How to Make Your Own Rain Cloud Mobile

July 29, 2013

I debated for a long time over what to make for a mobile. My first instinct was obviously little woodsy creatures, but I decided that I really needed to branch out and do something different. So, inspired by this adorable Land of Nod pillow (which I will be purchasing), I decided on clouds and little rain drops. Nothing about making a mobile is especially hard, but it is time consuming, so if you want to make your own prepare to dedicate an afternoon to it, or make it a multi-day endeavor.

While it can take a lot of time, it doesn’t take much money. All you need is some felt in whatever colors you want to use, a piece of balsa wood, and a couple colors of embroidery thread (and needles, an X-Acto knife, and scissors if you don’t already have them). Fabric or acrylic paint is optional. I think I only spent $10 on the entire thing, and most of that was fancy wool felt I ordered online in the colors I wanted.8

I started by putting together the cloud. I cut out a cloud shape freehand from some cream colored felt, but you could draw a little pattern and use that if you’re worried that you won’t be able to get it right just cutting the felt. I put the first cloud onto the felt and cut out another identical cloud to use as the back. From there, it’s up to you how you choose to decorate your little cloud. You can leave it plain, or embroider and paint a little face on it like I did (the cheeks are just some acrylic paint).

Once you’re done with that, you’ll use a blanket stitch (learn how here) to sew the two halves together, but stop before you finish so you can stuff the little guy with some poly stuffing. Once stuffed, finish off your blanket stitch and you have completed step one!

Step two is by far the most tedious. You’ll need to cut out all of your little raindrops from the felt. I did the first round of these freehand, but then used the originals as a pattern for cutting the rest (I just laid them on top of the felt and cut around). My husband suggested including some little lightning bolts, so I cut those out as well.

Just a note, I opted to make the bottom drops slightly bigger than the top ones to give it a little variety, but that’s entirely up to you. The next step is also up to your discretion. I used a blanket stitch to go around the edges of all of my raindrops to give them a more finished look, using only a single layer of felt. You could also double them up and stuff them, use a different decorative stitch, or just leave them plain. Whatever floats your boat!

This step takes awhile, so it’s best to do while watching TV or something else. Once you’re done, you can start attaching the drops to one another. I created a pattern that laid out how I wanted to put them on, so I laid them out on the floor and starting sewing them together using embroidery floss.

Each section is its own separate piece of thread and I left the ends long on the top drop so that I could tie them on later. You can get a cat to supervise you like I did.

Once you’ve assembled all the pieces of the mobile, it’s time to put together the balsa wood structure. For this, you’ll need an X-Acto knife and a ruler. First, cut the balsa to the length you want, using the first piece as a guide for cutting your second piece to size. Once you have two pieces, find the middle of the wood and make a line. Here, you’ll want to dig out a very shallow trench on one side of each piece. DO NOT GO ALL THE WAY THROUGH. This is just to give the pieces a secure way to rest together when you cross them into a mobile. After you’ve done that, figure out where you want each piece of your mobile to hang. Use your knife to score a small area just wide enough for a piece of thread to fit on each place you’ll tie on the components of the mobile. Once you’ve got those in, in my case it was 8 in all, you can glue together the two pieces of balsa with some hot glue.

Now, it’s time for assembly! Tie on your mobile pieces putting each piece of thread into the grooves in the balsa so that it can’t move. Simply tie it on tightly and then cut off the excess. Use the first few pieces as a guide for hanging the rest at the same length until you’ve attached all of your raindrop strings. Then, it’s time to put on the cloud. This took some experimentation for me to get everything balanced, but I settled on a method that attached the cloud in two places to each piece of balsa, giving it some stability. To do this, I took a piece of thread, ran it through the bottom of the cloud, and pulled it out on the other side, leaving thread hanging at even levels on each side. I then tied these two to the balsa wood at equally spaced intervals. I repeated this process, using the same place I put the first thread through on the cloud, with the other piece of balsa wood. In retrospect, I should have carved grooves for these threads, too.

Once you’ve gotten it all assembled, hold it up and move the cloud on the threads until it balances. It shouldn’t be too hard to find the right spot. Then, all there is to do is hang the little guy. I just put another piece of thread through the top of the cloud, tied it off, and attached it to a Command hook on the ceiling. I think it looks great in the room and adds a little bit of cheer and color to the crib!