Bat Mobile Tutorial

A couple of months ago, I did my nephew’s nursery (you can see the complete nursery here). It was a tough task indeed since I was doing the entire nursery on a SAHM budget (“stay at home mom” for those who don’t know). I had to be very selective on what I could spend on what. In the attempt to make the room totally adorable and unique, I wanted to make a really cool baby mobile that no one else would have, and since all searches online were either fruitless or WAAAAAY to expensive, I had to settle on creating one entirely from scratch.

And if I may, I think I did an awesome job for about $5 (my dad even thought so – it’s one of his favorite pieces).

Related: DIY Chandelier Baby Mobile

So here is what you need:

1. Embroidery Yarn (they run about 4/$1)

2. Embroidery Hoop, I used this 10 inch wooden one.

Here it is from afar so you can see the scale of it (and yes, I was wearing an over-sized sweatshirt that belongs to the hubby – sexy, right?)

3. Stiff felt sheets in yellow and black. I think I used 2.5 sheets and they run about $0.89 each if I remember correctly.

4. Fabric glue

5. Black acrylic paint for the hoop which I already had, but runs a little over $1

I found the logo I wanted to use online (there are tons, from original batman to the newest version). I chose “classic” Batman and used it to trace and cut the patterns. I traced with a white fabric pencil on the black felt sheet.

I needed to decide how many hanging strings I wanted and what I was going to hang on it exactly. I chose the following pattern with 6 strings.

I decided to add circles since I didn’t want to overwhelm it with too many Batman logos. And then I wanted to alternate the patterns where there was a high Batman and a low Batman. It needed to be an even number so that the pattern went all the way around smoothly.

Here is the pattern:

Yellow, Black, Yellow, Black, Yellow, Black   (hmm, sounds like a song…)

Black, Batman, Black, Batman, Black, Batman

Batman, Yellow, Batman, Yellow, Batman, Yellow

Yellow, Black, Yellow, Black, Yellow, Black

Then I proceeded to glue. Please remember, you have to make 2 of everything for each decorative piece since it will be hanging. You want to glue a piece on either side of the string. For each Batman logo, you need 2 black ovals, 2 yellow smaller ovals and 2 bats.

Here is a close up of the logo.

I tied the tops of the strings with a double knot to the hoop after I had painted it black and let it dry. I tried to space them out as evenly as possible.

The next step was a little tricky, cause you need some patience. You have to cut 6 more long strings to attach to the loop so you could hang it. I tied them each at each decorative string location in order to keep it balanced (make, sense?).

Once you get them nice and level, tie a knot to hold them together and keep the balance.Then you tie another knot at the top ends of the strings (not pictured) to hang from a hook on the ceiling. Cut off all the excess string and hide the knots with the outer embroidery ring and then your done!

See, no knots!

Related: DIY Batman Art

So there you have it. An awesome baby mobile that everyone will talk about. Easy and inexpensive. The great thing about this is that you can make it any color for any super hero of your choice. Hope you like!!!!