DIY Vintage Plush Play Veggies & Easy Image Transfer Tutorial

I am so excited to share this tutorial today!  Christmas is right around the corner and I’ve been working on a few homemade presents for my little 19 moth old girl.  We spend a lot of time in the kitchen together and she can play for the entire duration of our dinner prep with my measuring  cups and mixing spoons.  When I stumbled upon a wooden mini kitchen at a second hand store last month I knew it would be the perfect project to refinish and give her for Christmas.

A play kitchen can’t be complete without mini pots, pans, utensils, and of course play food!  I started searching around on the internet earlier this month and completely fell in love with all of the Melissa & Doug brand wooden fruits and veggies, I think they look classy and I’d thought they’d make a good fit with the rustic/vintage look of her kitchen.  However, I wasn’t ready to spend $25 for just a few pieces.  I looked up “diy play food” on Pinterest and found a ton of tutorials for felt food, which inspired this fabric food project.  So here we go…..

For this project you’ll need:

• Citrasolv.  This is an all-natural cleaning product that I found at Whole Foods.  I’ve also seen it in the cleaning section of my local grocery store.  If all else fails there’s always ordering online.
• Vintage Food Image, you can download here. In order to transfer, you’ll need to print with a toner based printer.  Since I have an ink jet at home, I ran to a copy center and printed it there for a couple of cents.  If you want your food to be double sided, print two copies. Images courtesy of the Graphics Fairy
• Scissors
• Cotton balls or Q-tips
• Spoon
• White or cream colored fabric for transfers
• Cotton
• Needle and thread/sewing machine

Image Transfer Process

1. Cut around each veggie/fruit and place it ink side down on the fabric
2. Apply Citrasolv to a Q-tip or cotton ball and rub the back of the image, the picture should be easily visible once the Citrasolv is applied
3. Grab a spoon, and using the flat side, rub the image
4. The paper may begin to rub away and that’s OK.  The ink is transferring to the fabric below.
5. Rub the entire image. Don’t be tempted to remove the paper to check you progress, lining the picture back up exactly where you left off can be tricky.
6. Remove the paper and marvel and the beautiful image transfer you just completed!

Repeat this transfer method for each of the pieces.  If your’e doing a double sided veggies you’ll need two of each. And if you’re going to do all of them at once you’ll definitely need a helper.  The rubbing part of the transfer cramps up your wrist.

Next, trim around the edge of each set, making sure that there’s an inch or so between the edge of the veggie and the edge of the fabric. Next, place the inked sides together, matching up the edges of the fruit as close as possible.  Sew around the fabric, about 1/4″ from the colored veggie edge, leaving a 1″ opening.  Pull the fabric right side out through the 1″ opening and fill with fluffy cotton to your desired plush-ness.  And finally, tuck the edges of the opening into the center and sew along the opening.  

TA-DA!!! All finished.  Now all that’s left is to wrap them and stick them under the tree.  I’m thinking I’ll add some fabric bread, muffins, and eggs to her fabric food set. Hope you enjoy the tutorial.

*************Make sure to run these through a gentle cycle in the washing machine before giving to your little ones!***************