Easy Felt Crafts: Cupcake Paperweight
This easy felt crafts cupcake paperweight uses just a few inexpensive materials and tools.
It's fun to make and functional to use.
Most important - it contains no calories!
Let's take a look at a couple of cupcake paperweights.
If you close one eye and squint, the one on the left is a red velvet cupcake with pink tinted cream cheese icing while the one on the right is a peanut butter cupcake with browned sugar icing.
Both cupcakes are embellished with candies or nuts.
Mostly, this easy felt crafts cupcake paperweight is just fun and easy.
This is easy sewing. For a refresher on the simple stitches, check out our free e-book on How to Sew Stitches.
Easy Felt Crafts: Cupcake Paperweight Materials and Tools:
Easy Felt Crafts Cupcake Paperweight Pattern (click to open the file)
Craft felt 9 in x 12 in - one piece in the color of your choice for the icing
Fabric scrap - matching or contrasting large enough to cut a 7-inch circle
Fiberfill
Weights for base (1/3 cup, no more than 1/2 cup) - I used small aquarium/terrarium rocks, but you could use dried peas or beans or uncooked rice. I don't recommend sand in case the bag gets a tear.
Plastic bag such as a sandwich bag
Embellishments: beads or buttons (not shown in picture - they were in my pocket instead)
Cardboard (I used corrugated cardboard from a box.)
Thread
Needle
Pins
Scissors
Ruler
Fabric glue
The Steps for How to Make the Easy Felt Crafts: Cupcake Paperweight:
Select the colors of craft felt and fabric to complement - either match or contrast - each other to make an interesting cupcake paperweight.
Print the Easy Felt Crafts Cupcake Paperweight Pattern and cut around the shapes.
Pin the pattern pieces to the fabric and felt and cut out the shapes.
Make sure the semi-circle for the fabric is placed on a folded edge to form a circle.
Cut the small circle cardboard.
Thread the needle.
I suggest using a double thickness of thread. The thread will be used to gather the outer edge of the circle. I've broken too many to trust just one strand.
Sew around the fabric circle 1/4 inch from the edge with small running stitches.
(For a refresher on the running stitch, check out our free e-book on How to Sew Stitches.)
The stitches do not need to be perfect.
Since the thread will be used to gather the edge of the circle, leave a 2-inch tail of thread at the beginning of the stitches.
This in addition to the end tail will be used to gather the fabric edge.
Pull the thread ends to begin forming the base of the cupcake.
Add 1/3 cup of rocks or other weights to the plastic bag.
You could add up to 1/2 cup, but be careful not to make the weighted bag too big for the base.
Tie thread around the plastic bag above the rocks.
Remove the air but leave some space inside the bag for the weights to move slightly.
If you use a zippered plastic bag, as I did, cut off the zippered portion. It does not fit very well inside the base.
Insert the round cardboard in the bottom of the gathered fabric circle.
Place the bag of rocks on top of the cardboard.
Pull the threads firmly to close the top of the fabric circle.
Make sure the gathered portion of fabric at the top will lie flat after the thread ends are tied.
Keep the threads pulled firmly and tie a knot in the threads next to the fabric.
Clip the thread ends leaving roughly two inches of thread tails.
Tuck the thread tails inside the gathered top of the fabric.
The closed scissors helps tuck the ends into the middle.
The "cake" portion of the Easy Felt Crafts Cupcake Paperweight is finished.
Begin sewing two of the top pieces together matching the sides and top.
The singular curved edge is the top.
The two scallops at the bottom match to the bottom piece of felt.
Sew the seam 1/8 inch from the edge. I used a simple running stitch.
At the center of the top, add the third side and sew down the edge.
At the bottom, tie off the thread.
Sew the third side seam from the top edge to the bottom.
Match the bottom piece of felt with its edge of six scallops to the scallops on the top portion just sewn together.
Sew around the scallops at 1/8 inch from the edge.
At the two-thirds point, stop to stuff the shape with fiberfill.
Leave the needle and thread in place.
Firmly stuff the shape with fiberfill.
Make sure the curves at the top are pushed outward by the filling.
Finish sewing the remaining two scallops and tie off the thread.
Select the embellishments you want to add.
I chose a dark brown rose bead for the center top and a medium brown bead in each of the three sections.
No need to measure the placement.
Just position them in the areas shown.
The next step adds the top to the base using fabric glue.
You can use another type glue provided it remains flexible when it dries.
Apply the glue to the bottom of the felt.
Add several lines and circles of glue to the felt that will cover and connect to the top of the base cupcake shape.
Position the felt cupcake icing over the fabric cupcake base and hold in place for the glue to grab hold.
Fabric glue adheres quickly even though it takes time to dry.
Let the glue dry.
The peanut butter cupcake with its browned sugar icing is finished.
Here's another view of the red velvet cupcake with pink cream cheese frosting.
The resulting cupcake paperweight can be a fun addition to your office or can easily be a fun gift for someone you know.
Enjoy making one or many!
This easy felt crafts cupcake paperweight project is fun, easy and uses only inexpensive materials and tools.