SUPPLIES

• Acrylic felt in all different colors
• Double sided iron-on adhesive
• Pencil
• Iron, ironing board, and press cloth
• Scissors
• Bits of stuffing
• Sewing machine or hand sewing tools

Print out the mini felt mermaid stuffie sewing pattern. There is a picture of the finished mermaid for guidance, and your child can color it to give them an idea of what they want their mermaid to look like.

Trace the mermaid shapes onto the paper backing of the double sided adhesive. I found the pencil worked best since I could trace well on the paper backing, but the iron would not smudge or lift the pencil.

Don’t trace the hair or water backgrounds onto the paper backing but cut it out.

Iron the shapes onto the felt in the colors you want. I like the cut the adhesive larger than the shapes, and then iron them onto the felt.

Cut out the felt using the shapes. The double sided adhesive will make sewing the shapes easier, but it also makes cutting the felt easier and more precise.

Cut out two pieces of felt for the background hair or water.

Once all your pieces are cut out, start by adding some stitching to the hair or water background. I don’t have an example below, but this is the easiest time to add hair or water details. I did straight hair, zigzag hair, and wavy hair.

Place the mermaid tail pieces close to the bottom on the background that has stitching. Peel the paper backing off and iron them in place. Use a press cloth throughout the project to protect the felt from melting.

Peel the paper backing off of the arms, shirt, and head. Place these on the background and iron in place.

Optional: add the crown and or the beard. Peel the paper backing off and iron in place.

Using a sewing machine or hand stitching, sew and secure the pieces onto the background. Add stitching details like stripes, scales, fins, etc. Switch up the colors of stitching as wanted.

Place the front background piece onto the back background piece. Sew around but leave a 2 inch hole opening on one side.

Take a little bit of stuffing and fill the mermaid pillow. Don’t stuff too much, just enough to fill the rectangle.

Stitch the hole closed.

Make lots and lots of mermaids in lots of different colors!