Hi friends! This is Jennifer Long from Bee Sew Inspired. I am excited to bring you this FREE tutorial today. We are going to make these darling, stuffed, felt citrus fruit! You use the same pattern for making the slices or the wedges! Are you ready to let the juice flow?
Join me as we make some easy breezy – lemon squeezy – stuffed citrus slices and wedges. These are so fun and quick to make, you will want to have one in every citrus-y color sitting in a bowl on your kitchen counter, all summer long!
Let’s get started!
What You Need:
Free Citrus SVG Cut File (optional)
Benzie Wool Blend Felt (in a variety of citrus colors and white) (Use “BEESEWINSPIRED” on the Benzie website for 10% off your first purchase)
Embroidery Thread in matching citrus colors
Hand sewing needle
scissors
Circuit Maker or another cutting machine for SVG File (optional)
Small amount of Polyester Fiber Fill
Fruit Stuffies Instructions
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Download the FREE Citrus Pattern designed by Bee Sew Inspired. You can choose either the PDF Pattern to hand-cut your shapes or the SVG Cut File and follow the directions to have your Cricut Maker cut the felt shapes. Make sure to use your rotary blade and set the fabric to felt.
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To make a Citrus Wedge: cut 1 main circle and all 8 inner triangles from the main felt citrus color and 1 inner circle from the white felt. To make a Citrus Slice: cut 2 main circles and all 8 inner triangles from the main felt citrus color and 1 inner circle from the white felt.
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Fold the white felt circle in quarters and finger press the folds. This will help with the placement of the citrus triangles. Open the white felt circle again.
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Layout the triangles evenly spaced on the white felt as shown. Use the fold creases as a guide for even spacing and centering.
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Using your Fabric Fuse Fabric Adhesive, place a few drops in the center back of each triangle piece. Firmly press in place. Leave to dry for a few hours on a flat surface. This step will allow you to have perfectly placed triangles when you go to hand stitch without shifting or threads getting caught on pins.
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Using 2-3 strands of coordinating embroidery floss, thread your hand sewing needle and tack down each triangle citrus segment. You can use a tiny running stitch, blanket stitch, or your favorite hand embroidery stitch around the perimeter of each triangle segment.
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Next, using your Fabric Fuse Fabric Adhesive, glue the wrong side of the white, stitched circle to the center of one of the larger main citrus circles. Repeat the hand stitching around the white perimeter in white thread.
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You will stitch the step differently depending if you are making a slice or a wedge. To make the wedge, simply fold the stitched circle with right sides together. Stitch 2/3 around the raw edge by hand or machine in tiny stitches with a 1/8″ seam allowance. If you are making the Citrus Slice, match the second main circle over top of the stitched circle with right sides together and stitch around the perimeter by hand or machine in tiny stitches with a 1/8″ seam allowance.
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Carefully turn your citrus shape right side out and using your finger or a blunt option, press along the inside of the seams to make sure it is fully turned.
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Gently stuff your citrus shape with polyester fiberfill. Do NOT over stuff.
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Using an invisible ladder stitch, hand sew the opening closed.
Your stuffed Citrus Fruit is now complete!
If you want more inspiration, please visit me on my website at http://www.beesewinspired.com. I have tons of blog posts, and patterns, and educational videos and groups! Don’t forget to sign up for my newsletter when you are there visiting! I am looking forward to creating together!
Jennifer Long grew up training to be a professional ballet dancer. She taught ballet and ran her own dance studio all the while sewing and designing costumes for herself and many of her collages and students. Jennifer is married and lives on a rural acreage in Prairie Canada with her husband and 4 children. She sold her studio to raise to raise her children and wanted to find dolls and toys for her children with healthy body images. She immersed herself Modern Rag Doll design and soon found she had a unique set of skills for Doll Making from all the years of costume design and aesthetic skills from the dance training. Her love of color and fabric has led her to become a professional Modern Rag Doll Designer and Quilt Pattern Designer designing not only under her own label (Bee Sew Inspired), but also for authors, fabric designers and International Companies around the world! Jennifer remains passionate about teaching and is the founder of two FREE educational FB groups Inspired Doll Making and Inspired Quilt Making. Come join her on this creative journey!!!