How to Make a Felt Castle

I have been inspired this week by watching Medieval Week on the History Channel on Foxtel, all those lovely castles with tales of romance and battles…

I used to play with my little brother’s Castle Grey Skull when He-Man was all the rage! And imagined myself to be a princess saving the kingdom from dragons. Nowdays it is all Game of Thrones and Lego Knights but castles never go out of style!

This little felt castle is very portable and easy to pack up and is great for girls and boys! I have made mine grey as it is a gift for my nephews but is would look lovely in pink for a little princess.

Read through the instructions carefully, as I made this up as I went. I made a few mistakes and I will let you know how to avoid them!

What you will need

1 sheet of A4 paper to draw your template 25cm of felt –sold by the metre at Spotlight

(150cm wide) 30cm of foam or stiff felt for the padding and strengthening the walls of the castle.

Black thread

White thread

Velcro (black) Not stick on as its not strong enough!

Method:

On your A4 paper draw out your castle template

Draw a line 3cm down from the top of the page (landscape)

From there measure out the tessellations to be 3cm wide every 3cms. You should have 5 tessellations and cut the page short on the right edge so that the castle wall is 27cm long.

Pin your paper pattern to your foam backing and cut around to make the castle shape. Repeat three more times till you have four walls.

Lay your padding walls on the felt background in a line. Make sure that you leave a small gap in between to allow room for the corner. Leave a gap of 3 cm for the closure.

Pin in place and then sew around all the edges.

Use some chalk to draw some lines up and across the castle to give the look of large stones, this quilting of the fabric also gives it extra strength and stability.

Cut a piece of the foam 27cm X26cm for the base.

Sew velco to 6 tabs made of the foam material cut to 4 X 5cm attach to the base fabric on the front, and two sides with the Velcro facing down.

Sew the base onto the back wall of the castle from the inside.

Work out where the other part of the Velcro should be placed on the inside walls of the castle and sew on securely. This should enable the base to be secured to all four walls of the castle.

Sew Velcro on to the tab of the caste wall and the corresponding wall so that the castle closes securely.