Twelve Days of Handmade Christmas - Day Eleven: Felt Christmas Decorations
Number eleven in our series of Twelve (non-consecutive) Days of Handmade
Christmas from The Drapery. Handmade Christmas gifts are thoughtful,
cost-effective and kind to the earth. And they're just as rewarding to
give as they are to receive.
Felt Christmas Decorations
Feel like adding some home made love to your Christmas tree? These two projects can be done by hand or machine. You could even enlist the kids to help. We've made up a handy pattern sheet for these two decorations which you can download at your leisure right here.
1. Penguin
You will need: penguin pattern, black wool felt, white wool felt, a tiny triangle of orange wool felt, perle cotton (both white and black), wool or corn fibre stuffing, needles and scissors.
To make this little guy, download the pattern sheet and cut out the pieces for the Penguin. Pin the pattern pieces to the appropriate felt, and cut them all out.
Now take one body piece and the gusset piece. Pin one side of the centre-point of the gusset's length to the centre-point of the base of the penguin. Using some black perle cotton and a whip or blanket stitch, hand sew the gusset around each side of the body piece, easing the two edges together up to the pointed piece of the gusset on either side.
Repeat, attaching the remaining long gusset side to the other body piece. Remember to begin and end each row of stitching with a good double knot.
You should now have the gusset attached to both body pieces and the head of the penguin on either side still open. Use this opening to add the stuffing. Use small balls of stuffing and press them right into the corners before adding larger pieces until the ornament is filled quite firmly.
With the black perle thread now whip or blanket stitch the penguin closed, from one end point of the gusset up over the head and around to the other top point of the gusset. Tie double knots at the end and bury your thread tails in the stuffing.
Almost there! Time to applique the face. Take the white face piece and secure the tiny orange beak from the back (if it's too fiddly to hand sew this on, a spot of fabric/white glue will do the trick here). Now pin the face to the penguin. With white perle cotton, applique the face to the body using a blanket stitch.
With the black thread once more, sew a couple of french knots for each eye (or a few slip stitches if you're not into french knots). Now all there is left to do is to use a little perle cotton to make a little loop from which to festoon your little ball of cute on your chrissie tree. Done!
2. Little House
You will need: house pattern (downloadable along with the penguin pattern, link up top), assorted small pieces of wool felt, wool or corn fibre stuffing, sewing machine, thread, scissors, perle cotton or ribbon.
Cut out the pattern pieces, pin them to your desired colour combo of felt, then cut out the pieces as in the photo above.
On the sewing machine, sew the two roof pieces to the shorter edges of the main house piece. Trim the little triangle corners at the very edges of the roof base on both pieces.
Machine sew a little cross to secure the window in place on one of the house pieces only. Remember to backstitch at the beginning and end of each row of stitches.
Now pin the two houses together, back and front with wrong sides together. Sew around the perimeter of the house, leaving the base of the house piece open, as shown below:
Pop in a bit of stuffing, and machine sew up the opening. Sew on a loop of perle cotton or ribbon to use as a hanger.
Now step back and admire your handmade christmas efforts. Nice work! Merry Christmas to you!
- Fiona & Jane xx
Felt Christmas Decorations
Feel like adding some home made love to your Christmas tree? These two projects can be done by hand or machine. You could even enlist the kids to help. We've made up a handy pattern sheet for these two decorations which you can download at your leisure right here.
1. Penguin
You will need: penguin pattern, black wool felt, white wool felt, a tiny triangle of orange wool felt, perle cotton (both white and black), wool or corn fibre stuffing, needles and scissors.
To make this little guy, download the pattern sheet and cut out the pieces for the Penguin. Pin the pattern pieces to the appropriate felt, and cut them all out.
Now take one body piece and the gusset piece. Pin one side of the centre-point of the gusset's length to the centre-point of the base of the penguin. Using some black perle cotton and a whip or blanket stitch, hand sew the gusset around each side of the body piece, easing the two edges together up to the pointed piece of the gusset on either side.
You should now have the gusset attached to both body pieces and the head of the penguin on either side still open. Use this opening to add the stuffing. Use small balls of stuffing and press them right into the corners before adding larger pieces until the ornament is filled quite firmly.
With the black perle thread now whip or blanket stitch the penguin closed, from one end point of the gusset up over the head and around to the other top point of the gusset. Tie double knots at the end and bury your thread tails in the stuffing.
Almost there! Time to applique the face. Take the white face piece and secure the tiny orange beak from the back (if it's too fiddly to hand sew this on, a spot of fabric/white glue will do the trick here). Now pin the face to the penguin. With white perle cotton, applique the face to the body using a blanket stitch.
With the black thread once more, sew a couple of french knots for each eye (or a few slip stitches if you're not into french knots). Now all there is left to do is to use a little perle cotton to make a little loop from which to festoon your little ball of cute on your chrissie tree. Done!
2. Little House
You will need: house pattern (downloadable along with the penguin pattern, link up top), assorted small pieces of wool felt, wool or corn fibre stuffing, sewing machine, thread, scissors, perle cotton or ribbon.
Cut out the pattern pieces, pin them to your desired colour combo of felt, then cut out the pieces as in the photo above.
On the sewing machine, sew the two roof pieces to the shorter edges of the main house piece. Trim the little triangle corners at the very edges of the roof base on both pieces.
Machine sew a little cross to secure the window in place on one of the house pieces only. Remember to backstitch at the beginning and end of each row of stitches.
Now pin the two houses together, back and front with wrong sides together. Sew around the perimeter of the house, leaving the base of the house piece open, as shown below:
Pop in a bit of stuffing, and machine sew up the opening. Sew on a loop of perle cotton or ribbon to use as a hanger.
Now step back and admire your handmade christmas efforts. Nice work! Merry Christmas to you!
- Fiona & Jane xx
Previous Twelve Days of Handmade Christmas posts:
These designs are simple but super cute, I just love handmade felt ornaments on a tree.
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