Soft blocks to sew for baby

Stuffing
Place the felt blox form over the foam cube, as if you were putting on a sock. It may be necessary to use a blunt-tipped object to help push the corners of the foam cube into the corners of the felt cover. If you are having difficulty, consider turning your felt cover inside out, and folding it over the foam cube, as if you were dressing it. If you choose to use wool or wool roving to fill your blox, stuff the open-sided cube with enough wool to achieve desired firmness.

Place the remaining felt square on the open end of the cube where the foam is exposed. Pin it into place. Stitch it just as for opposite end, securing the yarn end when you are finished and drawing the yarn tail to the inside of the cube.

Repeat these steps for each of the blox. Enjoy watching your baby play with them, discovering their texture and feeling. You may find yourself enjoying them just as much!

Making recycled felt
Making recycled felt is one big experiment. There is really no way to know just how a sweater will felt -- how thick it will be, how fuzzy it will be, how fast or slow it will shrink. With a little patience and experience, you'll get a sense of what works best. Some fibres will felt very thick and hard, while others, like lamb's wool, will felt very soft, fuzzy and pliable.

Recycled felt is made from fabric knit from all-natural animal fibres such as wool, lamb's wool, angora, or cashmere. Start by sorting your raw material (that is, old sweaters and knitted swatches) into like colours. The felting process creates a lot of fluff and lint; one way to keep things under control is to place the sweaters in zippered pillowcases or net lingerie bags. When I am making recycled felt, I actually stop and strain out the blobs of fluff from the top of the water every once in a while.

Place the sweaters in your washing machine, and fill it with hot water (colder temperatures will not work) and a very small amount of detergent. Dish soap works very well. The felting process works best with a top-loading machine as you might need to open the lid periodically to check the progress and strain the lint. Start a regular wash cycle. Check the progress of your felt once or twice during the wash cycle. You should be able to feel the difference in the fabric as it felts -- it will become firmer and denser. If you don't feel any changes taking place, turn the dial back and allow the wash cycle to run again. Once you are satisfied, allow a cold rinse and spin cycle to do their thing.

Lay your newly made felt out flat to dry. During warmer weather, I place my recycled felt out on a metal mesh patio table. Do be aware that your felt will dry in whatever shape you lay it in. Some of the inevitable warps and curves can be blocked out later with steam.

You might try experimenting wtih running your pieces through the dryer to see what happens. It may make things firmer, or softer, or it may do nothing but make them misshapen. Again, it's an experiment every timee you do it -- so remember to keep your sense of adventure. Once your felted pieces are dry, they are ready to cut.

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Excerpted from Nature Babies by Tara Jon Manning. Copyright 2006 by Tara Jon Manning. Excerpted with permission from Potter Craft. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced excerpt with permission in writing from the publisher.