Colorful Fruit Lace

The colorful laces will help small children learn motor skills. They have to weave the lace through the holes. This is a great back to school craft that can be made in five easy steps.

Materials:

For 1 apple, 1 banana, and 1 pear

• Fabric scraps for leaves and stems
• Yard heavyweight fast2fuse
• Colorful cording or shoelace, 1/8" to 1/4" diameter—approximately 1 yard per fruit
• Three fat quarters for apple, banana and pear
• Fabric glue
• Paper punch

Steps:

1. Use Shortcut 1, page 5, to fuse fruit fabric onto the fast2fuse.
    
2. Trace the fruit patterns onto the fused fabric and cut them out.
    
3. Fuse and glue the stems and a leaf to the fruit.
    
4. Punch holes for lacing. This is a great skill-building toy. The colorful pieces of fruit are very appealing to preschoolers, and little fingers will gain fine motor skills by lacing the string through the holes.
    
5. Knot one end of shoelace or colored cording and lace it through the first hole. Wrap any fraying ends with tape to make a firm, pointed end.