Creativebug Are you looking for a unique way to engage children in the Passover Seder? Why not create a personalized Passover Haggadah in the form of a felt book! Inspired by the Creativebug class, Sew a Quiet Adventure Book for Baby, we’ll walk you through the process of adapting this craft to celebrate the story of Passover.
Materials For Felt Book:
- 1/3 yard decor-weight fabric for cover, such as denim, canvas, or linen
- 1/3 yard light or medium-weight fabric for pages, such as cotton, linen, or linen blends
- Five felt sheets for book pages
- 10” of 1/2″ elastic or three 1/2″ buttons
- Sewing machine
- Buttonhole foot (if using buttons)
- Pins or clips
- Fabric shears
- Scissors for paper
- Ruler
- Various marking tools
- Pokey tool like a paint brush or point turner
- Iron and ironing surface
Materials for Passover Felt Shapes:
- Assorted scraps of felt in various colors
- Embroidery floss
- Embroidery needle or hand-sewing needle
- Coordinating thread
- Scissors
- Pen or sharpie
Make the Felt Book
Follow the instructions in the Sanae Ishida class Sew a Quiet Adventure Book for Baby to create the cover and inside felt pages. You can customize the cover to say “Passover Haggadah” or leave it as a fabric design. It would be fun to incorporate some embroidery elements on the front of the cover to match your family’s Haggadot or use complementary colors.
Make the Felt Shapes
I was inspired to create two sets of felt shapes that are part of the seder, the seder plate and the ten plagues.
Shapes that I chose to make:
- Seder Plate
- Egg
- Shank Bone
- Apple (for Charoset)
- Parsley
- Horseradish
- Matzah
- Blood
- Frog
- Lice
- Lion (Wild Beast)
- Sick Cow
- Person with Boils
- Locust
- Hail Cloud
- Darkness
- Death
To make my shapes, I used pen and sharpie to free-hand the designs on one side of the felt. I only had 4 colors of felt so I had to be creative with the colors that I chose to use. Then, using a sharp pair of scissors I cut out the main shapes.
You could leave your shapes simple like this, but I didn’t feel like they told the whole story. Using smaller pieces of felt and coordinating thread I added on applique pieces as well as some embroidered details. The main embroidery stitches I used were the backstitch and the French knot.
Once the shapes are fully constructed, the children at the seder can follow along with the setting of the seder plate and the retelling of the Passover story with their felt figures!
Other fun classes to adapt for the Passover seder:
- Furoshiki Wine Wrap – a great way to bring a hostess gift – just make sure the included wine is kosher for Passover.
- Painted Wooden Centerpiece – add some style to your Passover table with decorated centerpieces.
- Felt Drink Markers – perfect for large gatherings and can use up your extra felt sheets!
- From My Kitchen to Yours: A Month of Giftable Goods & Recipes – several of these recipes are kosher for Passover and would make great additions to matzah (savory or sweet butter anyone?!) or the Passover brisket.
- Oil Painted Place Cards – another opportunity to draw inspiration from the Passover story’s motifs.