25Jul | 2012
Nursery: Felt hot air ballon mobile – tutorial and pattern
Posted under Crafting . Nursery . Sewing . Tutorials | 60 Comments
Today I want to share one of my favorite pieces of the nursery we’re putting together for our baby Peanut =] A very colorful hot air ballon mobile made out of felt.
I wanted to make the ballons as real as possible, and researched for ideas that were not so complicated to sew, because some designs are gorgeous but at a small scale can be a nightmare. Ken used to work with a hot air balloon company, so he had a big share of “the real deal” – in my case I’ve always admired the colors and designs but I’ve never been lucky enough to get on one, but I was lucky to see my first balloon festival last year, and that’s where I got the inspiration from =]
To me hot air balloons are just gorgeous! So hopefully baby Peanut will love them too, if not at least he/she will have a lot of time to stare at these guys:
And of course I had to share a template and basic assembly directions so that everyone that loves hot air balloons can create their own designs =] So here the PDF file with the 3 different sizes I used to create mine and the instruncions.
MATERIALS
- Multicolor Felt
- Embroidery needle and embroidery Floss
- Scissors
- Invisible Thread
- Embroidery Hoop
- Polyester fiberfill, or any stuffing you’d like
- Cork pieces for the basket
PROCESS
The template is very easy since it only has 2 pieces per ballon, so if you want a very simple ballon like the multicolor one I did with the bounty flags, you just need to cut different colors, sew them together and place the bottom piece to finish up.
Now I am going to show two different ways I experimented with design for my balloons. First I used aplique pieces and here is how I made it:
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Cut 8 balloon body pieces in the same color, after that I free-cut arrow shapes and triangles direcly on felt, but if you don’t feel comfortable draw your design on the template and then cut, I played with the positioning until I was happy, then turn the pieces with the right side facing up and pin carefully. |
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I decided I wanted to make this balloon entirely by hand, so I started sewing each completed piece with a normal needle and treat in matching color. I sewed everything on the wrong side so the sewing stitches will be hidden. |
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I left one of the sides half open so that turning inside out would be easier, then I finish sewing the side and stuff it with Polyester fiberfill. |
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After that I carefully sewed the bottom piece, if it’s too hard for you to keep it in place pin it first. |
The second way was cutting 4 pieces of each color (red and white in my case) I decided to make the biggest one like this because in my head it was going be easier to sew, and I was right =] so here it is:
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First I decided how I wanted to cut my pieces and draw on the template to the cut it, marked all of my pieces, but right before cutting I decided to only do 2 cuts per piece and eliminate the last mark you see in the picture. |
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Once all my pieces were cut, I mixed and matches the colors, place a super small pieces of masking tape on the back so that they will stay together edge to edge and sew them with yellow floss. |
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After I had my 8 pieces put together I sewed them in the machine wrong side facing up, so that the stitches would be in the inside. |
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Again I left the last one half open so that the turning inside out would be easier. Then I sewed it by hand and stuffed it. |
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Lastly I sewed the bottom piece, and my hot air balloon was done!! |
After they are done, I cut pieces of corks, I just cut the average wine cork in 3 for all of the balloons, exempt the big one, for that one I used a champagne cork that I cut in half. After that I sanded the outside to erase the letters that most of them had. I used a normal treat and needle to attach the cork to the ballons in 3 different different points.
I used the invisible thread to attach the top of the ballons to my painted embroidery hoop, I randomly positioned the ballons and to finish them up I added two clouds that I free-cut and sewed with a light blue floss. So there you go! now you can create your own hot air ballon mobile too =]
I hope you guys enjoy it and let me know if you make it, I’d love to see the designs you are going to come up with!
Have a lovely day!
XOXO
* This tutorial is provided for personal use only. If you wish to sell items made with this tutorial please purchase a limited production license.
Check the Site policy at the bottom for further information, Thank you!
Joy Kelley is a Chilean Designer. Wife. Crafter. IMac dependent. Pattern lover. Color obsessed. The girl behind the HowJoyful Design Studio. Mrs Poodle at Weddingbee.
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These are fabulous, Joy!! So cute!
Ains que hermoso por dios , precioso !!!!!
saludos parisinos
Lovely mobile & great detailed tutorial. I am excited to see the finished nursery!
Gotta love your work… so beautiful and well done! Lindo demais! You have a huge fan in Brazil
beijo.
Muito obrigado Keren!
OMG! This is the cutest thing ever! I love it!
Hi Joy!
Wow, congrats on the finishing of this project! You have a great eye for design and detail. Did you got to school for this? Great work!
I went to school for Industrial design, but I work as a Web Designer =] Thank you so much Cindy!
So beautiful, Joy!
this mobile is so fun. great work with the hot air balloons
This is so so lovely! I wish I was better with a needle and thread — or even a sewing machine! — so I could make this, and I don’t even know anyone expecting a baby!
this is so adorable. i love your style with the nursery items! (elephant lamp!? amazing!) it has just the right amount of whimsy without being too cartoon-like.
This is so happy and just plain gorgeous craftsmanship – so talented, lady!
So, so adorable!! Your baby is going to love them!!
Love this with grand babies on the way I need to make at least one. Thank you for the idea and tutorial!
I love it!
Thanks for sharing
They look so beautiful! Great tutorial… i will try it maybe
Greetings from Germany
I have featured this tutorial on our site!
Thank you for the feature =]
je trouve sa super merci encore mille fois si je puis me permettre regardez ce tutoriel :
http://www.bluemarguerite.com/Public.User.ProtoView.cuke?Crea.ID=7557
j’ai 13ans et je voudrais des encouragements j’accepte surtout toute les critiques! merci aure voir
Oh this is just beautiful! LOVE!! Thanks so much for sharing!
me encantaaaaaaa! gracias
cuando me vuelva un poco mas “buzita” en fieltro y haga mis patrones, te comparto 
Making it right now for my future niece or nephew! So excited for the final product. Thanks for the pattern/tutorial
So happy you are making it!! =]
I HAVE BEEN IN LOVE WITH HOT AIR BALLOONS SINCE GOING TO EPCOT AND SEEING THE LOVELY IMMENSE WORLD ONES IN THE ATRIUM. TOOK MANY MASSIVE AMOUNTS OF PICTURES TO DUPLICATE…5 YEARS AGO! THANKS FOR THE TUTE! THESE ARE GOING TO BE MADE TODAY AND GIVEN TOMORROW FOR MY DAUGHTER’S BESTIE’S BABY SHOWER! AWESOME…
Oh my goodness, I have been waiting for this tutorial for so long! It is amazing!!! Joy you are so talented!
I had it on my drafts for a while! I feel so bad Is till have so many half done tutorials LOL
This is absolutely darling!
Congrats on the feature from Centsational Girl! So cool!
Thank you Debbie!
THis is so so cute. I have a friend’s baby shower coming up next week so I am making it. I just finished one balloon and it’s awesome! Just two questions – how did you do the pennant flags and how did you secure the invisible thread to the embroidery hoop? Thanks so much!
For the flags I just cut triangles and run embroidery floss on the top, to secure the invisible thread I just wrap it a few times on the inside piece of the embroidery hoop and once all of the ballons where places I added the top piece (the one with the closing mechanism) – hope that helps! have a great day =]
Sorry for the newbie question, but would it be possible to make this with basic fabric, rather than felt? Does the felt make the shape more sturdy? I like the felt a lot, but was just wondering… Thanks!
Hi Rebecca, yes! you can make it with any kind of fabric, but you’ll need to treat the edges so they don’t fray. the felt does makes it a little more sturdy, but if you have a lot of filling makes no difference.
I love this idea, esepcially since my youngest son has always been obsessed with hot air balloons. I don’t want to push nursery themes on him and his wife, but this would be a natura. They are expecting twins, one of each, so have two rooms to think about. Grandma may have to get busy. Thanks so much for sharing your ideas and templates.
Joy!
I wanted to let you know that I shared pictures of this project (with lots of links of course!) on my blog today. I’m a huge fan and think this mobile is absolutely adorable! Thanks for the fabulous inspiration.
Thank you so much for the feature Jenna =] your blog is lovely!
Grazie, sono bellissime!
Is it possible to add a PDF file for the clouds as well? I’ve tried drawing it out by free hand over and over again… and it looks so bad! (However, my hot air balloons are coming out great- thanks to you!)
Hey. Love it! Doing it right now for a friend!
For the red/white balloon: did you sew all the top pieces with middle pieces using the yellow floss and then all the middle and the bottom pieces, or did you “reconstitute” one crescent at a time with the 3 parts and then sew the entire balloon as for the others?
Hope I am making myself clear…Not easy to explain, sorry.
This is absolutely so cute! What a great job!
Hi there, I just wanted to share my most recent blog post with you. I din’t actually make a mobile (I’m not that talented) but my nephew’s babysitter did and I featured it on my blog. She found your pictures on Pinterest and I linked back to you in the post. I hope you like it…
http://www.acasarella.net/2012/10/a-broken-commandment_15.html
acasarella.net
Hermoso trabajo! He soñado con algo similar para el dia que tenga un bb, por mucho mucho tiempo! Gracias a ti tal vez pueda concretar esa idea algun dia.
Fabuloso trabajo! Felicitaciones y un abrazo desde Sudamerica (Paraguay) xoxo.
Can I use fishing wire instead of invisible thread?
Yes, of course! they are basically the same thing in different thickness
Wow! Thanks so much for such a great tutorial! I finally made mine.:)
http://diycraftymom.blogspot.ca/2012/11/diy-felt-baby-mobile.html
Thank you thank you for such amazing and simple tutorial! Absolutely love this design. Here’s my version http://goodthings88.blogspot.com/2012/11/air-balloon-mobile.html
They look amazing! I love the chain details you added =] great job Anastasia!
Thank you for your free pattern! I used it last week for the birthday of my son: he wanted a hot air ballon theme, and your template was exactly what I needed! Unfortunately, I had very few time to do something, so my little hot air ballon is not very handsome, but moreover it had a big success with children! And my son was happy, so thank you
You can see it there: http://commeunelibellule.over-blog.com/article-anniversaire-montgolfiere-deco-112351324.html
26 years ago I made a single hot air balloon mobile for my son. I used a tear drop polystyrene shape the removed the tip from to make it more like a hot air balloon shape. I then drew the segments onto the shape, cut the fabric to match (but a little larger). Using a wooden skewer I pushed the fabric into the polystyrene. Once that was done I added lengths of ribbon with florist pins, at the bottom of these ribbons I attached a very small wicker basket that had his first tiny teddy in as a passenger.
Last of all I attached a hanging ribbon and hung the mobile over his bed.
Thank you so much for the lovely tutorial! I did one for dear friends and they loved it. I’ve used the base of a store-bought mobile so it is easily attached to the bed and rotates with music and all that
Used thimbles as baskets 
Here is a (bit fuzzy and dark) picture:
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/40546948/mobile.jpg
They look beautiful!! and I love your choice of colors too, very good job Yael!
My daughter made this for her sister’s new baby, Abe. It is beautiful. Love the shapes, clouds and colors.. refreshing!
HI, I’m purchasing supplies to make a mobile and plan on using your hot air balloon pattern and embroidery hoop idea. Was wondering if it was necessary to use both pieces of the hoop? I was thinking about just using the inside ring.
thanks, Aimee
Thank you. I have two sons who both love hot air balloons. Right now I did in multi colour. Thanks for the instructions : )
Thank you so much for this tutorial! I love your nursery, it’s very original
We are doing a Dr.Seuss theme and I used this tutorial to make a mobile for “Oh, The Places You’ll Go!”
Thank you so much for this tutorial! I am so excited you included a free PDF. These balloons are beautiful!!!!
un grand merci pour ce tutoriel!
A très bientôt
Where did you find the fabric for the bumpers? Such a cute idea?
This is incredibly cute!
thanks for this great idea