Making a quiet book can be intimidating for a lot of people; if you haven't sewed anything before or if you think all the supplies will cost too much, it can be hard to get started. Ramya of the blog Ramya DIY, shows that this needn't be the case though. She created this quiet book with no sewing at all and all the supplies costing her only $7! How she did it was with a hot glue gun, felt, and foam sheets. She has so many cute pages that a child would love to play with. Enjoy!
Interview
What's your name? Describe yourself in one sentence.
My name is Ramya, I am a stay-at-home-mom.
Who did you make this quiet book for? How old are they?
I made this book for my one year old son.
What's your level of sewing experience?
Zero.
How long did it take you?
It took me about 20 hours.
Did you use any templates? Where can they be found?
No, I have used my own basic drawing skills.
How did you bind your quiet book?
I used a mini hot glue gun and stuck al the page to the spine of the book cover.
What material are the pages made out of?
They are made of felt.
What other materials did you use?
I also used foam sheets alternatively with felt for the design on each page.
How much did all the supplies cost book?
Including the mini hot glue gun it cost me just around $7.
What's your favorite page? Why?
I love the outer space pages because I think I got all the elements and color co-ordination correct.
Today's awesome book was made by Gabriela for her niece; and has such cute pages (including a creative and adorable Russian stacking dolls page). Enjoy!
Interview
What's your name? Describe yourself in one sentence.
Gabriela, mother of two very energetic boys, who works full time and still finds a way to create magic for the kids!
Who did you make this quiet book for? How old are they?
I made this quiet book for my one year old niece.
What's your level of sewing experience?
Very beginner….
How long did it take you?
It took around a month of just planning, researching materials and patterns and a month to put it all together (worked at nights, for around 2 hours a day, when I found the time!)
How did you bind your quiet book?
This is something I’m still not happy with. I cut a piece of felt a little bigger than the pages (the size of two pages) and sewed in the middle. Then I glued each finished page (with hot glue) in this blank new book. But hot glue did not seem to keep it in place, I hope it does…
What material are the pages made out of?
Felt mostly, and I used some other fabric for the matrioshka (Russian doll) page.
What other materials did you use?
Craft linen, paillettes, felt.
How much did all the supplies cost you?
Not sure, I had a lot of things already, and shopped for things as I came up with the pages…
What's your favorite page? Why?
I have two favorites – the Matrioshka (Russian doll) page, because I’m very proud of the way it turned out, I really didn’t think I could do it… and the pink doll page (with braidable hair), because my niece loved it since she loves ribbons and I think it turned out really cute!
Thank you so much for submitting your awesome book, Gabriela!
Have you made a quiet book that you'd like to share? Click here for instructions on how to submit your own quiet book!
Today's book comes to us from Bulgaria, made by mother Neli for her daughter. It is an adorable book and I hope it can inspire you!
Interview
What's your name? Describe yourself in one sentence.
My name is Neli and I am from Bulgaria.
Who did you make this quiet book for? How old are they?
I made the book for my daughter's second birthday. Her name is Maria so we call her Mimi :)
What's your level of sewing experience?
I don't have any sewing experience.
How long did it take you?
It took me about 6 weeks, 2-3 hours a day.
Did you use any templates? Where can they be found?
I didn't use any templates. I looked on Pinterest and YouTube for inspiration and after that I drew it by myself.
What material are the pages made out of?
The book is made by felt. What's your favorite page? Why?
My favorite page are the front and the back cover because they are all my idea.
Neli, thank you so much for sharing your wonderful book with us!
Have you made a quiet book that you'd like to share? Click here for instructions on how to submit your own quiet book!
Hi everyone, happy Friday! I hope you've all had a good week. The quiet book I get to share with you today comes all the way from São Paulo, Brazil. Made by Amanda for her friend's son, this book is seriously awesome and just bursting with fun activities.
Amanda's has so many fun pages. It starts right off with an interactive cover, where the child's name is spelled out in letters that can velcro on and off of the page, and be stored in a pocket on the front. After the cover is unclasped and opened, you see a clown holding several colorful balloons. These can are also attached with velcro, and they can be switched around to the different color strings, or stored in the clown's sleeve. Opposite the clown is Mike Wazowski from Pixar's "Monster's Inc." Mike's mouth can be unzipped to reveal shapes that match the shapes on his page.
The next page has a car scene, with roads to drive on, a traffic light whose lights can be changed, and lots of different vehicles including a fire truck, ambulance, and cement mixing truck. The next page has a train with many different colored cars, each with a number to help practice counting.
The next page spread is an outer space scene, with a rocket, astronaut, comets, planets, aliens, and spaceships.When you turn the page again, you find a boy at a table. His mouth can be unzipped and you can pull a lot of different kinds of food out (a carrot, egg, watermelon, cookie chicken, etc.) that can be put on the plate in front of him and then "eaten." Next is a dog with a collar to buckle, a bone, and a dog house.
After the dog, the next page spread is a forest scene with all sorts of animals to play with and fun things to do. There's finger puppets of a rabbit, bear, squirrel, hedgehog, garden gnome, and fox, plus trees, a sun and raincloud that can move, a rainbow, a mushroom house, and more. I think this is my favorite page!
Next come an apple trees that also has a bee you can string through loops to get back to his beehive, and a frog that catches flies with his tongue. Then there's a sports page with a soccer ball to weave and a shoe to lace up, and finally, there's a dress up page with a little boy and a wardrobe full of clothes for him to wear.
Watch for yourself to see all the cool pages!
Interview
What's your name? Describe yourself in one sentence.
Hello! My name is Amanda, from São Paulo, Brazil. I love to work with my hands; I'm a dentist and a seamstress aspirant.
Who did you make this quiet book for? How old are they?
My friend asked me to make this quiet book for his son, Bernardo, who is 2 years old.
What's your level of sewing experience?
I'm a beginner. I learn something every day!!
How long did it take you?
I did this book on my vacation. I spent 15 days about 8 hours per day.
Did you use any templates? Where can they be found?
The templates were designed by me and my husband, Samuel (he is art director and he helped me a lot!), always inspired by many google images.
How did you bind your quiet book?
The pages are sewn to each other by a piece of fabric on sewing machine.
What material are the pages made out of?
The cover was made in fabric and the inside pages of felt. For the "stuffing," acrylic blanket.
What other materials did you use?
I also used thread, ribbon, rings, buttons, velcro, pearls and zipper.
How much did all the supplies cost you?
I probably spent about R$ 150 (US$ 50).
What's your favorite page? Why?
My favorite page is the Enchanted Forest and its finger puppets.
Amanda, your book is amazing. Thank you for sharing it with us!
Have you made a quiet book that you'd like to share? Click here for instructions on how to submit your own quiet book!
Today's quiet book is so cute and I'm so excited to share it with you! It was made by Caroline from the blog To the Piechecker! for her son Luke, and it is just adorable. All the way from the front page with her son's name sewn on it, to the awesome garden page, to the build-your-own sandwich page, to the cute fabric (bugs in jars) she chose for the quiet book cover, this book is full of cute details and fun activities that any kid would love.
Shapes page with snap-off shapes and shapes sewn in matching colors on the page:
An abacus/counting page:
I like that the circles are made of all felt - I've wanted to make a counting page like this before, but they're usually made with beads and I don't have any beads lying around my house. Felt circles are a great idea!
A space page (love the Tardis):
Adorable garden page:
I really like how Caroline added the tomato plant growing up from the hill; it's so cute and such a great use of space!
A bees and flowers threading page where you string the bee through the loops on the flowers, all the way to the beehive:
A dinosaur page:
A fish page with tails you can switch around:
A rainbow page with matching color names that can snap on the rainbow:
A "collect the fireflies" page with an awesome vinyl jar:
(I absolutely love this lightning bug page - I've never seen a quiet book page like it before!)
And to top it all off, a build-your-own sandwich page (with "ingredients" for a peanut butter and jelly sandwich or a meat and veggies sandwich):
Interview
What's your name? Describe yourself in one sentence.
My name is Caroline, I'm an art school grad and currently a stay at home mother.
Who did you make this quiet book for? How old are they?
I made this book for my son Luke, he is two years old.
What's your level of sewing experience?
I would say I have a novice level of sewing experience, I am much better at sewing by hand than on a machine.
How long did it take you?
I
worked on this book for about 3 months, a few hours here and there
after my son went to bed. It was impossible to work on with him running
around, he kept stealing all the felt!
Did you use any templates? Where can they be found?
I looked
at a lot of other quiet books for inspiration. Many of my pages were
inspired by the Imagine Our Life blog. I also traced objects like shapes
from my sons shape sorter, and letters.
How did you bind your quiet book?
I put grommets in all my pages and used binder rings to bind the book. I also sewed a cover that snaps closed.
What material are the pages made out of?
The cover is flannel and cotton, the pages are almost exclusively felt, except for a small amount of clear vinyl.
What other materials did you use?
I also used snaps, thread, ribbon, and d-rings.
How much did all the supplies cost you?
I
probably spent over $50 for this project. It's hard to tell because I
bought a bunch of felt by the yard, and only used a small amount of each
color.
What's your favorite page? Why?
I think my favorite page is the
gardening one. It came out exactly as I imagined it and I love all the
details. Plus we love gardening!
To see Caroline's quiet book on her own blog, with more details about each page, click here: To the Piechecker!
Caroline, thank you so much for sharing your quiet book with us.
Have you made a quiet book that you'd like to share? Click here for instructions on how to submit your own quiet book!
