Emily’s Memory Game | Purl Sohofelt and fabric memory game. We just knew we had to share it with you and happily, Emily, the author of The Student Teacher blog, agreed to let us present it to you here, complete with a tutorial for making your own!

Emily’s Memory Game | Purl Soho

We love that Emily’s Memory Game was originally inspired by a post written by Purl Soho’s graphic designer Brooke Reynolds on her blog Inchmark (which is also a part of The Purl Beehive).  Brooke’s beautiful memory game was made with fabric and paper.   It’s so nice to see crafters being inspired by one another in this way!  Above is a photo of Emily’s version from The Student Teacher, and below is Brooke’s from Inchmark.

Emily’s Memory Game | Purl Soho

To make our version of the game we decided to follow Emily’s lead and use 100% wool felt in ecru as the base of the cards. For the fabric inside the felt frames we turned to our favorite Liberty of London Tana Lawn, the fine detail and beautiful colors are perfect inside the little frame of felt.

Emily’s Memory Game | Purl Soho

Since so little of each fabric is needed we used a Liberty Mini Rainbow Bundle which contains twenty different 8-inch x 12-inch pieces, and each print in this little bundle is more beautiful than the next!

Emily’s Memory Game | Purl SohoThis project takes time and attention to make, but it is relatively simple and very doable. What a lovely present for a child!

Emily’s Memory Game | Purl SohoThis recent post about an embroidered growth chart also had us really excited!)

P.S. If you’d like to learn more about joining The Purl Beehive yourself please click right here!

Materials

Emily’s Memory Game | Purl Soho

To make a set of forty 2 3/4-inch square memory game cards

Cutting

Emily’s Memory Game | Purl Soho

From the Liberty:

  • Cut each of the twenty different prints into two 2 1/2-inch squares (40 total)

From the felt:

  • Eighty 3-inch squares

From the Interfacing:

  • Eighty 3-inch squares
  • Forty 2 1/2-inch squares

Prepping the Pieces

Emily’s Memory Game | Purl Soho

Please note that the interfacing has 2 sides- a bumpy side which is the fusible side, and a smooth side which is the non-fusible side.

Place a Liberty piece right side up on top of the fusible side of the 2 1/2-inch interfacing pieces so that their edges meet up.

Press these pieces together so they fuse, making the Liberty a bit stiffer.

Emily’s Memory Game | Purl Soho

Fuse a 3-inch piece of interfacing to 40 of the 3-inch pieces of felt. These are the top pieces of the memory cards.

Emily’s Memory Game | Purl Soho

For the 40 remaining 3-inch felt pieces use a pencil to mark a 1/2-inch from all four sides of the square. This will yield a centered 2-inch square.

Cut this square carefully out of the center with scissors. The side with the pencil marks is the wrong side. Discard the center. You will be left with a frame shape as shown above.

Emily’s Memory Game | Purl Soho

You should now have the following pieces (clockwise from top left):

  • 40-fused Liberty pieces, 2 of each print
  • 40-felt frame shapes
  • 40-fused 3-inch felt squares (top pieces of the memory cards)
  • 40- 3-inch interfacing squares

Sewing Together

Emily’s Memory Game | Purl Soho

Center and pin one of the Liberty pieces to one of the frame pieces, wrong sides up.

Emily’s Memory Game | Purl Soho

When you turn it over the Liberty should be neatly framed by the felt as in the picture above.

Emily’s Memory Game | Purl Soho

Using a zig zag stitch sew around all four inner sides of the frame, thus attaching the Liberty to the frame. When you get to a corner leave your needle down and pivot the piece then continue down the next side.

Emily’s Memory Game | Purl Soho

Press the piece and make sure the felt and the Liberty are securely sewn together.

Emily’s Memory Game | Purl Soho

Turn the piece over and trim any excess Liberty from the back.

Emily’s Memory Game | Purl Soho

Fuse a 3-inch square of interfacing to the back of the framed piece.

Emily’s Memory Game | Purl Soho

Repeat this for all 40 felt frames and Liberty pieces. This framed piece is the bottom piece of the memory card.

Emily’s Memory Game | Purl Soho

Pin a bottom piece to one of the top pieces (the 3-inch square fused felt pieces), wrong sides together. Sew them together with a continuous seam 1/4-inch from the outer edge around all four sides.

Emily’s Memory Game | Purl Soho

Using a rotary cutter trim 1/8-inch off of each of the 4 sides. This will tidy up the edges and ensure that each card is a uniform shape and size.

Repeat this for all 40 memory cards.