piece of the handset.
Step Five: Position one end of shoelace between the two sides of the phone and sew the sides together. Be sure to leave a small opening to add stuffing. I also went back over the section with the shoelace just to reinforce it. Add a bit of stuffing and sew the opening closed. Velcro phone in place and enjoy.
Page Two- Actually a two page spread with a maze featuring Harry's cat Mister.
Satin Ribbon
Stuffing
Step One: Decide on a layout for your maze and form the path by sewing the ribbon down with a decorative machine stitch.
Step Two: Cut out and sew together cat shape. We attached a ribbon during this step so that the small pieace wouldn't fall out and get lost.
Step Three: Cut out a shape for your starting and ending locations. We used a white house to represent Harry's apartment and a bush for the cat to hide in.
Step Four: Sew the other end of the ribbon attached to the cat near where you want your starting line. Cover this with the bush and sew the bottom and one side to make a pocket for the cat to sit in. Glue on the house for the finish line.
Step Five: Use marker to write instructions.
Page Three and Four- Harry's Lab
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| Harry's Lab |
 |
| Make a Potion |
Because these two pages are very similar I'm going to talk about them at the same time. When discussing differences I'll refer to either lab or potions page.
Additional Materials:
Lab- Scrap of clear vinyl Potions-Stiff, heavy interfacing
Stiff, heavy interfacing Fusible web (I used Heat and Bond)
Fusible Web (I used Heat and Bond) Scrap of plain cotton fabric
Thin cording
Cord slide
Puffy paint or other fabric paint
Step One: Cut all of your shapes 3 times. One each out of felt, interfacing, and fusible web.
Step Two: Sew a small piece of Velcro on the back of each shape cut out of interfacing.
Step Three: Use the fusible web to attach the felt shapes to the interfacing.
Step Four: Layout where you want your shapes to go and sew the opposite pieces of velcro to those spots.
Step Four and a Half: For the lab page I drew in shelves to hold the items and traced around them. I wanted to make these pages somewhat educational so the lab page is about shape matching and colors and the potions page is about numbers. I didn't trace the potions bottles because it didn't seem necessary to me but I did use puffy paint to write the numbers on.
Step Five: On the lab page I made a simple clear pocket to hold the shape. I wanted it to be clear to show the 'mess' in the lab. To attach the vinyl to the page I just used a zigzag stitch on the machine to sew two sides to the felt backing.
For the potions page I made a pouch shaped like a cauldron (even though Harry doesn't mix potions in a cauldron). Cut out two cauldron shaped pieces of fabric but add a bit to the top to fold over and make a place for the cord. Fold the tops down and stitch along the bottom of the fold. Then put both pieces together with the folded piece on the outside and stitch around all sides except the top. Turn it inside out so all the seams are inside and hidden.
The next part is kind of tricky.... Sew just the back side of the bag to the page. I wish I had pictures of this step so you could see how its works but I just don't. Sorry.
Then put the cord through the folded part and then put both end through the cord slide. There might be a better way to do this but I wanted a solution that would be easy for kids to open but close tight enough that all the pieces don't get lost.
I hope you've enjoyed the pages so far, stop by this weekend to see the final page as well as instructions for how to put the book together.
Puffy paint or other fabric paint
Step One: Cut all of your shapes 3 times. One each out of felt, interfacing, and fusible web.
Step Two: Sew a small piece of Velcro on the back of each shape cut out of interfacing.
Step Three: Use the fusible web to attach the felt shapes to the interfacing.
Step Four: Layout where you want your shapes to go and sew the opposite pieces of velcro to those spots.
Step Four and a Half: For the lab page I drew in shelves to hold the items and traced around them. I wanted to make these pages somewhat educational so the lab page is about shape matching and colors and the potions page is about numbers. I didn't trace the potions bottles because it didn't seem necessary to me but I did use puffy paint to write the numbers on.
Step Five: On the lab page I made a simple clear pocket to hold the shape. I wanted it to be clear to show the 'mess' in the lab. To attach the vinyl to the page I just used a zigzag stitch on the machine to sew two sides to the felt backing.
For the potions page I made a pouch shaped like a cauldron (even though Harry doesn't mix potions in a cauldron). Cut out two cauldron shaped pieces of fabric but add a bit to the top to fold over and make a place for the cord. Fold the tops down and stitch along the bottom of the fold. Then put both pieces together with the folded piece on the outside and stitch around all sides except the top. Turn it inside out so all the seams are inside and hidden.
The next part is kind of tricky.... Sew just the back side of the bag to the page. I wish I had pictures of this step so you could see how its works but I just don't. Sorry.
Then put the cord through the folded part and then put both end through the cord slide. There might be a better way to do this but I wanted a solution that would be easy for kids to open but close tight enough that all the pieces don't get lost.
I hope you've enjoyed the pages so far, stop by this weekend to see the final page as well as instructions for how to put the book together.
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