Learn to Sew a Circus Quiet Book (Part 1)

Welcome!

It's Alicia here again, from Felt With Love Designs. Last month, I started the “Learn to Sew a Quiet Book” series with “What is a quiet book?

For the next few months, I will lead you through creating a few pages I have designed. Each post will contain a full tutorial and free pattern and the last post will end with details on binding options, care and maintenance, etc. I have designed all the pages around a circus theme, with simple activities, to introduce you to the art of building quiet books.

For the next few months, I will lead you through creating a few pages I have designed. Each post will contain a full tutorial and free pattern and the last post will end with details on binding options, care and maintenance, etc. I have designed all the pages around a circus theme, with simple activities, to introduce you to the art of building quiet books. If you are interested in more options, check out our quiet book archive.

Circus Quiet Book Page 1 - puzzle pieces

Supplies:

  • The Pattern
  • Felt (full 9×12 sheet for the background and scraps of green, yellow, red, and black)
  • Thread to match
  • Scissors
  • Freezer paper (optional – see my tutorial on using freezer paper to precisely cut your pattern)

To sew the first page:

  1. Cut all of the pieces from felt. Circus Quiet Book Page 1 - pieces
  2. Sew an approximately three inch tall strip of green along the bottom of the full sheet of felt (I used light blue for sky but you can use whatever color you want.) Leave the sides and bottom unfinished. (They will be sewn up when we tackle the binding.) Circus Quiet Book Page 1 - grass
  3. Stitch lines in the tent background piece to designate where the pieces go. (Optional) Circus Quiet Book Page 1 - Background lines
  4. Match up the tent background front (with stitched lines) and the tent background back, then stitch together along the top using a blanket stitch. Circus Quiet Book Page 1 - background blanket stitch
  5. Sew the tent background piece to the felt sheet, overlapping the “grass” at the bottom. (Only sew down the sides and the bottom. Leave the top open to create a pocket.) Circus Quiet Book Page 1 - background stitched down
  6. Sew the letters to their corresponding tent pieces (Each of the end pieces will NOT have a letter sewn on.) Circus Quiet Book Page 1 - letter pieces
  7. Using a blanket stitch, sew the front puzzle piece to it's corresponding back piece.

Circus Quiet Book Page 1 - puzzle pieces Circus Quiet Book Page 1 - puzzle unfinished Circus Quiet Book Page 1 - pocket Circus Quiet Book Page 1 - inside pocket

I  chose to leave my pieces to attach through the magic of felt. You can add another layer of fun by sewing magnets, snaps, or velcro into the pieces so they have a designated place to attach to the base.

In the last post of the series, we will talk about different methods for finishing the pages and binding the quiet book.

If you can't wait until the next post in the series and want to sew another quiet book page immediately, the turkey buttoning page (you could easily make it a peacock for a non-holiday page) and the Easter egg hunt page are two of my favorites!

If you enjoyed sewing this quiet book page, finger puppets also make awesome, quick projects! We designed a set of woodland creature finger puppets for One Thimble e-zine Woodland FP

(You can purchase the entire issue and receive several more patterns or you can purchase the finger puppet pattern itself from the One Thimble shop) and started a series of Circus finger puppets as well (complete with free patterns.)

Come back soon for Page 2 of the Circus Quiet Book!

For the next few months, I will lead you through creating a few pages I have designed. Each post will contain a full tutorial and free pattern and the last post will end with details on binding options, care and maintenance, etc. I have designed all the pages around a circus theme, with simple activities, to introduce you to the art of building quiet books.

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Hi! I'm Alicia from Felt With Love Designs where my husband, Patrick, and I write about all of our crafty and artistic endeavors. Patrick is the artist behind our designs. I create all our patterns and designs based on his sketches and bring them to life with a needle and thread.

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Theresa Porter
Theresa Porter

Easy page to make and interesting for kids to do

Zelda Foar
Zelda Foar

I love your idea of making it a themed quiet book. Is there any way that I can download all the pages in one go?

Mayra Cecilia
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Noble Member
Reply to  Zelda Foar

Hi Zelda, at the moment, we have only published patterns for two pages of the themed quiet book. We’ll have to chase up the contributor, Alicia, and see if she plans to give us any more to publish. Please stay tuned.

NonConsumer

Thank you for posting this. I’m not exactly following your directions but they are very clear and the pattern pdf is excellent.

I’ll have to post a link when I get the page all finished.