Looking for more quiet book ideas? Check out my new book Quiet Book Patterns: 25 easy-to-make activities for your children now on sale at amazon.com. Full of original ideas and includes a CD to print off templates!
Thank you for all the kind comments about the quiet books. I was happy to hear that several of you plan on making one. (You can see them
HERE.)
First lets talk about supplies.
Contrary to popular belief I didn't use felt for my quiet book pages. I used Pellon. If you like felt you'll
love Pellon. It doesn't stretch or loose it shape and it doesn't get little fuzzy balls all over it like felt does. I would have made my entire book out of Pellon except it only comes in white--as far as I'm aware anyway. Back in the day when my mom made quite books she did the entire thing out of Pellon and painted all the pictures and pieces. They've held up extremely well over the years and are still like new. I've tried painting Pellon for a previous project and it isn't easy, so I opted out, but tried to use it where I could. The Pellon I used for the pages was the
thick non-fusible kind. I also used a thin kind in other places. Pellon can be found at JoAnns by the interfacing and fusible webbing. If you can't find it just ask. They'll know what you're talking about.
For all the pictures on my pages I decided to use felt. It's so much easier to use than fabric since you don't have to worry about fraying or finishing edges. The down side of felt is that sometimes it doesn't hold up very well. I was putting a lot of time into these books and I wanted them to look good for along time. I was really hoping that I could find some fabulous colored Pellon out there, but no such luck. I then remembered seeing some stiff felt at JoAnn's and Hobby Lobby and decided to use that instead of the regular kind in hopes that it would hold up better. It's been working great so far. I didn't use stiff felt for everything, but I'd say I used it for about 80% of the book.
Each of my books has eleven pages plus the cover page. I had too many ideas to make them the same so each book has two original pages--my daughter has the ballet slipper and dress up doll, and my son's book has the tennis racket and zipper page. There's also a kite puzzle page that I decided not to do but am providing it for you. I don't have a template for the zipper page since it seems self explanatory.
For velcro I used the clear sticky dots. These books don't really need clear velcro but I love that kind because it is so ultral thin and I thought it would help limit the bulkiness of the books. I get my velcro at Walmart.
This book requires a lot of fusible webbing and ironing. I think the easiest way to do this process is to place your template under the fusible webbing and trace it. Remember to do the reverse image. Then roughly cut out your picture--not on the lines. Iron onto your felt (be sure to use a press cloth to protect your iron) and then cut out your picture on the lines. This method is the easiest way to do it.
Each template should print out on a full horizontal 8 1/2 x 11" paper. Each page includes some simple assembly instructions. Most pages are done like I did my dinosaur mat
here.
And the moment you've all been waiting for . . .
The templates!
You can view the supply list
HERE.
(To print templates: Click on picture and then copy and save to your computer. Open in a Word document and reduce your margins to zero. Expand to 100% and print.)
Circus monkey can be found
HERE. You can either print it out on a
thin Pellon straight from your printer or you can use iron-on transfer paper and iron the image onto a thick Pellon. I chose to use the transfer paper since I already had some.
I've received comments from people surprised that I was giving away all this information for free. But this is why I created this blog, to share ideas but to also make those ideas doable for you. Please be respectful of my ideas and templates that I'm graciously sharing with you. Personal use only please. Thanks! And have fun!!!
If you make a quiet book I'd love to see it.
