Felt Pomegranates for Rosh Hashanah

I recently got to tag along with my Jewish Journal colleague Kelly Hartog to Sparrow Mart, artist Lucy Sparrow’s supermarket installation made entirely of felt at the Standard Hotel in downtown L.A. (The story about it appeared in the Aug. 24 issue.) I was so inspired by all the groceries fashioned out of felt that I decided for our Rosh Hashanah food issue, I would make felt pomegranates. 

Felt is so easy to work with because it doesn’t fray, and you don’t even have to sew it. These felt pomegranates are stuffed with polyester fill to give them some dimension and plumpness, and I glued on red sequins to make it look like the pomegranates are cracked open, bursting with juicy seeds. While they would be a great way to teach children about Rosh Hashanah food traditions, the felt pomegranates also look great as part of your holiday table décor.

And heads-up — for Passover, I’m thinking of making ge-felt-ifish.

WHAT YOU’LL NEED:
Red felt
Pen
Scissors
White or off-white felt
Tacky glue or hot glue
Red sequins
Polyester fill

1. Fold a sheet of red felt in half and draw a pomegranate shape on it with a pen. Remember to draw the “crown” top of the fruit.

2. Cut around your outline through both halves of the felt with a pair of scissors so you have two identical pomegranate shapes — a front and a back.

3. Cut an oval piece of white or off-white felt that is about a half-inch smaller on all sides than the pomegranate shapes. Glue it onto the front piece with tacky glue or hot glue. Don’t use regular white glue, which doesn’t hold felt very well.

4. Glue red sequins onto the white felt. Try to clump the sequins in sections, just as real pomegranates seeds are clustered.

5. Align the front and back pieces of the pomegranate and glue the edges, leaving one section open so you can fill it later.

6. Stuff the pomegranate with polyester fill. Just a little will do — you don’t want it too puffy. You can also stuff it with fabric scraps or even tissue. Then glue the remaining edges together to seal it shut.

Jonathan Fong is the author of “Flowers That Wow” and “Parties That Wow,” and host of “Style With a Smile” on YouTube. You can see more of his do-it-yourself projects on his website.