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Daycare Center and Family Home Forum>Why The Felt Isn't This Working????
DaycareMama 07:21 PM 11-26-2012
So im trying to make a big felt christmas tree and snowman for the kids to be able to decorate and change on their own but I can't get felt that wants to stick to each other

Looks like this.....

http://www.johnnyinadress.com/wp-con...1/12/248-1.jpg

Seems like such a silly question but seriously what am I doing wrong? I even tried the hard hook loop velcro things and they wont even stick.

whats the secret?
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Lyss 09:22 PM 11-26-2012
Just so I'm understanding right: its the felt that's not staying together right? Like the ornaments aren't sticking to the tree?

I've noticed that sometimes the smaller pieces don't stick as well, I've read that the more wool in the felt easier it is to get them to stick together but I usually just pick up whatever's at my local walmart and for $.20 each I assume there's not that much wool in it. Maybe for what you're doing you need felt with a higher wool content?

I can never get the cute printouts I see all over the web (that they say to just laminate and adhere to felt) to stick.
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LK5kids 11:18 PM 11-26-2012
I do lots and lots of flannel board stories and activities and my board is covered in flannel not felt. The story pieces are made of felt or pictures I've colored and then laminated that I stick sticky back felt to (I've always gotten my sticky back felt at Wal-Mart). My pieces stay really well on the flannel. Is your tree made of felt also? Maybe that's the problem. The other thing is possibly it's on a wall like the picture and it's too upright. My flannel board is always tipped back a bit.

Also, I'd bet the felt at Wal-Mart doesn't have any wool but if you are using flannel and placing felt shapes on the flannel it works great. I know Wal-Mart used to carry flannel in bulk in their sewing dept. but I know lots of Wal-Mart's got rid of that dept. They had flannel with designs that were pastel colored but I know they also had dark colors like black because I had made a flannel board covered in black flannel. I think they probably had dark green too.

I just tried some felt pieces on my flannel board and kept it very upright and they did stay in place. The tree in the picture could be flannel but flannel is thinner than felt and you would have to cut it with a pinking shears or it would unravel. Oh, gosh I got it! The tree is felt and the pieces are flannel. That would work for sure!

Okay, going back and looking at that tree.....the pieces do look like felt. The presents could be glued on but they are felt for sure. I can tell. One of the shapes do look like they have a backing like velcro....I'm not sure what to say now
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LK5kids 12:07 AM 11-27-2012
Okay, I was just looking at the Christmas Crash thread by Country Gal. She's asking for ideas on activities for Christmas. Heyhun77 gave a long, detailed list of all the activities planned at her center and she lists a felt Christmas tree with foam pieces backed with velcro to decorate that's on a wall I believe. Maybe you can message her and she can give you details!!!
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Meyou 02:44 AM 11-27-2012
Honestly....that's really weird. I can only think that you have some odd kind of man made fiber felt that doesn't "stick".

I use normal felt from the fabric store for my pieces and my boards and everything stick fine. My boards lean against that wall at a slight angle but I've also had them mounted flat with no trouble. If I put velcro on a piece it would stick so well it would probably ruin that section of the board. I glue regular felt to the back of my laminated pieces.
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Scout 04:09 AM 11-27-2012
This is exactly what I am trying to do right now! My problem is that the scissors don't seem to want to cut the felt! Is there special scissors I should be using? My dh says yes. I had the kids trace cookie cutters for the ornaments yesterday & am excited to get them all cut out for them to stick on the tree. I hope mine will stick, I never thought they wouldn't!
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SunshineMama 05:33 AM 11-27-2012
You need really sharp scissors for the felt. I just made a tree. If you have glitter or anything on the felt, it will weigh it down and not stick as well. Other than that, maybe you just got a strange batch of felt??
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Crystal 07:24 AM 11-27-2012
Glue the pieces to sandpaper. The sandpaper will stick well to the tree and won't cause the felt to pill.
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Lilbutterflie 07:32 AM 11-27-2012
For those that have done this... what is the best way to stick the actual Christmas tree to the wall??
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Thetotspot 12:26 PM 11-27-2012
Pp...i have been trying to mull this over in my brain for months knowing i wanted to do this as well. Some people said they used command strips but no way will those stick flannel or felt on anything for long. My plan is to use spray adhesive to stick the tree to same shape of cardboard. Then command strip the heck out of the cardboard. That should work
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heyhun77 04:17 PM 11-27-2012
Originally Posted by LK5kids:
Okay, I was just looking at the Christmas Crash thread by Country Gal. She's asking for ideas on activities for Christmas. Heyhun77 gave a long, detailed list of all the activities planned at her center and she lists a felt Christmas tree with foam pieces backed with velcro to decorate that's on a wall I believe. Maybe you can message her and she can give you details!!!
Mine is felt for the tree, definately not flannel, and then I used craft foam for the pieces with velcro on the backs. We've used this tree now for about 5 years.
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heyhun77 04:24 PM 11-27-2012
Originally Posted by Lilbutterflie:
For those that have done this... what is the best way to stick the actual Christmas tree to the wall??
I've done it a few different ways depending on where I was teaching. In my home I have plaster walls so I used the command velcro strips and stapled the felt tree to the one set before pushing them into the strips on the wall. I also had a panneling piece on one wall for our art line and my last year in my house I put it on there with the same stuff. It stuck way better than on the plaster.

Last year we had sheetrock walls with wallpaper and I just stapled it to the wall. This year's classroom has block walls and I haven't quite figured out how to put it up but I'm thinking it'll be on the back of one of the laminate shelves with command strips again.

When I'm back in my house next year I will be using command strips and just putting it on the door in our living room so it doesn't pull off the plaster.
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DaycareMama 07:23 PM 11-27-2012
Originally Posted by Lyss:
Just so I'm understanding right: its the felt that's not staying together right? Like the ornaments aren't sticking to the tree?

I've noticed that sometimes the smaller pieces don't stick as well, I've read that the more wool in the felt easier it is to get them to stick together but I usually just pick up whatever's at my local walmart and for $.20 each I assume there's not that much wool in it. Maybe for what you're doing you need felt with a higher wool content?

I can never get the cute printouts I see all over the web (that they say to just laminate and adhere to felt) to stick.
Right. Nothing sticks to nothing. Its like it will stick for a tiny second than the smallest littlest breeze will come and its on the floor.
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DaycareMama 07:39 PM 11-27-2012
sorry to double post but i can't figure out how to do a multiple quote message

So the felt I have I got from walmart. Maybe thats the problem... the wool count? I have tried to stick everything to this crud with no luck.

I think i will break down and buy some more and see what happens. Heck I will just play with it all in the store and save some money

Funny thing is that I have a felt board our CCRR gave us thru a grant eons ago and nothing sticks to that. So there it sits collecting dust. A nice big, self standing one too. Such a shame.

THEN.. I also have this.....http://www.discountschoolsupply.com/...&Brand=&Price= and i will be darned but nothing sticks to that either!!!!!!

Seriously driving me crazy!
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Crystal 09:37 PM 11-27-2012
Originally Posted by DaycareMama:
sorry to double post but i can't figure out how to do a multiple quote message

So the felt I have I got from walmart. Maybe thats the problem... the wool count? I have tried to stick everything to this crud with no luck.

I think i will break down and buy some more and see what happens. Heck I will just play with it all in the store and save some money

Funny thing is that I have a felt board our CCRR gave us thru a grant eons ago and nothing sticks to that. So there it sits collecting dust. A nice big, self standing one too. Such a shame.

THEN.. I also have this.....http://www.discountschoolsupply.com/...&Brand=&Price= and i will be darned but nothing sticks to that either!!!!!!

Seriously driving me crazy!
You should try gluing your pieces to sandpaper and then cutting them out so the whole back of the story pieces are covered in sandpaper. It works like a charm and it is inexpensive. Just make sure you get a grainy sandpaper, not the smooth finishing sandpaper.
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DaycareMama 10:25 PM 11-27-2012
Originally Posted by Crystal:
You should try gluing your pieces to sandpaper and then cutting them out so the whole back of the story pieces are covered in sandpaper. It works like a charm and it is inexpensive. Just make sure you get a grainy sandpaper, not the smooth finishing sandpaper.
I will try that crystal . Thank you
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Scout 10:48 AM 11-28-2012
I just hung my tree on the wall a few hours ago with that tacky stuff they use in schools. So far, so good! I have had one of four move ornaments around, which are also sticking fine just as they are(felt)
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SilverSabre25 10:52 AM 11-28-2012
I soooo want to do that felt tree project. But my kiddos always steal the bits to things and lose them Maybe I can find a way...
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EntropyControlSpecialist 11:00 AM 11-28-2012
Where do you buy felt that big? Craft store?
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Blackcat31 11:18 AM 11-28-2012
Originally Posted by DaycareMama:
sorry to double post but i can't figure out how to do a multiple quote message
If you want to multi-quote, click on the button that has the "+ marks in it of the first person you want to quote, click as many
"+ as you want and then hit the button that says "quote" as your final one. Hope that makes sense.

Feel free to try it....we have all been there so messing around trying to figure out the buttons and their functions can be helpful to others too.
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Lilbutterflie 11:24 AM 11-28-2012
Originally Posted by EntropyControlSpecialist:
Where do you buy felt that big? Craft store?
Hobby Lobby is where I got mine. Any craft store that sells fabric. I bought one yard of green felt that was glittery (I made sure the felt squares stuck to it before I bought it!) for $6.99. Then for the ornaments and presents I bought the felt squares which were 4 for $1. The whole thing was $10!
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Unregistered 06:25 AM 02-01-2018
Originally Posted by Lilbutterflie:
For those that have done this... what is the best way to stick the actual Christmas tree to the wall??
I used the teacher trick of putting a piece of tape on the wall, then hot glueing a velcro dot to it, then gluing a velcro dot to the corners of the tree and velcroing the tree to the wall. I used the scratchy part of the velcro for the wall and the soft part on the back of the tree.
The hot glue trick works great on cinderblock. Just put painter's tape on anything that the glue won't peel off of easily. It works on cement board too.
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hwichlaz 06:44 AM 02-01-2018
I've never been able to get felt to stick to felt. I've always stuck felt to flannel.
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BrynleeJean 12:50 PM 02-01-2018
I just recently heard that sandpaper works really well at sticking to felt. i haven't tried this yet and Idk if it matters the quality of sandpaper or felt but worth a try if you have some in your garage and you don't want to waste your craft stuff.
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