Cell Phone Softie

Put your button collection to good use with this great phone, which is perfect for making all those important calls. Embroider numbers onto the screen using backstitch or sew your name or initials on. If you want to give this as a gift to a baby, sew circles of felt instead of buttons, using different colors for a bright and cheery look.

Project excerpted from Sewing for Children by Emma Hardy.
 

Materials:

• Paper and pencil, to make the pattern pieces
• Scissors
• Pins
• Felt in 4 colors
• Embroidery floss (thread) and needle
• Fiberfill (stuffing)
• 10 buttons

Instructions:

1. Using the templates, cut out two paper patterns for the body of the phone, and one each for the screen, keypad, and front. Pin the patterns to the felt and cut out. Remove the pins and patterns.
   
   
    
2. To make the phone screen, cut a length of embroidery floss (thread) and tie a knot at one end. Thread the needle. Starting on the underside of the felt, use backstitch to sew numbers, such as 1, 2, 3, or letters, perhaps to spell your name. Finish with a knot on the back of the felt. Trim the floss.
   
   
    
3. Pin the screen and the keypad onto the phone front. Starting with a knot on the back, use running stitch to sew them in place. Finish with a knot on the back and trim the floss. Remove pins.
   
   
    
4. Pin the panel from Step 3 onto one of the phone body pieces and sew it in place with running stitch as before. Remove the pins. Pin the other phone body piece to the back of the first one and sew them together with running stitch. Leave a small opening in the side for the fiberfill (stuffing). Remove the pins.
   
   
    
5. Stuff the phone by pushing fiberfill through the hole, making sure that you push it well into all the corners.
   
   
    
6. Sew up the opening.Sew buttons onto the keypad.