Crash Course Craft: Felt BLT Tutorial

I sell lunch bag sets that include reusable sandwich wraps on my etsy, but I wanted a prop to use for shows that wouldn't create a mess/become hard and smelly after sitting out for hours :)

Thus, the BLT was born!

Delicious, right?

This is a great craft for older kids to make and younger kids to play with as well :)

Here is my easy tutorial to make your very own felt BLT or other bacon-related felt foodstuffs after the jump:

Felt BLT Tutorial

(Free yay!)

You need:

Two pieces of tan felt
One piece of dark brown felt
One piece of red felt
One piece of green felt
One piece of dark red/burgundy felt
One piece of pink felt
Two pipe cleaners
Scissors
Colored thread
Rotary cutter, cutting mat, ruler (optional)
Fabric marker
Stuffing

The Bread

Using the tan felt, cut 4 rectangles. Mine were about 4.5" x 5"

Next, take each rectangle and fold into fourths, matching up the corners as much as possible.

Use your scissors to round off the middle point. You don't have to cut too much into the 'raw' edges, or your bread piece will start looking like a cloud.

You should have this shape:

Next, get this stuff:

(I'm an Iowan, of course my ruler has farm animals on it)

Using the rotary cutter, your self-healing mat, and a ruler, cut 3 - 1" strips from the longer side of your felt. If you're using fancier (aka, not 23cents from the kids craft section) felt than I care to purchase, then this translates to one approximately 30"x1" strip.

These will be your crusts. Sew them together into one long strip.

Beginning in the center of one of the panels of a cut tan piece, attach the strip all the way around using a blanket stitch. See someone else's blog here for instructions on that.

You need to leave around a half to full inch of felt strip unattached when you begin sewing so you will be able to match it to the other end when you reach it.

Next, please excuse my failure to photograph the most difficult part of this tutorial. (I think you can figure it out).

When you have sewed around the edge and are close to meeting the beginning, sew a tiny knot at the end of your blanket stitch so you can turn the sandwich without loosing stitch tension. Cut the long end of the dark brown felt so you have just enough to meet and create a seam with the other end.

Turn the whole thing inside out, and first sew the two ends together so the seam is clean when you turn it the right way. Turn it so the right sides are back out.

Then, sew up the hole you created between the strip and the tan piece using a blanket stitch.

Tie off, and begin to sew the other tan piece to the strip, making sure it mirrors the first tan piece before you start.

Sew all the way around, and stuff when you're about this close to the beginning. Stitch it up, and you have a piece of bread!

Repeat this process for the other piece, unless you're going for that trendy open-faced look.

The Bacon

Arguably the most important part of this sandwich, bacon is created using two pipe cleaners and a piece each of burgundy and pink felt.

Fold your burgundy felt in half the short (aka hamburger) way. cut the pipe cleaners in half to match this length.

Cut some wavy, bacony s-shapes from the side of this folded piece. You will need two of these cuts to make two pieces. Save the rest for later, unless you desire a full-on bacon party.

Cut on the fold and you will have four of these shapes:

Now take one of these shapes and place it on the edge of the pink felt you have folded.

Cut along this edge to get a starting point for where to cut your fat strips.

Using the wavy edge of the pink felt, follow the curve and cut four thin strips, resulting in 8 strips of bacon fat when you again cut along the fold.

Lay them out on the bacon pieces and get excited.

Using a simple running stitch, use the pink thread to attach the fat to the bacon.

Then, match up the halves so you can sew them together, pink-sides out. Blanket stitch around the pieces, attaching the pipe cleaner halves as you go.

To do this, I simply hold the pipe cleaner between the pieces near the edge and pick up the wire every few stitches. I don't want to use every stitch to hold it in place, because then the pipe cleaner would be visible on the edges. You can see what I mean in the photo above.

Repeat the same with the other pipe cleaner half on the other side, and you will have one awesome looking piece of felt bacon.

The Lettuce

The lettuce is an underrated but nonetheless vital component of the BLT. You will need some green felt and thread to make it.

Start by folding the green felt in half. Cut a leafy shape that looks something like this:

It also could make a very nice monster hand

Pin the pieces together as shown, and put a simple running stitch up the middle.

You will be stitching the main vein, as well as a few other out into the edges of the leaf shape. Remember to hide the knot between the pieces.

It's ok if the leaf gets a little wrinkly, because real leaves are a bit wrinkly too.

When you're done with that, blanket stitch around the edge.

Voila, a freakin' lettuce leaf. How easy was that?

The Tomato

The tomato is the most elegant part of the sandwich, so don't forget to make a couple.

You'll need a piece of red and of burgundy felt and red and yellow thread. Also a rotary circle cutter is nice if you have one.

For each tomato, cut two circles of red and two circles of burgundy felt. Using the rotary cutter, I set it to 3cm to create a circle about 2 & 3/4 inches in diameter. If you don't have a rotary cutter, you can always trace a lid or something like that.

Then, use your marker to draw some shapes like this on the red pieces:

It's ok to mess up, this side will be hidden :)

Using short-bladed scissors, or maybe an xacto knife or something, cut out the shapes.

When you layer these over the burgundy circles, you get this:

Neat, huh?

Next, use your yellow thread to secure the pieces together with a running stitch. This will go around the edges of the cut-out parts to simulate the seeds.

When you're done with that from on both sides, put the wrong sides together and blanket stitch around the outside to complete. Try to not catch the burgundy felt with your needle so it stays hidden inside.