Rainbow Rain Cloud Mobile

See the rest of Sam’s new room {here and here and here}

This was one of the most fun projects to put together for Sam’s room!

HERE’S WHAT YOU NEED:

• 1 yard of White or Ivory Fleece for the Clouds (more or less depending on the sizes you want)
• Felt in the desired colors of raindrops (I used colors I already had on hand)
• Beads (optional—I hung them at the end of each string of raindrops to help weigh them down)
• Sewing needle
• Clear string (for hanging raindrops and hanging clouds from ceiling)
• Glue (I used hot glue because it’s strong & dries fast, but any glue that dries clear would work)
• Poly-fil/Stuffing
• Hooks to hang your clouds from the ceiling

HERES WHAT YOU DO:
First cut out your clouds.  Fold fleece with wrong sides together and trace all your cloud shapes onto your fleece.  Then cut them out, cutting just inside your tracing marks {so they won’t show up on your clouds}

Next, glue all around the edge of the cloud, making sure there are no places where there are any little holes.  Holes may become more evident once you start stuffing, and you can fix them then.  Don’t forget to leave an opening big enough to stuff your clouds with Poly-fil. 

Stuff your cloud, and then carefully glue your opening shut.
Now the cloud part is finished!  Repeat the steps above if you want more clouds.  I originally planned to make one big cloud and two little ones, but then ended up using only the big cloud and one little one.
Next, take your needle and an arms length of string.  Tie a knot at the end of your string and pull it through the cloud where you want your raindrop strings to hang.  Weave it back and forth through the cloud layers and tie another knot—making sure it’s nice and secure on the cloud.
Take your needle and thread it through your raindrops.  At this point the raindrops are loose on the string.  Once all your raindrops on all your strings are threaded, you will be able to slide the raindrops up and down and decide where you want them.
 
The picture below shows how I threaded the beads onto the ends.  I went down through the bead’s hole, then back up on the outside and down through the bead hold a second time. The X’s mark the holes on the bead. Please excuse my ghetto drawing.  
This secures the bead on the string, but you will still be able to move the bead up and down until you glue it on to secure it. 

When you have all the raindrops and beads where you want them, secure them with hot glue at the top and bottom where the string is threaded through.  Now the raindrops are secure on the stings and the strings are secure on your clouds…you are ready to hang them up!

This is probably the trickiest part and may take some trial and error. It took me several tries, and some minor cursing before I had them hanging up the way I wanted them too. 

If you don’t want your clouds to spin wildly around and around every time a small breeze hits them {I didn’t}, you have to string them up from two places.   Two hooks in the ceiling per cloud.  I was working with only 3 hooks and it was not working. Use a string that is twice as long as you think you need, and double thread it with your needle so it’s nice and strong.  Make sure you knot it good onto the first side of your cloud.  Hang it up on the hooks and figure out how low you want it to hang from the ceiling, then secure the other end onto the other side of your cloud.  I tried to show you what it kind of should look like on the ceiling, but don’t follow it exactly, because I had only 3 hooks, and you will have at least 2 per cloud.  I did a lot of jimmy-rigging and will have to go back and fix it later (because I used tape instead of a hook in one place!!)  But this picture will give you a little better of an idea—you will still have to play around with it to get it to hang right. 

Once they are hung up, stand back and admire the cuteness! You. are. done!

Let me know if you have questions and I’ll do my best to answer them!