120+ Fabrics Inspired by Children's Books

We love fabric and we love children's books...so we really LOVE fabric inspired by our favorite children's books.  Since we've been celebrating books all last month here at Pieces by Polly...and we're pretty much always celebrating fabric around here, I thought it would be fun to do a little of both.

I've rounded up links to over 120 fabrics inspired by Children's books, plus you can enter my giveaway for some fun book fabric panels here.

While, I'm generally not a fan of licensed fabric (sorry, Dora the Explorer, Seahawks, and Tinkerbell fans...those fabrics just aren't for me!), I do have a huge weak spot for fabric inspired by the art in our favorite children's books...even more so when the illustrator themselves were involved with designing the fabric.  With the right fabric, you can turn any project into something that will inspire your kids to love books.

It can be surprising hard to find discover some of these collections, if you don't already know what's out there (try googling "book fabric" and you're likely to be searching for a while.)  So...I thought I'd do a round-up of some of my favorites.  A big thanks to my fabric sponsors who all suggested a few lines I didn't know about...including some lines that they didn't carry themselves.

Fabric lines go in and out of print, just like books.  Actually...not quite like books because many fabrics tend to go out of print within a year or two...sometimes the fabric company reprints popular lines...and sometimes not.  I've been working on this post for a couple weeks, and at the time I found the fabric, all of the links went to active listings.  Inventories of fabric shops can fluctuate quickly.  If the shop I've linked to, no longer carries the fabric, try doing a Google, Etsy, or eBay search to see if you can find it somewhere else.

And if you know of fabric likes that are based on children's books that I missed, please let me know in the comments.  I'd love to add to this post or do a follow up post as new lines come out.

Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus! by Mo Willems for Cloud 9 Fabrics
I decided to start out with this fabric because it is currently my favorite book fabric.  If you haven't been so lucky as to come across Mo Willem's books, you need to go to your library or favorite bookstore and find some.  They weren't around when I was a kid, but they are FUNNY and they're easy to read...perfect for beginning readers who need a FUN read to draw them in.  If you follow Cloud 9 Fabric on Instagram, you may have seen this post that implies they're working on a Knuffle Bunny line, but I'm really keeping my fingers crossed that Mo Willems and Cloud 9 fabrics will come up with Elephant and Piggie fabrics before all my kids grow out of their books.  (Anson's only 2 though...so that gives them a few years.) 

The Pigeon Chorus Line Repeat, The Pigeon Frenzied, Organic Pigeon Speak, The Pigeon Dreams!, Pigeon Cheater Print, Pigeon Feathers Mint/Blue, Organic Pigeon Stripes, Pigeon Feathers White,

The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Andover Fabrics - We've loved the Very Hungry Caterpillar around here for a LONG time.  Back when Becca turned one (and my blog was very young), I made her a special Very Hungry Caterpillar shirt and skirt, and we also made her a Very Hungry Cateripillar Cupcake Cake.  I am in LOVE with this Very Hungry Caterpillar Line by Eric Carle for Andover Fabrics.  Now that I've done several things with Dr. Seuss, I may just need to move on to Eric Carle as my next fabric obsession.  I am definitely going to have to get my hands on some of these.

Mostly left to right and top to bottom: Very Hungry Caterpillar Fat Quarter plus Panel from Sisters and Quilters, Very Hungry Caterpillar-Large, Very Hungry Catterpillar Abstract Dots, Very Hungry Caterpillar Yellow Numbers, Very Hungry Caterpillar Scattered Dots White, Very Hungry Caterpillar Grass Red, Very Hungry Caterpillar Dots Multi,  Very Hungry Caterpillar Panel, Very Hungry Caterpillar Small Scattered Fruit, Very Hungry Caterpillar Green Grass, Very Hungry Caterpillar Grass Blue, Very Hungry Caterpillar Food Stripe

Goodnight Moon from Cloud 9 Fabrics and Quilting Treasures - We've probably got 3 or 4 copies of Goodnight Moon at our house.  Both of our adopted kids received copies from their birth parents as babies and we've been given a couple other copies as well.  It's so hard to pick a favorite...but my favorite just might be the little yellow mice print.

Goodnight Moon Half-Yard Bundle from Honey Bee Good, Goodnight Moon Organic Mouse Yellow, Goodnight Moon Green Bunnies, Goodnight Moon Diagonal Stripes Yellow and Green, Goodnight Moon Stars by Quilting Treasures,  Goodnight Moon Orange Bunnies, Goodnight Moon Organic Red and White Balloon, Goodnight Moon Diagonal Stripe Blue and White, Goodnight Moon Cats and Kittens Yellow, Goodnight Moon Half Moons, Goodnight Moon Panel,

Impromptu Caterpillar Lesson for Mom

This morning the kids got up on the early side and found a caterpillar somewhere in the house.  Firecracker was super excited because they're studying caterpillars and butterflies right now in kindergarten.

After we looked at the caterpillar for a while, and played with it...

The Very Hungry Caterpillar - Read Along with Me

We've been fans of the Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle for a long time.  (I love the board book version since it gets handled a lot.)  It was even the theme of Sweet Pea's first birthday party (links to those details at the bottom of this post if you're interested.)

(Art Display Board Tutorial here.  No cutting machine required.)

Seriously...what's not to love about a book featuring so many delicious fruits and yummy treats with little holes for little fingers to poke into...not to mention that mommy likes that it teaches numbers, days of the week, and caterpillar/butterfly life cycles...all in a story that's short enough for young attention spans.

Very Hungry Caterpillar Cupcake Cake Tutorial

If you checked in yesterday, you know that we had a Very Hungry Caterpillar Theme for Sweet Pea's 1st Birthday. 

Helping Little Hands in 2010

I love the "Best of" posts that pop up around the new year when my favorite bloggers repost their best stuff...just as a reminder or in case I missed it the first time. 

Very Hungry Caterpillar Outfit and Cupcake Cake
My most popular post of the year was Sweet Pea's Very Hungry Caterpillar Skirt that I made for her first birthday in March.  Since she's on the small side she can still wear the outfit, although the shirt is getting a little small.  You can find the caterpillar applique here, the cupcake shirt applique here, the tutorial for the upcycling the skirt from a pair of jeans here, and the Very Hungry Caterpillar cupcake cake here.

Very Hungry Caterpillar Applique Tutorial with Printable Pattern

I've been enjoying all the clothes I've been making/embellishing/upcycling lately.  It makes me happy to see the kids wearing them...and I'm especially pleased with how applique turned out.

The skirt is made out of stretch denim from some old jeans of mine that wore out.  They're very similar to the skirt I made for Firecracker earlier, and I'll have a better tutorial for the skirts up soon I hope.  I thought I'd start with the applique though, because you could put this on just about anything and it would work for a boy or a girl.  I chose the Very Hungry Caterpiller because that's the kind of cake I made for Sweet Pea's first birthday.

For the pattern, I started with a coloring page I found on the internet.  Then I simpliefied the pattern a bit and came up with this for the pieces that I actually needed to cut out of the fabric.

I wanted the fabric to have a painted looks similar to the pictures in Eric Carle's books, so I started with the fabric left over from shortening and ruffling the sleeves on a shirt I fixed up for Firecracker a while ago.

I opened up the sleeves and painted them with watered down acrylic paint.  (That Artist Woman uses this technique to paint fabric in several projects on her blog.  It's genious!)  You could skip the painting step to make this simpler and your caterpillar would still look good.

You mix a dallop of acrylic paint with just a little bit of water. 

I did this with a couple different shades of green paint, and it ended up looking like this.  (This is what it looked like still wet.)  Then I let it dry.

Once dry, I cut out the shapes for the applique pieces out of Heat'n Bond Lite.  (Any time you do this, your image will end up in reverse, so reverse your image first if the direction matters to you.)

Ironed them onto the back of my painted green fabric.  (I painted the scraps from both sleeves, but only ended up needing one.)

Then I cut them out again, peeled off the backing, and arranged them on the skirt fabric using the coloring page as a guide.  (You want to make sure that each piece overlaps the next by just a little bit, so you don't have two raw edges right next to each other.) Then I did the same thing with the red face.  I didn't have any red knit fabric, so the red is woven cotton fabric.

Here is where I started sewing, using thread that matched the color of the fabric.  I made sure to leave long tails when I stopped and started, but did not stitch back and forth.  I also stitched each section as the caterpillar appeared in the picture, so as you can see in the picture below, I did extra stitching beyond just going around the edges.

Once I'd sewed a couple of sections, I pulled those long tails through to the back and tied knots.  You'll want to tie them several times and pull them good and tight.

Then, I sewed around the head.  (You can also see the stitching detail for the green body sections here as well.)

Then I added fray check to the red.  You don't need to worry about the knits unravelling, but it is an issue for woven fabrics and the fray check will stop that.

I really should have added the antanae at the same time as the head, so I could tuck them underneath just a bit. I'd originally planned on adding them with embroidery thread, but then changed my mind, so they were added after. One of Firecracker's shirts at sleeves that looked like this. I needed wanted some purple knit, so I cut off the ends that were stained, and then re-hemmed the sleeves with a quick ruffle. (Using painted sleeves seemed appropriate for this project anyway. :)

I added some face details using some woven-cotten yellow scraps and the same green fabric I used for the body and ironed them down (having used Heat'n Bond Lite for all of them.)

Then I sewed those down.  You can see I did some extra stitching on the antanae to make it look more like in the picture.

Just as an extra precaution, I also added some fray check to the knots I tied on the back.  You wouldn't want to do this on a shirt or something that would be right up against the skin because it could be scratchy, but since it was a skirt, I figured it was a good idea.

Then the last step was to add the feet and fuz details using embroidery thread.

For this...

Check back soon click here for a tutorial for sewing the skirt.

To use the pattern below, trace the dark outlined shapes onto your Heat'n Bond.  Then see the original  coloring page page to see how the pieces should fit.  

The dashed lines are places where you should do stitching in addition to stitching around the edges.  The areas where there are hash marks are places where the previous piece will overlap.

Caterpillar Applique

Click here to see the easy birthday cake tutorial that went with this.

Please help me make blankets for kids in my community.  I have mini-quilts available in my shop.  All proceeds go to buy materials for local blanket programs.

Please show my sponsors some love...

Urban Zoologie - Bright Dinosaurs - From Sisters and Quilters	Fat Quarter Bundle of Happy H'owl'o-ween and Trick-or-Treat - From Sisters and Quilters	Tuxedo Collection Fabric Bundle - From Sisters and Quilters

1st Birthday Cupcake Shirt Applique

I hope you all joined me for the the skirt tutorial and the tutorial for the  Very Hungry Caterpillar Applique.  If not, just scroll down. 

You could very easily leave the hole in the cupcake out and it would work for any First Birthday for a boy or a girl. 

I came up with the design for the drawing of the cupcake on my own.  I decided to use fabrics that would match the skirt, so I used some of the green scraps from the Caterpillar for the cupcake top and a scrap of the denim for the cupcake bottom.  I used the same fabric as the eyes and head for the candle and flame.

The basic techniques for the applique are the same as the other tutorials I've done.

Trace your design on the papery side of the Heat 'n Bond Lite, then iron it onto the BACK side of your fabric.  Cut your design out of your fabric.  Peel off the paper, and apply to your onesie or shirt.

I put Fray Check around the edges of any woven fabrics and put some extra around the inside of the whole.

I used a satin stitch (zigzag with the stitch length set almost to 0--for more information see this tutorial) around the outside of the denim because denim is especially prone to fraying.  I just did a straight stitch around the caterpillar hole because I thought that would be cute if it frayed just a bit.  I STILL USED FRAY CHECK though. 

I used straight stitches around all the other pattern elements.  I had planned to use embroidery thread to make a wick between the candle and flame, but then decided I liked it the way it was.  (If you like the fabric ball, my mom has a tutorial for them here.)

**Note:  This tutorial is not as complete as some of the others I've done, so if you have ANY questions, feel free to leave a comment or sent me an email.

If you like that little munchkin's skirt and want to make one for your own little one, be sure to check out the tutorial.

Cupcake Applique

The BEST of Hand-Me-Down REHAB

I've been wanting to go back and do a recap of some of my favorite Hand-Me-Down Rehab posts for a while.  You know...because sometimes you see a project on someone's blog and you wonder how it really turned out for the long term...like after it was washed and worn once...or 10-20 times.  I'm so glad Lorene from Just Lu has finally given me the motivation by being part of her Housewife MacGyver series.  She has a great post in the series up today about substitutions.

So, since I have about a million things I need to be doing today besides blogging, I thought I'd repost this, in case anyone missed it.

We went to Seattle for the long weekend.  We'd planned to drive back after church on Sunday and ended staying an extra night.  Hubby and Little Brother went on Father/Son camp-out with Grandpa while the girls stayed home and watched Tangled.  Then the rest of the weekend was full of just hanging out.  We came home so exhausted that after putting the kids to bed around 7 pm, Hubby and I laid down to take naps...and didn't wake up until 11:30pm...so decided to just get up early this morning.


I really got into what I call Hand-Me-Down Rehab during the year just after Hubby graduated with his PhD.  We were lucky to be able to substitute teach consistently, but Hubby didn't have a permanent job yet.  We were pinching pennies as tight as we could.  Buying new clothes was just not an option, so we got creative with what we had or could get on sale at the thrift store.

So here are a few of my favorite techniques.

Infant Gift Ideas to make you a Favorite Grandma...

...or Grandpa or Aunt/Uncle/Cousin/Whatever

Here are some great ideas.  My mom made Sweet Pea this cute fabric ball.  We had one of these when I was a kid and now we get one too...except the one my mom made is even cute.  I love all these colors and a lot of them are scraps from projects we did together that have special meaning.  And of course even more importantly...Sweet Pea loves it!  With all those hand holds, her sweet little hands can pick it up so easy.  (The only real problem is that the older kids like to play with it too and will occassionally take it for themselves.)  You want to make one?  She's got a tutorial for these awesome fabric balls on her blog.

Another way to score...make some Baby Wallet Cards.  Sweet Pea LOVES wallets.  If she sees me carrying mine in a store, she has a FIT until she gets to hold it.  Her favorite part is pulling out all the cards...which of course is not good if I want to keep track of them.  Hubby was telling his mom about this, and she came up with the idea of making these fun Baby Wallet Cards.  They're the same size as credit cards, so they fit in a wallet.  They have an assortment of cute kid-type pictures as well as photographs, and then she laminated them.  Put them in an old wallet or one you find at a thrift store for a VERY popular toy.

Awesome Animals - Crafts, Recipes and Fun and the Weekly Block Party Link-Up

15 Different ways to have fun with animals today!  You and your kids are going to love these animal crafts, recipes, and other ideas.

From spring chicks and caterpillars to cosy polar bear and sheep there are some awesome animal projects that will be sure to supply hours of fun for the little ones.

bath toys they'll play with for hours | Newt Scamander's Fantastic Beasts Suitcase | caterpillar catapult

caterpillar egg carton craft | chick toilet roll craft | Monkey cupcakes

DIY puff paint (Butterflies) | Hot Cocoa Polar Bears | bunny mask

crochet cat | Bunny Candy Pouches | Cork Butterfly Craft

sheep cupcake | Bear Hood Tutorial | Chick and bunny handprints

Come right in and take off your shoes...

I just saw a link for this blog party and thought it would fun.  If you're a regular reader of my blog, there's a sneak peak in here for next week.  If you're a new reader or this is your first time here...WELCOME!  Come right in, take off your shoes introduce yourself and leave some comment love, and if you want to become long time friends, become a follower so you can stay updated.

I'm a stay-at-home mom who was a chemistry and math teacher in my life before kids.  I like to do crafts in my spare time...especially if it's something fun for my kids (ages 5, 2 1/2, and 11 months) and/or is inexpensive since the Hubby is finishing up school.

I usually do a couple tutorials a week.  Lately, I've been working through my crafting stash and fixing up a lot of hand-me-downs and thrift store finds in what I call Hand-Me Down Rehab.  (Grab the button in the right sidebar if you're interested. :)  Here are a few of those recent projects.

 All of these skirts were made from some of my old pants.  The tutorial for the toddler skirt can be found here.  The tutorial for the baby's skirt that reuses the waistband is here.  I also have printable patterns for the Very Hungry Caterpillar applique and the First Birthday Cupcake Applique.

This cute outfit was made by resizing a thrift store skirt and using some of the extra fabric for the poodle applique.

And because I just can't resist a little sneak peak, here are a few projects that I'll have tutorials and patterns for in the next week or two.

Fixing up hand-me-downs is only part of what I do at Helping Little Hands, though.  I've got a lot of other fun tutorials. In March and February we had a Felt Food Cook-Along with more than 25 tutorials for different felt foods.  (You can see the full list in the left sidebar.)

In general though, I have a little bit of everything crafty.  A few of my favorite fun tutorials are:
This fun fishing for numbers game that is helping my daughter learn to add, or this cupcake matching game to help your toddler match upper and lower case as well as learn their numbers.

And we do a little cooking too, especially with kids.

 We've got tutorials for how to let your toddler frost a cake and how to make this Very Hungry Caterpillar Cupcake-Cake.

...and there's a lot more!  I hope you'll take a few minutes to look around.  Thanks for visiting today!