Using Up Felt Scraps

For 20 years I have been buying pure wool felt from Waldorf-y places, first Magic Cabin and now A Child's Dream. Pure wool felt is absolutely gorgeous to work with... and quite expensive (currently $3.65 per 8 x 12 inch sheet).

In short, we don't waste pure wool felt!

I recently found Trixi Symonds (https://sewasoftie.com) and absolutely love her patterns for little felt creatures. They are so sweet and simple to sew, and the perfect stash-busting project! She calls her little creations Zenkis.

Millicent Monster was our first Zenki. It was an adorable Halloween craft.

And then we made Spirit Owls!

Trixi just released a new pattern book for 10 charming Australian animals and it's on sale right now at Etsy as a digital download. These little animals are all the rage in the classroom! Here's a peek at Zac's Handwork basket:

"Poppy Possum" in progress

The Australia animal patterns are kangaroo, wombat, koala, possum, magpie, platypus, crocodile, pobblebonk (Eastern Banjo Frog), emu, and fly.

This weekend I also purchased Trixi's book, The Zenki Way: A Guide to Designing & Enjoying Your Own Creative Softies, which will give me ideas on how to help the children create their own Zenki-style patterns.

Trixi has a mailing list, in case you want to keep up with new books in her pattern series. I admit I'm very tempted by the Kandinsky-inspired Zenkis and will probably add it to my Art History resources another year. That project will be an ideal use for tiny scraps as well! We never throw away any piece of pure wool felt, no matter how tiny it is or how strangely-shaped.

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