Review: Big Little Felt Universe

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Enter the big, beautiful universe of crafting with felt, with this irresistible collection featuring a super-cute Asian-inspired aesthetic.  Twelve “sets” include more than 70 projects, from fruits and a felt knife for “slicing” them to a show-stopping birthday cake with decorations and detachable candles. Hundreds of photos and full-size templates make the crafting easy. With so much imagination-generating power, this book will appeal to everyone!

Genre: crafts

Publishing date: March 2011

Offensive content: none

Review: 

Today I'm writing a different review. Instead of the usual romance novels, I'm actually sharing my views on a book about crafts. I have many hobbies, and while reading always takes center stage, I also like to dwell on the never ending world of arts and crafts. For snippets of this other side of me, you're welcome to visit my craft blog, Keeping it Real. 

One of my favorite materials to work with is felt. Felt is usually inexpensive, comes in many different colors, doesn't fray, is easy to cut, and allows you to make lots of awesome things even at beginner or intermediate levels. 

I've been working with felt for years, but once my daughter was old enough to use her play kitchen and cook meals for her dolls, I sort of focused on making lots of felt food for her to play with. And while I'm usually not very good at following patterns (I almost always end up making my own - you can see some of my felt food free patterns here), Big Little Felt Universe was one of the first books I bought for inspiration. 

And a wonderful source of inspiration it is. I haven't made all the projects in the book, not even close, but I've used a few and I can guarantee they are great. The patterns don't require you to make adjustments or to enlarge them, you just need to copy them onto a sheet of paper and cut them out, and the instructions are clear enough and easy to follow. 

Although to complete some of the projects you'll need a few hours of free time (which I usually don't have), they are not complicated from a purely technical point of view, so they are great for beginners. Even my children have been able, with a bit of help from me, to sew a few things from these patterns along the years. 

Some of the projects make wonderful gifts too. Though mostly focused on children toys, there are also some cute decor items. So if you're looking to start working with felt, of if you already work with it and are looking for new patterns, I strongly recommend this book. 

Have a wonderful weekend,