When Sage was small I thrifted a big bag of plastic easter eggs. I was happy to have something to hide treats in during our spring celebration (and happy to have not purchased them new) but always felt a slight disconnect when I pulled them out each year. They were a little hiccup in our sweet, natural holiday - a bright plastic spot in our woolen and wooden and otherwise earthy spring baskets.
Five springs later I started wondering: could I make a natural replacement for plastic eggs? They would need to be outdoor-friendly and made to contain a tiny treat. I thought about these for weeks last spring until I had an aha! moment and realized how to make them.
Felt Easter Eggs are quick, cute, and infinately reusable. As a bonus the wool felt will stick to tree trunks so you can hide your treats in some unconventional locations! (Cudos to my sister, Titi for this brilliant discovery.) And if you sew with cotton thread and use 100% wool felt any you miss will biodegrade. What more can you ask for?
Felt Easter Egg Tutorial
Materials:
- Small scraps of wool felt
- Contrasting thread
- Hand sewing needle or sewing machine
- Buttons, gems, or other embellishments (optional)
Step 1: Cut out two egg shapes for each woolen egg. Mine are just larger than a chicken egg, approximately 2 1/2" x 3". Cut with a pinking shears or straight shears. The choice is yours. Trim the egg you would like on top to be 1/8" smaller than the bottom egg.
Step 2: Cut an opening 1/3 of the way down from the point of the egg. (Cut the top egg only.) I love the look of a "cracked egg" with a zig-zagging line, but a round hole, an "H" shape, or curvy line works as well. (Do not cut simply a straight line as it can be difficult to get a treat inside without tearing the felt.)
Step 3: Choose yoru embellishments. Mine are wool but we love buttons and any thing sparkly. Especially the sparkly.
Step 4: Set aside the bottom egg. Sew embellishments to the top egg by hand or machine. (My blue flower hides a curvey opening in the yellow egg.)
Step 5: Carefully place the top egg over the bottom egg. Using a contrasting thread, zig-zag or decorative stitch the entire perimiter. Backstitch at the end of your seam.
Your egg is done! You can easily make enough for a backyard egg hunt in an evening. With practice mine took less than five mintues each.
Last spring we kept our felt eggs a secret until our egg hunt was on and the kids were amazed at the woolen eggs that they found. Gentle spring magic, indeed.
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Check back tomorrow and Monday for handmade paper-mâché easter eggs (another sweet plastic-alternative for your spring celebration) and ideas for simple, natural gifts for your spring baskets! (Or for daily updates follow Clean. on Facebook.)
Love,
Rachel
