How to Make a Mobile

Learn how to make a mobile with these easy step-by-step photo instructions.

This project is perfect for using up any left over scraps of felt or other colorful materials and turning them into a really fun, brightly colored baby gift.

And before long, you'll find yourself humming "twinkle, twinkle, little star..." as you sew!

Materials

To make a hanging mobile, you will need:

Colored felt
Scissors
Pencil
Star template *
Needle and thread
Thin ribbon cut into 8-12 inch (20-30 cm) lengths - you'll want one length per star
Several yards of wide ribbon for wrapping around your mobile
Circular frame - I used the inner-ring from a wooden embroidery hoop, which I got at a craft store
Soft-toy polyester filling

*Print out my star template , or make a simple template yourself by drawing a shape on card, cutting it out, and then using this as a template to trace shapes onto the felt. The stars are roughly 5 inches (12.5cm) in diameter.

Instead of stars, you could try other shapes like moons, hearts, dinosaurs... whatever you fancy!

How to Make a Mobile: Instructions

Step 1: Making the stars

Use the star template to trace two stars onto the colored felt. Then cut out the two stars, and lay them back to back.

Start sewing the two sides together, starting at the base of the star and working around the shape until you get near the top point of your star.

Once you reach the top, stop sewing. Place an 8-12 inch (20-30 cm) length of ribbon between the two layers of felt. The ribbon should go all the way from between the stars "legs" to out the top of the star's "head". You want about 1/2" (1cm) to be poking out the top of the star's "head".

Fold over this top piece of poking-out ribbon, and sew through it as you progress with sewing the star together. I sewed back and forth several times to reinforce this region before continuing with the rest of the star.

Continue sewing the star together, stopping when you reach within 1-2 inches (3-5cm) from where you started.

At this stage, you need to turn your star inside out. I find pulling on the ribbon really helps to get started!

Fill your star with polyester-filling (you can buy this from craft stores).

To help you fill all the regions of your star, you can use the end of a pencil to push the filler into the points of the star.

Once the star is filled, sew up the remaining region using hidden stitches.

Once you have tied off, thread your needle through several nearby stitches before cutting off. This will stop the spare bit of thread from poking out.

Have fun making more stars in other colors. For these instructions on how to make a mobile I just used 4 stars, but you can make as many as you want!

Step 2: How to Make a Mobile with Your Felt Stars

To attach your stars to the frame, wrap the top of each star's ribbon around the wooden frame and sew a few stitches through the overlapping ribbon. Cut off any excess ribbon.

Position the stars equally around the frame so that the mobile will hang level.

To conceal the ends of the ribbon, and to make the mobile look extra colorful, wrap some wide ribbon around the wooden frame. Wrap tightly, so that the ribbon won't come loose.

When you have gone around the ring with your ribbon, stitch the end of the ribbon down over the beginning section of ribbon.

This is quite tricky (you can see my stitching isn't very neat!) but it will stop the ribbon from unfurling. You can also glue the end of the ribbon in place, or do both!

You will hide this end of the ribbon, so don't worry if it looks messy.

Cut another three equal lengths of wide ribbon to make the hanging loop. (I used about 8 inch/20cm segments).

Loop the end of each length of ribbon around the frame, and stitch it together to itself. I have used white thread here so you can see the stitches, but if you use thread that matches your ribbon then the stitches won't be as obvious.

Repeat this with the other lengths of ribbon, so that you have three equally-spaced lengths attached to the frame. Make sure you position one of the ribbons to be over the messy stitching from the previous step!