A Felt Butterfly Mobile

About a fortnight ago I discovered that a friend from church has breast cancer. She underwent a mastectomy a couple of days ago.

When I first heard the news, I started to think of what I could make as a gesture of encouragement and support for her. She's an incredibly talented and creative person, which I found a little intimidating, but also made me think she would appreciate something a little outside the square.

Carolin loves butterflies, so I started with that. My plans changed several times, but gradually evolved into a felt butterfly mobile. Here is the finished product:

The completed felt butterfly mobile.

I based my mobile loosely on the one found on the Bugs and Fishes blog here. The first thing I had found in the supermarket was a notebook, so I chose felt colours based on that.

The notebook featuring a butterfly print.

I copied the butterfly template from the tutorial, and cut out 15 felt butterflies (three in each colour).  Then I threaded them in strings of two, three or four butterflies, with some little beads down the centre of each butterfly. I just used two strands of embroidery thread, as I couldn't find any fishing line at home. I was pretty pleased when I worked out a system for ensuring they were all the same distance apart, and stitched so they couldn't slide down.

The strings of butterflies ready to be hung.

Next I used a black pen to write the reference to a Bible promise on each butterfly. I tried to choose 15 texts that would be inspiring in the circumstances. In the notebook, I wrote out each text in full.

A butterfly with a text written on it.

I found the inside ring of an old embroidery hoop and tied the strings of butterflies at equal distances around it. Then I did my best to tie three strands of thread to a keyring above the hoop so the mobile could be hung easily. It was a little crooked, but not too bad!

Carolin posted a photo on Facebook after I gave the mobile to her, so here is a shot of it in it's new location in her home:

It is very satisfying to make something someone enjoys using!

As is often the case, now I've done this for someone else, I thought we could probably use one at home too. But it will have to wait awhile - my list of gifts to make is pretty long!