A few years ago, Scandinavian-American blogger Linnea wrote a lovely overview of the Swedish holiday known as St. Lucia Day, and she’s back today with a tutorial for the most darling little felt lussekatter (Swedish saffron bun) toys! When Aveline was the same age as Linnea’s adorable little, projects like this were very popular in our house. The supplies needed are so minimal — felt, needle and thread, polyfill — but just look at how captivated babies are with the final product! Beyond cute.
DIY Felt Play Food Tutorial – Lussekatter for St. Lucia’s Day
I’m so excited to have had a little girl of my own to be a Lucia in our home! I’ve always thought that felt play food is so darling and fun, so this year I made some felt Lucia buns for her to play with.
I got a few sheets of the golden felt at Michaels, it is a perfect color. Other things you need are thread, embroidery floss in a matching color, and some batting to stuff the insides. If your Lucia is older you could put some dark beads or buttons on to be raisins (they are a bit of a choking hazard for my little Lucia, though!)
Start with a piece 3″x9″. My felt sheets were 9″x12″, so I could get 4 buns from each sheet.
Fold the piece in half and pin. Sew along the long edge and one short edge, leaving a 3/8″ seam allowance.
Clip the corner – this make it easier to flip the corner right side out again.
Turn your tube right side out and stuff it. You want it to be stuffed firmly, but not overstuffed – it needs to have some give so we can roll up the edges.
Stitch the open end closed.
Now we are going to roll the felt much like we would the dough in real life. I found it easiest to roll down the edge just a little first, and anchor that with a few stitches. Here I used 3 strands of embroidery floss because it was a bit stronger and required less stitches.
After that is secured, roll it down a little further and anchor with a few more stitches.
Do the same to the other side, only roll it the opposite direction for a traditionally shaped Lucia bun.
Sew on any buttons or beads for raisins if you are adding them, and you’re done! If you’d like you can experiment and make other fancy shapes with your Lucia “dough.”
Glad Lucia!
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Linnea Farnsworth is a self-described Scandihoovian, a Washington DC-area photographer, and mom to the cutest little sweet pea. Linnea has also shared previously about her Swedish heritage on both the Scandinavian Christmas and Midsommar blog series — Sankta Lucia Day and Linnea’s Swedish Midsommar Celebration. (She really throws the best mid-summer parties, you guys.) Don’t forget to follow her on Instagram at @linneaanne!
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