Guest Post: Felt Holly Decoration Tutorial

With my own Crafty Christmas project unfortunately "on hold" due to my blogging break, I'm really pleased to have a few festive guest posts lined up to share with you all instead over the next few weeks.

First up, an easy felt ornament tutorial from Kirsty of LovePaperFish (aka BigFish on Etsy). Kirsty is a woman after my own heart - obsessed with felt, colour, buttons and all things crafty! She says "I make unique needlebooks and cute pinpots and bright bunting and party badges and brooches... I also love to source the brightest and best buttons from the UK and sell to people who appreciate their gorgeousness as much as me"


As often happens, this decoration developed in my hands whilst doing something else... I had been making some Christmas Bunting for my kitchen using the Cath Kidston Holly fabric and there were inevitable 'off cuts' that were too good to get thrown away.

Firstly, I sketched a holly leaf on a piece of card.

Then I cut it out - and traced around that template onto a second piece of card. I carefully cut around the second template to make a smaller fit. This second template will become the fabric template and the first template is the bigger size, to be used for the felt.

I cut the bigger template on 2 pieces of green felt together. And then I did this again (making 4 green holly leaves altogether).

I used the smaller template to cut ONE leaf from Cath Kidston fabric and ONE from the red spot fabric, making 2 holly leaves (you can use any two festive fabrics from your stash).

Applique the fabric to ONE side of the felt holly leaves, leaving the back of each leaf blank (or cut more fabric and applique both sides if you want your ornament double sided?)

Then sew the front and back of the leaves all round the edges, following the shape. Leave a gap at the top and STUFF them too (with fabric scraps or toy stuffing).... then sew them closed.

Then I stitched the two leaves together at the top with a gold ribbon sandwiched between the 2 leaves.

Then I added the 3 FELT BALLS as holly berries, one at a time, sewing them securely into the top of the holly leaves.

To keep the 2 leaves from falling away from each other, I used green thread to sew them together at the back - not all the way, just to that first spiky tip. This will keep them sitting nicely.

And it is ready to hang! This one is actually quite big. I am making a few of them to hang in-between the bunting to make a bigger 'swag' and look like fat sprigs of holly hanging. You could make smaller ornaments for your tree using the new teeny tiny felt balls from my range.

I am pretty happy with how they look!
Please, feel free to use my "How to" and try your own. I need to clarify however (for those who are new to the online crafty stuff) that this design belongs to "PaperFish", a Ltd. company. Nobody has my permission to use this pattern to make and sell commercially. Thanks! x
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You can read more about Kirsty's crafty life over on her blog, and if you're a fan of lovely Christmas things (and who isn't??) do check out her range of handmade Christmas decorations in her SnowFish shop.

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