Quiet Book Series: Page 2 - Schoolhouse Rocks!

Quiet Book Series: Page 2 - Schoolhouse Rocks! Theme

Hello! This is Hannah from Homemade Heartfelt. During this back-to-school season, introduce your little one to the fun of learning with this interactive school themed quiet book page tutorial. The nostalgic schoolhouse will be instantly recognized by adults and once those little hands open the school doors, they will surely begin to play “school" with delight. This page features two finger puppets (one teacher and one student), and a real working chalkboard with eraser. Little hands will learn to put things into and take things out of the pocket, how to put on a finger puppet, write with chalk, and button the eraser on and off. The more the child draws, the more erasing he will need to do. Practice makes perfect with buttoning!

As this is part 2 of this series, this blog post will also show you how to connect your two quiet book pages together, back-to-back. This way you will begin to build your very own My Quiet Book, also known as a busy book.

My Schoolhouse Quiet Book Page

Size: Approx. 9x12 inches

Difficulty Level: Intermediate

 Supplies to gather: 

• Assorted Pack of 9x12 inch Craft Felt from thefeltstore.com
• Specific Colors Used: Brown, Gold, Beige, White (2), Light Apricot, Black, Yellow, Red, Apple Green, and Light Blue
• Ribbon in 1/8” width (see mine in light blue) Blackboard Fabric with instructions - approx. 5x4 inches
• Various buttons such as a crayon, an apple, two small hearts*
• Needle
• Black, white, and red embroidery floss

Note: You can find all kinds of ribbons, buttons and floss at your local arts and craft store. 

• Sewing machine thread in light blue, white, yellow, green, tan, black and red
• Sewing machine
• X-acto knife (not pictured)
• Fabric scissors
• Hot glue and hot glue gun
• Hammer
• 2 eyelets and eyelet tool
• Straight pins (optional)
• Scalloped pinking shears (optional)
• Chalk (to play with afterwards/not pictured)
• My Schoolhouse Rocks! pattern printed out to your desired size:

Downloadable template here:

My Schoolhouse Rocks Pattern PDF

Instructions:

1. Print the pattern on an 8.5 x 11-inch piece of paper (make sure “narrow margins” have been selected). You might want to enlarge it up to 10%. Cut out the pattern and pin shapes onto the designated colors of felt. Cut around the edges. Please note that some shapes need two pieces. Remove pattern and pins. Lay out your pieces, ensuring you know what each piece is and where it will go on the quiet book page. I like to lay mine out on a white 9x12 inch piece of acrylic craft felt, but you could use any base color you prefer.

2. Student Braids: Hot glue the 6 brown strips into 2 groups of 3 at the very top. Braid the strands of felt carefully and add a very small amount of hot glue at the bottom to secure the braids. Use the light blue 1/8” ribbon to wrap around it to resemble a hair elastic. Tie a miniature bow and hot glue it at the base of each braid. Set it aside for later.

3. Embroidery Details: Thread your needle with black embroidery floss. I like to separate the strands and only use two strands for hand sewing for a thinner line. Sew knots for eyes and use the backstitch for the smile and to stitch “MY SCHOOLHOUSE” or another title onto the schoolhouse sign. I used pins to help me secure the piece on straight. I also sewed the heart buttons onto the teacher puppet’s green dress, and a crayon button onto the student’s blue shirt. Ensure the button is near the middle of the puppet so it won’t be in the way of the sewing machine's presser foot later on.

Optional: Eliminate hand stitching by using printable fabric for the words and/or puffy fabric paint with a fine tip to draw on the faces. Glue down the buttons instead if you feel this would be suitable for the age of your child.

4. Thread the sewing machine with light blue thread and set it to the zig-zag stitch. I like to make the width smaller than the default setting on my machine for a tighter stitch. Sew the blue windows onto the doors of the schoolhouse. Be sure to secure the beginning and ends of your stitches by sewing back and forth (back tack), layering the stitches for a secure and tight ending. Remember that children will be touching your page over and over again, so I like to try to reduce the chances of any stitches coming loose in the future.

a. Switch the stitch to straight stitch and on the student finger puppet, sew across the top and bottom of the blue shirt onto just one layer of the body. Then add the second layer of the body and sew along the sides of the shirt, around the top of the head and down the other side securing the beginning and ends of your stitches. The blue thread on the head of the finger puppet will be covered up later with the hair. Always check the back of your finger puppets to make sure you have stayed on both pieces of felt. If this is challenging for you, consider only cutting the front of the puppet and leaving a larger shape for the back of the puppet and trimming the edges after sewing. Trim any pieces that may have shifted during sewing, as well as stretch the felt into place. As you can see in my photo, my blue shirt was crooked until I trimmed and stretched it into shape.

b. While you have the white thread in your machine, stitch a straight stitch across the top of the white scalloped collar on the teacher’s green dress, just to secure it. 

6. Thread the sewing machine with green thread and use a straight stitch to secure the bottom of the green dress. Add the second (back) layer of the teacher and stitch only the left and right side of the finger puppet, leaving the top open for the next step.

b. Position your red pieces (bell tower and school frame) and your blackboard fabric, making sure to leave room for the gold felt frame of the blackboard. Once you have the pieces in their correct position, remove the red felt and the golden frame. Stitch the blackboard onto the page with the zig-zag stitch in yellow thread. Then stitch the gold felt frame to cover the edges of the blackboard.

8. Thread the sewing machine with brown thread and use the zig-zag stitch to sew the chalk ledge on the bottom of the chalkboard.

9. Thread the sewing machine with the red thread and use the zig-zag stitch to sew down the school bell tower. Be sure to lay it out first to position it correctly. Then lay out the main building and sew above the schoolhouse doors first, then begin on the bottom left and continue sewing around the edge of the schoolhouse clockwise.

10. Now, onto making the chalkboard eraser. Thread the sewing machine with black thread but take care as it can be hard to see black thread on black felt! Fold the black piece of felt in half and sew a straight stitch around the edge. In the center, sew a simple rectangle 3 times or use the buttonhole feature on your sewing machine. Fold the black rectangle in half and cut a slit inside the rectangle you just sewed. Make sure your button fits. You might need to send it through the hole several times to stretch it out for your child. Essentially, the eraser becomes the buttonhole for the apple button.

a. Sew your apple button by hand with red embroidery floss just above the brown chalk ledge. Knot your apple button thread on the back of the page. Button the black eraser securely over the apple button to secure it in place.

11. Return to the student finger puppet. I decided to just hot glue the braids on as well as the rest of the hair because of the thickness. I also thought it would be neater than sewing it.

How to Attach Quiet Book Pages Together:

1. Choose the two quiet book pages that you’d like to sew back-to-back. I usually like to pair one that has designs near the edge with one that is clear near the edges, so I only have to keep an eye on one side while sewing. I chose to face the schoolhouse on the bottom side and the road trip page on the top as the front page.

2. Thread the sewing machine with white thread (or whatever color your pages are). Use the straight stitch to sew around the edges. You may want to pin them together, but I never do. The felt sheets have likely become slightly misshaped from appliqueing all the pieces on them and it will shift during sewing. I trim the edges afterwards and everything looks straight again!

3. Decide where your eyelets will go. Mine were approximately 3.5 inches from the top and bottom of the page along the left side of the road trip page. Don’t worry if you need to move the location to suit your pages, just make sure to be consistent with all your pages. Sometimes I have had to cut into my designs, it’s okay. Use an Xacto knife over a self-healing mat to cut a small square.

4. Follow the directions on the eyelet package, but basically you are making a sandwich: eyelet, felt, eyelet. Use two conjoining eyelets and the eyelet tool with base. Hammer to secure the grommet.