Makin' it: Jellyfish mobile

When reader Jennifer Pesetsky told me she’d been feeling crafty and wanted to share a project, I warned her it had to be very easy or most people would feel intimidated. She said, “If you can make The Easy Swaddling Blanket, you can make this jellyfish mobile I’ve been working on.” So I asked her to share the instructions. Take it away, Jen!

Here’s what we’re working towards.

I’m a busy mama with a full time job and a littleÂ company I started on the side, www.KinderCycle.org. I’m passionate about my crafty life, but honestly, if I do 5 minutes of crafting a day, it’s a success. Therefore, I designed this pattern to be done in chunks of time throughout the week and by the weekend, you’ll have this super cute mobile, window hanging or toy.

Step #1 – Gather your materials.Â Pick two fabrics and aboutÂ 9 ribbons or rick-rack. Find your sewing machine or needle and thread. Find your ironing board and iron. You’ll also need some polyfill stuffing which is available at craft stores.

Step #2 – Prep 8 of your ribbons.Â (Set aside the 9th ribbon – it will be used later to make your jellyfishÂ hang.)Â Cut the 8 ribbons/rick rack into lengths of about 20 inches – more or less is fine and they don’t all have to be exactly the same length. You can do any final adjustments once your jellyfish is all done.

Step #3 – Iron your fabrics.

Step #4 – Find something in your house that is the shape of a circle. I used a glass bowl that measures about 6 1/2 inches diameter. Trace this onto your 2 pieces of fabric. Cut out your circles. Iron your circles, if you’d like.

Step #5 – Figure out which fabric you want to be the top and which you want to be the bottom.Â Attach ribbon #9 to the top piece of fabric. Place the ends of the ribbon in the middle of the fabric circle. Sew little rectangles with a diagonal through the rectangle onto the ribbon to secure the ribbon to the fabric.

Step #6 – Put your 2 circles on top of each other wrong sides together. Â Place your ribbons where you want them to be. Pin the ribbons in place.

Step #7 – Â Sew your pieces together, leaving a gap for stuffing. Â This will not be an invisible seam. I used a zig zag stitch, but a straight stitch could work fine too.

Step #8 – Stuff it. Before you’ve completely sewed your jellyfish, you’ll need to put in the polyfill stuffing. So, when you still have a few inches to sew, put in the stuffing until your jellyfish is as stuffed as you want.

Step #9 – Finish sewing. Do any final trimming of the ribbons. I cut across the bottoms of my ribbons with pinking shears to prevent fraying, but you only need to do this if you happen to have pinking shears lying around.

Jennifer Pesetsky is the busy mom behind KinderCycle. Jennifer’s almost 2-year old daughter loves her new jellyfish toy. Get in touch with Jennifer and send her pictures of your finished jellyfish at jennifer@KinderCycle.org

Too crafty for you? Pick a different project from our weekly list of DIY ideas for parents.

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Whitney

RookieMoms.com co-founder Whitney lives with her husband, son, and daughter in the San Francisco Bay Area where she writes about parenting, crafts, and activities that moms can do with babies in tow. She and Heather also publish 510Families.com, a site for East Bay parents.