Going Fishin'

Mom's of little boys! Anybody out there? I know that most of my sewing and craft projects have been geared towards little girls. I'm sorry. It's just that I have two little girls, and let's face it, making cute stuff for little girls is fun! I want to make it up to you though, because I have a little boy too, and I came across a really cute project to do for your little dude (and your girls too).

Late at night a few weeks ago I was blog hopping. I'm not sure how I landed on the blog Counting Coconuts, but I'm glad I did! I saw this fishing project and knew I had to make some fish for my little guy. You see, we have a few magnetic fishing puzzles and he LOVES them. You use a little fishing rod to pick up the little fish pieces, and he plays with it every day.

Now the biggest reason to do this project is this

My girls down in the playroom shortly after being given the fish. The little guy is there too but it was beyond me to get a non blurry picture of all three of them!

And

The same kids, now upstairs, an hour and a half later. I think they played with these fish for almost two hours before they started getting bored and went back to tearing the house apart!

Now, before we begin, please note:
This project uses magnets, washers and buttons. Magnets, if ingested can be very dangerous, causing serious injury to little people and even death. Washers and buttons as well are obviously choking hazards. Please use appropriate care when giving these items to your child. I would recommend not giving these items to children under 3, and even then play with adult supervision. That said, you know your child best. My little dude is two and has grown up around Polly Pocket shoes and knows not to eat little things.

What you will need:
- Wood dowel (I used 3/8 inch)
- Metal washers (I used 1/4 inch)
- Magnets
- Yarn or string
- Fabric scraps or felt and possibly stuffing
- Buttons or other embellishments
- Drill
- Sewing machine and/or needle and thread

I have uploaded a fish template you can download HERE. This is just my own freehand drawing that I used for my own fish. Nothing fancy! For my fish I printed it out at 75%. I found at 100% my fish were too heavy to pick up with the size of magnet I used. I used fabric for my fish and stuffed them with poly fill. The best thing to do is make a test fish to make sure that your magnet will hold the size you make.

 If you choose to do fabric fish like mine, you will need to cut two pieces for each fish. You can use whatever fabric you like. For my fish I used knit, fleece, cotton wovens and twill. It all works. Take both pieces and sew right sides together using a 1/4 inch seam allowance. Leave about a 2 inch space open at the bottom of your fish for turning.

Before turning clip your curves making sure to snip inside the point of your tail and where your fin starts. If you don't make snips there you will have funny creases when you turn right side out. Also clip corners at the tips of your tail.

Turn your fish right side out, fill with a bit of stuffing and sew opening closed. If you want your fish to look perfect hand stitch the opening closed. My fish don't need to be perfect, so I just quickly machine stitched the opening closed. The downside of doing that is you can see the stitching.

The fun part! Our fish need eyes. Get out your odd buttons!

Stitch on your eye and/or any other embellishments. Also take one of your metal washers and stitch to your fishy's nose. Make sure both are sewn on really well.

Now here is where you get to use the drill. Drill a hole in your magnet and at the end of your dowel. Knot a length of yarn through the magnet.

Knot the other end of the yarn through your dowel and you're done!

Nothing but fun!