Once the acorns starts hitting the ground, I know fall has well and truly arrived. They appear in little piles all around my house where my kids imagine they can lure a squirrel, or Piglet, into the house for a tasty treat. But as beautiful as newly fallen acorns are, they don’t last long in a warm house, and before long I’m tossing them out for the real squirrels to feast on.
These felt and burlap acorns, however, can hang around as long as they like with their cheery autumness. Group them together in a bowl or hang them from your fall wreaths, string a few on ribbon for a bookmark or glue a few to hairclips for a special fall event. The possibilities are endless and they are almost as addicting to make as they are to scatter around the house!
Things you need:
Felt (colors of your choice)
Burlap Fabric
Acorn caps
Needle and thread
Scissors
Embroidery thread (optional)
Glue
Things to do:
1. First prep your acorn caps. If they aren’t already removed from the acorns, pull them away by gently twisting the acorn till it pops out. Brush the caps free of dirt. If you are going to string these in any way, remove all the stems and use an embroidery needle to bore a small hole in the middle of the cap. String or loop embroidery thread through the hole according to how you are going to use it. For scatterable acorns, the stems can remain.
2. Cut equilateral triangles with sides of about 3″ form the felt and burlap. You’ll need as many triangles as you want acorns.
3. Fold a triangle in half and snip off the point.
4. Thread your needle and stitch down the long side of the triangle toward the trimmed point. When you reach the point, stitch across it to the fold.
5. Trim as close as you can to your stitching and turn the triangle right side out. You may want to use the blunt end of a knitting needle or the eraser from a pencil to help get the edged all the way turned.
6. Stuff a few very small felt scraps or a pea sized ball of stuffing into the triangle to help bulk it out then put a running stitch around the open top of the triangle, drawing it tight to close and tying it off.
7. Dot a small amount of glue into the cap and press the top of the acorn” in, holding for a moment to let the glue set.
