Tiny Felt Cuties and Creatures: A Step-by-Step Guide to Hand-Sewing More than 20 Felt Miniatures—No Machine Required

Fiber artist Iris proves that good things come in small packages with her winning debut, a guide to making pint-sized felt animals. She begins with a primer on hand sewing, providing tips for threading a needle and illustrating how to sew basting, blanket, and running stitches. The adorable projects include a cat, dog, fox, frog, skunk, and dolls, all tiny enough to fit in one’s palm. The process for each involves cutting out felt shapes following the patterns provided, sewing them together, stuffing them, and adding eyes, noses, ears, and other details. Iris offers helpful tricks of the trade and recommends taping paper pattern pieces to felt for greater precision when cutting, as well as filling the animals’ narrow legs by balling stuffing into small pieces and pushing them into place with a toothpick. Other projects are for such accessories as a doghouse, pet bed, and a mushroom dollhouse inspired by the author’s “childhood dreams of living in the forest like a tiny gnome.” Encouraging words (“You’ll surprise yourself with what you can make”) and easy-to-follow instructions will have even reluctant crafters game for creating their own felt menagerie. The cute designs are hard to resist. (Mar.)