Quiet Book - Weather Wheel

One of the topics my nephew Henry (4 years old) is interested in is weather - specifically tornadoes, so I wanted to include a weather page in the Quiet Book I am making for him.

I included sunny, partly sunny, cloudy, stormy (lightning), rain, snow, tornado and rainbow.  I used a template for the lightning bolt, but I think everything else I freehand cut.

I'm not going to lie to you - this page is tough to make.  1. Because of the intricate, small details.  2. Because geometry.

For this project you'll need:

1 sheet white felt
1 sheet light blue felt
scraps of felt in yellow, gray and rainbow colors
1 sheet stiffened felt
small amount of clear vinyl
1 brad
a hole punch (I borrowed my mom's Cropodile - which worked pretty well, although it was a little hard to get a punch in the center, so maybe a long reach punch would be helpful as well)

scissors
sewing machine
hot glue gun/glue

I started with planning in Microsoft Word.  I knew my pages were 9x9, so I set 9x9 as the page size and then added a circle to determine how big it could be, while leaving enough room for the selector to go all the way round its edge.  The circle ended up being approx. 7 inches in diameter and each slice (there are 8) is approx. 2.5 inches at the top.  Then I cut the page and wheel to size.  I used the circle I made in Word to draw the sections onto, so I'd know how big each item needed to be.  Then I cut out each item.  Using "Insert Shapes" in Word, I inserted a lightning bolt and a circle (for the sun).

Once everything was cut out, the first sewing step is to sew the section lines onto your wheel.  I used my rotary mat - first time using the diagonal lines - and my blue fabric pen to draw the sections, then I sewed over those.  The blue came off with dampened cloth, but I actually ended up flipping it over and using the other side.  Then I pinned my pieces into their sections and started sewing.

I was particularly proud of sewing this tornado - I tried to evoke the whirling, chaotic lines of a tornado!

For the rainbow, I sewed a white background shape and then hot glued the colors onto it.  I also hot glued the rain drops.  I had trouble cutting snowflakes that tiny, so I used the triple stitch function of my sewing machine and white thread and made them that way.

Then I moved on to making the selector.  I realized I needed stiffened felt to make this work better, so I made the selector out of stiffened felt, and I backed the weather circle with it as well.  The selector was really hard for me, for some reason, but I just used trial and error with a piece of paper before cutting the stiffened felt.  I really wanted the center of the selector to be vinyl, so I went to Hobby Lobby and thought it would be a pain to ask them to cut the vinyl I found in the home decorating fabric, so I had the idea of using a cheap clear makeup/pencil bag and that worked great!

I cut the center out of the selector and then I sewed the vinyl to the selector.  Once I had all the elements ready, I punched a hole in the center of the wheel, at the point of the selector and in the center of the background page.  Then I inserted a brad through all the pieces.

I considered putting the words "Today's Weather Is..." at the top of the page, but I decided to leave it blank, so it can go in more directions. Henry can choose his favorite weather or what weather he expects tomorrow or the weather that best corresponds with winter, etc.

I love how it turned out.  I think it's so fun to turn the selector!

Since this one is best seen in action, I tried to take a video and show how the page works!