Family and Consumer Science: Sewing a Cute Little Animal Penguin Project

Vocabulary and key technical terms covering materials, cutting techniques, threading, knots, and stitching methods for sewing a felt penguin.

Wrong side of the felt

The side of the cut felt piece that may have pen lines or tracing marks on it.

Flipping the pattern

The technique of turning an irregular shaped pattern piece (such as bat wings on page 23) over before tracing the second piece so that the wrong sides end up back to back.

Cutting method for dark-colored felt

The technique of pinning or holding the pattern directly against the felt and cutting around it when pen marks cannot be seen on dark colors like black.

Floss cut length

The initial length of floss unwound from the bundle, measuring about $14\text{ inches}$ ($35.5\text{ cm}$), before separating out individual strands.

Eye of the needle

The hole in the needle through which the moistened, pinched ends of the floss strands are inserted.

Thread tail length

The length of floss pulled through the eye of the needle after threading, measuring about $4\text{ inches}$ ($10\text{ cm}$).

French knot

A starting knot created by placing the needle tip near the end of the long piece of floss, wrapping the floss around the needle three times, and pulling the needle up while holding the wraps in place.

Eye placement distance

The spacing used to place the eyes on the penguin's front, positioned about $\frac{1}{4}\text{ inch}$ ($0.6\text{ cm}$) from the top and side edges.

Cream floss highlight stitches

Two small stitches placed in the middle of each eye using cream floss to provide maximum cuteness.

Backstitch

A sewing stitch formed by bringing the needle up through the back, making a small stitch through the front, coming up one stitch length forward, poking back into the ending hole of the previous stitch, and pulling until the floss lies flat without puckering.