Kid's Plush Book

You can create adorable, personalized soft books for kids. They're surprisingly fun and easy to make using premade fabric squares that are decorated, stacked and laced together. This counting book is based on the favorite counting nursery rhyme, "One, two, buckle my shoe..."

Materials:

Connect-it! squares
Button-it! embellishments
Add-it! pocket appliqué
Lace-it! ribbon lacing
colored felt
peel-n-stick double sided adhesive
inkjet printable fabric sheet
computer with printer
lacing needle

1. Plan layout of counting book using both fronts and backs of "pages."

2. Create title, words and phrases using computer program, and print onto printable fabric sheet. Apply double-sided adhesive to fabric sheet and cut out.

3. Make book cover by adhering printed title and printed bookplate to one square (figure A).

4. Apply double-sided adhesive to one side of felt in several colors. Create felt cut outs of numbers 1 through 10.

5. Create shoe applique by cutting and stitching together sole, toe, heel and strap with hook-and-loop tape (figure B).

6. Add a button-on decorative accent to toe of shoe. Apply to square using double-sided adhesive (figure C).

7. Make dimensional door applique out of two pieces of felt. Stitch down left side to create a hinge. Add a doorknob with a decorative button link. Apply to square using double-sided adhesive (figure D).

8. Apply self-adhesive decorative pocket applique, and fill with six craft sticks for pick-up sticks (figure E).

9. Cut gate shapes from felt. Stitch or glue along sides to create hinges. Add button link and latch with a loop of ribbon (figure F).

10. Cut felt hen body shape, beak and wing shape. Attach wing and beak with small brads. The brad attaching the beak will actually become the hen's eye. To make tail feathers, cut several strips of colorful fabric or ribbon, tie in a knot at center, and glue to attach to hen's tail (figure G).

11. Arrange decorated squares in order, adhere corresponding numbers and phrases on left sides of double pages as shown, and lace together to make the book (figure H).

12. Add decorative button links around outer edges of cover and add ribbon closure.