Dog Days of Summer Craft Idea - Felt Door Sign

 This door sign is meant to be displayed in the month of August, Since there are no other American holidays in the month of August I wanted to do something fun and different.

So I chose to do a Dog Days of Summer door sign.  August for us in the U.S. is typically one of the hottest months. So why not display a door sign, to show that in a comical way.

This is a series hub, you will be able to see all door signs crafts for every month of the year,  at least in the american themes.

However if you live in another country you can very easily change these to fit you theme as well.  Such as in May, someone in Mexico may want to make a Cinco De Mayo Door sign. So they are very adaptable.

The list of supplies are  as as follows.

• Soft felt in 9" x 12" in all colors needed to your preference.
• One 12" x 18" piece of stiff felt or Eazy felt.
• Embroidery thread and Needle.
• or for no sew method, Felt Glue.

All supplies can be obtained at any craft store. Such as Hobby Lobby, Ben Franklins, or Michaels, as well as any craft and hobby store.

 I found a great picture of a dog standing in front of a fan and enjoying the breeze.  I thought that it was a great picture but I had to draw it myself to make it easy to cut out all the pieces.  So I drew a picture in just an easy cartoon fashion or coloring book page. One that will be easy to cut out of felt.

Once I was able to get all the pieces cut out I was able to assemble all the pieces into the one soft piece of background felt. to get a layout of where all the pieces were to go. And to know how to sew all pieces on to the background to center it on the felt.

Once I knew how I wanted to place the pieces I could begin sewing them on. If sewing is not what you want you could easily use felt glue, and felt tip markers to add details.

For the fan blades I cut two then sewed them together for increased bulk to create dimension and secured only the very center of the fan blades leaving the blades not sewn to the background .

All other Pieces were sewn on on at a time then using whatever applique stitch I decided to use.

I usually prefer to use chain stitch or whip stitches to apply the design and then I used straight back-stitch for the detailed lines, and satin stitch for middle of fan.

I then used a blanket stitch around the outer most edge of stiff felt fabric background and I used just a plain chain stitch for the wording, but if preferred a felt tip marker can be used to create a similar effect, if preferred.

For the WELCOME, at the bottom I used a stitch my grandma taught, me I don't know if there is a name for it but I call it a chainmail stitch because that is what it reminds me of. But any stitch you prefer would work fine. Mainly the contrast in colors in thread is what makes the words stand out.

Finally to finish the project I added Loops at the top to hang on a dowel rod beside my front door.

I hope you enjoyed this craft idea. Thank you.