Joanie2

I have been wanting to make a quiet book for my first grandchild and so I'm looking through a ton of ideas on Pinterest. I see so many wonderful pages but I do have a question. Many of them are made using felt. My granddaughter is only 8 months old and puts everything into her mouth. How will the felt hold up over time? I'm assuming it can't be washed. But will it break down if it gets wet? As a quilter would it be better to use cottons and perhaps a stabilizer instead? The felt ideas seem so limitless and yet I notice also that many of the pages have pieces that are meant to be separates like a buttonhole over a button for matching or Velcro. Is she way too young for a quiet book? I sure could use some suggestions or advice from anyone who has ventured into the realm of quiet books. Thanks.

quiltedsunshine

I made quiet books for my nieces when they were 3 years old. Some of the pages were too advanced for them at that age. Maybe a fabric book would be more appropriate for a baby. There are cute panels with counting, numbers, letters, animals, etc.

Sleepy Hollow

I think fabric would be better than felt.

My mom made one of the Peter Rabbit fabric books for my son when he was a baby. I think you could do the same with fabric that has pictures.

In my opinion, it's never to early for books!

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DOTTYMO

I have made books for 6 months up. Getting them in the habit of holding a book. The early ones were panels cut into pages as above. I made my own pages from two onwards. The toddlers name went on the front in lower case letters to train them to recognise their own name.

ManiacQuilter2

You are right with your thinking, felt would not hold up well for a baby. I prefer Sleeping Hollow suggest.

GailG

I agree with the cloth book panel idea. There are adorable "beginner" book panels as well as the more advanced.

QuiltnNan

if you can find a panel with smaller pictures, making a smaller book for the baby to hold would be a good idea.

JustAbitCrazy

I would never use felt. They could chew off and swallow/choke on pieces of felt.

molly oldham

I make a quiet book for my great grands first birthday. I do not use felt. Not durable. I use fabric scraps with batting between layers. They are completely hand washable. It takes me about as long to make one as it does a quilt.LOL. The ones I make are suitable for 1-3 or 4. Shoe laces, buttons, snaps, Velcro etc. Very easy to more difficult as child grows. Wonderful for church, car rides or anywhere! Teaches little hands basic skills and is fun and not electronic.




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Pam S

I made them for my children when they were about 3 to keep them occupied on car rides, etc. Made one for my nephew and saw him using it during a wedding ceremony (it did keep him quiet). I used a white sheet for the pages (felt like the high thread count would hold up better) and a medium weight interfacing. At age 3, I put things in such as a shoe to lace, a zipper to zip, heavy duty jeans-type snaps (used the actual waistband from an old pair of jeans that I knew was not going to come apart), shapes to Velcro into place, a belt to buckle. Was very cautious to make sure there wasn't anything they could swallow. For a younger child, you could make it all about texture and touch by using silky fabrics, corduroy, fake fur and machine appliqueing different shapes onto the pages so she couldn't get them off and choke on them.