DIY pretend mail set

If you've read this blog at all the past couple of days, you'll know it's little brother's birthday this week. Tomorrow, that is.

Over the weekend I finally finished the mail set I was making for him. And yes, that bag is yellow. But that is not because that's his favorite color, no, it's because federal mail in Germany is yellow and has that black logo. We've got to be authentic here, after all. Even if it's just felt.

I saw lots of inspiration on Pinterest, but in the end I decided to do a bag and not a mailbox. Those American mailboxes are not so common over here, and he enjoys having a bag to carry stuff around in. I actually got fleece for this but ended up doing a felt version because the thick felt just holds its shape much better. I didn't follow a pattern or even a tutorial, I just eyeballed it, cut out some pieces and tried my best sewing it all together. Since it's felt, I sewed on the right side and didn't have to turn anything. And because I'm just starting at this sewing thing, the bag took me all of Wednesday morning last week. Oh well.

For the envelopes I considered using felt, too, but I have boys. These things are bound to get dirty or deliver chocolates. So I started making them from fleece as you don't have to hem fleece. Yeah, I'm lazy, what can I say.

Except I didn't really love them. I mean, there were nice and all that, but I just didn't love the way they turned out. So I started over with a bunch of gorgeous fabric scraps I bought while shopping for fabric for another project. They weren't even that much harder to make. They're still all crooked and different sizes, but I love them anyway. Hey, I'm new at this, so give me a break.

I added some velcro so the brothers can add stamps and address labels.

The address labels are simple thick white felt, stamped using my beloved fabric ink pad. I didn't iron it to set it, figuring these are not washable anyway. Besides, we're talking about a five minute project here: cut felt into a long strip, stamp on name, cut, stamp next name, cut again. Repeat until felt is used up or you have enough labels.

And the best part? You don't have to sew on the other part of the velcro, because the felt sticks to it as is. The stamps are made the same way, except I used pinking shears cutting them out. Yeah, the images are a little too small for them, but oh well. You've got to leave room for improvement, right?

All tied up and ready for the big day!

This is probably going to take someone with more experience in sewing a mere hour or so to put together.  And I hope the brothers are going to have fun delivering mail, writing their own messages, big brother practicing reading the address labels...

Until then, I'm back in the kitchen.

Happy sewing,
Swenja