Review: Felt Solar System from PollyChromeCrafts (Etsy)

A friend and I decided to continue our Zoom-based crafting sessions to work on this cute Felt Solar System from PollyChromeCrafts available via Etsy.  I purchased the PDF instructions (mostly because I don't want to work with glitter and really wanted to add google eyes).  If you don't have the time or really want to spend the effort locating the supplies needed, PollyChromeCrafts also offers kits with all the supplies included.

As I mentioned, there were some modifications I wanted to make like using google eyes and avoiding anything glitter-based.  For all the planets, I also used cut felt cheeks (except Mercury) rather than the recommended brads.  I used the #4 circle from the provided stencils to size all the cheeks.  For our ribbon, we used a dark blue (like the sky in outer space).  I'll point out the modifications as I cover each planet.

We worked on our planets over 5 different Zoom sessions that ranges from 2 to 3 hours each (one might have been a bit longer and the last one was a little shorter but if you're planning something similar, give yourself at least one hour per planet).  I put together kits with all the supplies for both of us, pre-cutting a lot of the pieces (the planets, anything where a stencil was in the PDF instructions), choosing thread colors, and filling little bags with the little bits needed for each planet.

When we finished, our solar systems turned out very cute.  I'm glad I made two sets myself because my daughter  (whose dream is to work for NASA when she grows up) took one of each as soon as they were finished.

Here's the details on the modifications along with the order we created the planets in:

Day 1: Saturn and Earth

Both of these were pretty straight forward.  Other than the google eyes and pink felt cheeks, we mostly stuck to the provided instructions.  For Saturn's rings, I found a sheet at Hobby Lobby (sorry I couldn't find it on their website but in the store it was right with all the glitter felt sheets) that more like gold sequins on fabric that glitter felt (and luckily it doesn't shed like glitter felt would).  We used Alene's Tacky Glue to secure the google eyes and applique stitched on the cheeks using a light pink embroidery floss (as close a match to the felt as I could get).

Tip: My friend found it easier to remember to stitch in the ribbon holder by pinning it to each piece first (remember to do it in a way that will allow you to remove the pin after).

Day 2: Mars & Venus

For both of these planets, the original instructions called for glitter felt (Red for Mars and Yellow for Venus).  Did I mention already that I don't like working with glitter (it gets on everything!)?  For Mars, I found a really dark red felt and we also stitched on some Mill Hill Red Red Seed Beads (02013).  For Venus, I couldn't locate a yellow that felt right so I got creative and picked out some gold holographic sequins.  We stuck with the smooth round ones (holes near the tops) and only used the 2 smallest sizes.

Days 3 & 4: Neptune & Uranus

My biggest challenge for these two were finding the right colors of felt for the stripes.  I kind of gave up on finding the exact colors mentioned in the instructions and looked for colors that I thought would look good together.  Again, the original instructions included some glitter felt.  Instead we added more beads.  I did need to purchase some turquoise colored seed beads but we also reused the beads from a bracelet I had that broke (and wasn't about to figure out how to re-sew together all 1000+ beads but I saved them knowing that one day I'd have a use for them).  I kept the beads on the stripes (as if they're like ice chunks floating in the layers of the atmosphere).  With the stripes and all the beads, these two took the longest to put together.  We did manage some time to start on Jupiter on Day 4, sewing some of the stripes/bands.

Day 5: Jupiter & Mercury

For these last 2 planets, we stuck mostly to the instructions.  I had to stray a little on color but I was super excited to find Pumpkin Spice Felt to use for the big stripe under Jupiter's Red Eye.  We both agreed that having one of the actual eyes as Jupiter's eyes was cute.  I used smaller google eyes on these two than we had for the other 6 planets.  For Jupiter it was so more of the Red would show and Mercury was just too small to use bigger eyes.  Also for Mercury, we glued on small pink round gems for the cheeks rather than using pink felt since cutting circles smaller than the #4 stencil with the kit would have been difficult.

Overall, we both really enjoyed putting together this solar system.  It took a number of Zoom sessions that we spread out over 5 weeks but they were fun to make and the finished product is very kawaii!