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DIY baby mobile

Welcome a new addition to the family with this cute DIY baby mobile decorated with a flock of felt feathered friends designed by Amanda Russell and Juliet Bawden.

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Juliet Bawden

Published: September 27, 2021 at 10:31 am

This beautiful DIY baby mobile with felt birds would make a gorgeous addition to any infant's room. Use some simple sewing techniques to make your own mobile for a new arrival! It's very easy to make and you don't even need a sewing machine.

This baby mobile DIY is ideal for new sewers to make because you only need to master a few simple embroidery stitches to make something that looks very impressive! Before you begin, take a look at our embroidery stitches guide to find all the stitches you'll need to make this baby mobile DIY.

We love the mixture of colours used for this project, but you could easily adapt the colour scheme to suit your own preferences. It's a great way to use up leftover pieces of felt from old projects too. You could also raid your button box and stitch on any odd buttons you have lying around for a quirky look.

This project was created by Amanda Russell and Juliet Bawden for Simply Sewing Magazine. Simply Sewing is a practical magazine for anyone who sews or wants to learn. Each issue is packed with tips and fantastic patterns to sew. Amanda Russell and Juliet Bawden are both regular contributors to the magazine.

New to sewing? Read our beginner's guides which are full of tips and techniques to help you get started. Check out our sewing for beginners, how to use a sewing machine, best sewing machines for beginners and sewing kits for beginners guides.

If you're looking for more DIY baby mobiles to make, check out our origami boat mobile, DIY kids mobile, papercraft rainbow mobile and mobile kites tutorial.

Read on to learn how to make a DIY baby mobile step by step…

How to make a DIY baby mobile

Notes

Download the templates here.

Materials

Looking for materials? Here are stockists for some of the supplies needed for this project…

You will need:

Acrylic felt (assorted colour pack)
Soft toy stuffing
Stranded cotton (assorted colours)
Buttons (7 pairs)
Embroidery hoop (25cm (10in))
Nylon cord (5m (51/2yds))
Basic sewing kit

Cutting out

Step 1

Trace and cut out the templates for the body, wing and beak. Pin the patterns to the felt and cut two bodies and two wings in each colour. Cut one beak per bird in either yellow or black felt.

Making a bird

Step 1

Stitch a line of backstitch down the centre of one wing shape.

DIY baby mobile step 1

Step 2

From the centre, sew backstitches to create a feathered look.

DIY baby mobile step 2

Step 3

Place the wing on a contrasting body and sew it on using small running stitches.

DIY baby mobile step 3

Step 4

Sew a button on to create an eye. If you’ve never done this before, check out our how to sew a button guide.

DIY baby mobile step 4

Step 5

Make a second body in the same way as the first one.

DIY baby mobile step 5

Step 6

Sew the two bird shapes together with blanket stitch. When you get to the beak part, sandwich the beak between the two body shapes and sew in place with small stab stitches.

Step 7

Carry on sewing around the body until you get to the top of it. Fill with toy stuffing then continue stitching to close the gap and finish the bird. We made seven birds for our mobile.

DIY baby mobile step 6

Constructing the mobile

Step 1

Cut a 35cm (13¾in) length of cord and tie it around the blanket stitching at the top of the bird. Push the end of the cord into the centre back.

Step 2

Tie the other end of the cord onto the embroidery ring.

DIY baby mobile step 7

Step 3

Repeat with all the birds and tie them onto the ring. Vary the cord lengths so the birds hang at different heights.

Step 4

To hang the mobile, cut four lengths of cord and tie to the top of the hoop, evenly spaced. Tie the four ends of the cord together to hang.

DIY baby mobile step 8

You’ve finished! We hope you enjoyed making this adorable DIY baby mobile for a new arrival.

DIY baby mobile

Sewing Designer & Writer

Juliet Bawden is a designer, maker, author and journalist.She has had over 70 craft books published, some exploring and making the things herself, and others writing about designers who are at the top of their field. Her books include ‘The Art and Craft of Papier Mache’, ‘Hearts’ a book of Romantic Gifts, ‘The Hat Book’, ‘Rag Rug’ inspirations, ‘The Art and Craft of Applique’ and more. She also designs, makies and writes for magazines including : Coast, Simply Sewing and Reloved as well as for the web site of both Cath Kidston and Laura Ashley.