https://www.cutoutandkeep.net/projects/up-house-pom-pom-mobile • Posted by Kathryn {Craft me Happy}
A few weeks ago I was contacted by Cat, asking if I'd like to be part of a Craft Test Team. The idea is that we get sent a free craft product to try out and then write a tutorial about something we've made using that craft product. I got asked to try out the Multipom and to create something using this new tool for making lots of pom poms in a short space of time. As I was making the pom poms, I couldn't stop thinking about Carl Fredricksen's house from the film "Up" and wondering if it would be possible to make a stuffed version of his floating house and turn it into a child's mobile, being carried away by hundreds of little pom poms.
A few weeks ago I was contacted by Cat, asking if I'd like to be part of a Craft Test Team. The idea is that we get sent a free craft product to try out and then write a tutorial about something we've made using that craft product. I got asked to try out the Multipom and to create something using this new tool for making lots of pom poms in a short space of time. As I was making the pom poms, I couldn't stop thinking about Carl Fredricksen's house from the film "Up" and wondering if it would be possible to make a stuffed version of his floating house and turn it into a child's mobile, being carried away by hundreds of little pom poms.
Download the PDF of the Disney PIXAR Up house. You might like to print it out onto paper first to get an idea of how it all fits together. Before printing, enlarge your image as much as possible. I managed to enlarge mine by 20% Print the first two pages out onto heat transfer inkjet paper. You don't need to flip the image, just print it as it is. Disney have kindly provided a PDF for you to print out here - http://family.disney.com/crafts/up-house-with-balloons
Leave the printouts to dry for a few minute and then cut them out.
Carefully peel off the top layer of each section of the house and position them on the felt.
The instructions say not to use an ironing board, just a hard surface covered in a tea towel. I found an old sheet of MDF, sat it on my ironing board with a tea towel over and this did the job perfectly.
My heat transfer paper came with a sheet of parchment paper which you place between the iron and the transfer paper.
Using the hottest setting and without using steam, iron your transfer paper over the parchment paper, making sure that each area gets at least 20 seconds of direct pressure from the iron.
Cut out all of the pieces, creating seam allowances wherever possible.
Follow the instructions attached to the PDF to form the house, but instead of glueing it together, use a tiny blanket stitch to attach all of the sides of the house together.
Fold all of the seam allowances in as you work, so that the edges of the design meet perfectly. Secure each side with a blanket stitch that passes through the edge 1 or 2mms of both adjoining sides.
Change the colour of your embroidery thread depending on the main colour of the side you're working on - so grey for the roof, pink and yellow for the side walls and brown for the base.
Once the upper part of the house has been stitched, stuff it with soft toy stuffing.
Attaching the base is a little tricky, so I found it easier to tack it in place first...
... and then work a blanket stitch all the way around the base in brown
The chimney is a little tricky too as it is so small. I found it easier to fold over and then sew down all of the seam allowances first and then stitch the sides together to form a tube.
Then sew down the top of the chimney.
To make it easier to thread through the strings for the balloons I attached an eyelet to the top of the chimney.
Thread through as many strings of natural coloured embroidery thread until you can't get any more through the eyelet. My strings were about 50cm long.
Knot all of the ends of the embroidery thread together, push them up inside the chimney and then stuff the rest of the chimney with toy stuffing.
Finally sew the chimney on.
To begin the balloons, screw a brass screw in loop to the top of the polystyrene egg. Glue it into place.
To create the look of balloons hanging from strings, wrap double sided sticky tape around the egg a couple of times and evenly stick the thread all the way round.
The very bottom pom poms need to be squeezed in between the strings so that they can be stuck to the very bottom of the egg. To do this, use little squares of double sided sticky tape and attach 5 or 6 pom poms to the very base of the egg.
Once your very bottom pom poms are in place, you can start covering the rest of your egg in lots of strips of double sided sticky tape. Stick your pom poms on as close together as possible, trying to keep the same coloured pom poms apart, with an even spread of colour over the whole of the balloon.
Once the whole of the egg is covered in pom poms, stick quite a few more on using squares of double sided sticky tape to fill it out and make it look less perfect. You want to create the effect of lots of balloons all out of control.
To finish it off, thread some clear nylon thread through the brass loop and hang it from the ceiling. I used a command strip hook. Enjoy your Up house!