Christmas Ornament Tutorial: Sew a Felt Snowman Bauble

Today I'm sharing the first in a whole series of fun felt Christmas tutorials... a snowman ornament!

This snowman bauble is part of a set of cute felt Christmas ornaments I designed for docrafts Creativity magazine last year. I'll be sharing tutorials and patterns for making all the ornaments in the set over the coming weeks.

To make the snowman bauble, you will need:

- templates (see the bottom of this post)
- red felt
- white felt
- small pieces of black and orange felt
- matching sewing threads
- black, brown and white embroidery thread (floss)
- white narrow ribbon
- silver seed beads
- toy stuffing
- sewing scissors (I recommend using embroidery scissors to cut out the small felt shapes)
- sewing needles and pins

To make the snowman bauble:

1. Use the templates provided to cut out the following felt pieces: two red bauble shapes, one white head, one white body and one black hat. Also cut a small orange triangle for the snowman's nose and two small black circles for the buttons. 

2. Gradually build up the snowman picture on one of the bauble shapes, sewing the pieces in position one by one and using the photos as a guide.

Start with the snowman's body, then add the head and hat. Finally, add the nose and buttons. Use whip stitch and matching sewing thread, holding or pinning the pieces in place as you sew.

Tip: you'll be sewing around the bauble later on so you can leave the bottom edge of the snowman's body (where it follows the curve of the bauble) unstitched until then.

3. Add the embroidered details using half strands of embroidery thread (i.e. for six stranded thread use three strands), switching to a larger needle if needed.

Use black thread to backstitch the snowman's smile, and to sew a few small stitches close together for each eye. Use dark brown thread to backstitch the twig arms, starting from the snowman's body and stitching upwards.

Tip: if you prefer, you could stitch a French knot for each eye or use black seed beads.

4. Fill in the background space around the snowman with sparkly silver seed beads, sewing each bead in place with a double thickness of red sewing thread.

5. Cut a 15cm (6 inch) length of narrow white ribbon. Fold the ribbon into a loop and sew the ends to the top of the undecorated bauble shape. Use whip stitch and red sewing thread, sewing into the felt not through it.

6. Place the front and back bauble pieces together so the ends of the ribbon are sandwiched between the two layers and the loop sticks out the top above the snowman.

Hold or pin the two bauble pieces together and blanket stitch around the edge, using half strands of white embroidery thread. Start at the top (where the ribbon loop sticks out), stitch most of the way round and leave a gap for stuffing..

7. Add small pieces of stuffing to gradually fill the bauble, stuffing it lightly so it's evenly filled but still very squishy. Then sew up the gap with more blanket stitches and finish your stitching neatly at the back.

This tutorial is for personal use only: you can use it to stitch as many felt ornaments as you want for yourself or as gifts, but please don't make any for sale. You may borrow a photo or two if you want to blog about this project, but remember to credit me and link back to the original source, and do not reproduce my entire post or share the pattern itself on your site. Thanks!

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Click here to view the template sheet, make sure you're viewing it full size then print it at 100%.

How To: Embroidered Felt Christmas Baubles

Today I'm sharing a tutorial for making felt Christmas ornaments decorated with festive embroidery.

These decorations are easy and fun to sew, and a great way to practice your embroidery skills if this is a craft that's new to you.

You could sew a whole set in co-ordinating colours, or just make individual ornaments. A hand stitched Christmas ornament makes a lovely gift!

I made my baubles in red, dark green and bright green felt. I thought these colours would work well together but actually, the light green didn't work quite as well as I'd thought. The white stitching looks nice close-up but gets a little lost against the green background from a distance. I'd definitely recommend trying doing some test stitching on a bit of scrap felt to check your chosen colours work well together before you stitch a whole pattern.

All the embroidery is done with white embroidery thread (floss), and the edges of the baubles are blanket stitched with more white thread (floss). If you're not confident with blanket stitch, you could use whip stitch in a matching shade of sewing thread (so your stitches blend in with the background felt) but if you can master the blanket stitch it's well worth the effort as it creates a lovely neat finish and frames the baubles very nicely. I used white ribbon loops for my ornaments but you could use ribbon in colours to match the felt.

I used the following embroidery patterns for my baubles: a penguin, a Christmas pudding, and a pair of snowmen (follow the links to view and print each pattern).  It's taken me two years to get round to stitching this set of patterns after sharing them on my blog but they're actually very quick to stitch - I promise!

I also decorated one bauble with this angel embroidery pattern - as you'll see, I've left out some of the detail when stitching the angel to make it better fit in with the other four designs.

As well as the embroidery patterns, you will need:

- craft felt in red and green (or your chosen colours)
- sewing thread to match the felt
- contrasting sewing thread to use for the tacking stitches
- white stranded embroidery thread (floss)
- narrow ribbon for the ribbon loops
- toy stuffing
- a five inch embroidery hoop (the designs fit inside a four inch hoop but I find it's helpful to have a bit more room to stitch in)
- white tissue paper or baking paper
- a fine pen for tracing the patterns
- sewing needles and pins
- sewing scissors
- craft scissors
- tracing paper
- the circle template at the bottom of this page (or a compass, ruler and pencil to draw your own)

To make each bauble:

1. Trace your chosen pattern onto white tissue paper, or baking paper, using a fine pen (a biro would do nicely). I like using tissue paper as it's so easy to sew through but it can tear easily, so take care! Leave the ink to dry completely then trim away any excess paper leaving a small border around the pattern.

2. Stretch a piece of felt in a five inch embroidery hoop, then position the pattern in the centre. Use sewing thread in a contrasting colour to tack the pattern in place, sewing around the motif with long stitches. Secure the end of the thread with a few smaller stitches so it's held in place but will be easy to remove later.

3. Begin stitching the motif. Using white stranded embroidery thread (floss), separate half the strands - e.g. for six-stranded thread (floss) just use three strands. Use these strands to backstitch the design with small stitches.

4. When you've finished stitching the whole design, remove the tacking stitches then carefully tear away the paper pattern. You may need to use a sewing pin to remove any small remaining pieces of paper stuck in your stitches. Then remove the felt from the hoop.

Your finished embroidery should look something like this:

5. Using the template provided (or a compass, ruler and pencil) draw a circle (four inches across) on a piece of tracing paper then cut it out. The see-through paper will help you position the circle perfectly around your embroidered motif.

Position the tracing paper circle with the embroidery in the centre, then pin the paper to the felt. Cut around the circle and remove the pins. This circle will be the front of your bauble.

6. Also cut a matching plain felt circle, for the back of the bauble. 

7. Cut a piece of ribbon, approx 6 inches long. I used white ribbon for my baubles, to match the white stitching.

Fold the ribbon over to create a loop and sew the ends to the top of the backing circle. Use whip stitch and sewing thread to match the felt, sewing into the felt not through it.

8. Place the front and back of the bauble together, then use more white embroidery thread (floss) (using half the strands, as before) to blanket stitch the edges together. Start your stitching at the top of the bauble then begin sewing round the edge.

9. Leave a gap to stuff the bauble, adding small pieces of toy stuffing gradually until you're happy with the bauble shape. Then sew up the remaining gap with more blanket stitches and finish your stitching neatly at the back.

Your finished bauble(s) will look something like this:

 

This tutorial is for personal use only: you can use it to stitch as many baubles as you want for yourself or as gifts, but please don't make any for sale. You may borrow a photo or two photo if you want to blog about this project, but remember to credit me and link back to the original source, and do not reproduce my entire post or share the patterns themselves on your site. Thanks!

Enjoyed this free tutorial? Buy me a "coffee" and help support my blog!

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Follow the links to view and print the penguin, Christmas pudding, snowmen and angel embroidery patterns. 

Click here to view the circle template sheet, make sure you're viewing it full size then print it at 100%.

Snowmen Embroidery Patterns

So... my books signing ended up being a little quiet! It was lovely to chat to the people who did come by, but it was a bit of a slow day.

Luckily I was able to take advantage of the quieter patches to do some brainstorming for new Christmas designs - the wonderful choir performing carols a few metres away from where I was based definitely helped get those festive creative juices flowing! I also handed out lots of projects sheets, which I hope will help people get crafty this Christmas :)

One of the sheets I handed out was full of festive embroidery patterns, including the mistletoe and angel designs I've shared here on my blog. I also included some simple Christmas designs that I'm planning on stitching as part of a series of embroidered felt ornaments.

Once I've (eventually) had a chance to stitch them I'll be sharing the whole set with you guys but in the meantime I thought you'd enjoy the few I included on my pattern sheet at the weekend.

I'll be sharing two more designs later this week but first: some snowmen!

Click here to view the template sheet in another tab or window. Make sure you're viewing it full size then print it at 100%.

I'm thinking about stitching this design in white (using backstitch) on a colourful felt background (something festive like red or green) but you can, of course stitch your snowmen any way you fancy! Each snowman fits inside a 4 inch embroidery hoop, though I would prefer to use a slightly larger hoop when stitching these.

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DIY Christmas Cards & Advent Garland

Today I'm sharing an idea for making some easy Christmas cards using some of my free felt ornament patterns.

You can make sparkly Christmas cards...

... or an advent garland made from 24 mini envelopes:

For both projects, you'll need the templates from the following felt ornament tutorials:

Candy Cane Ornaments
Snowmen Ornaments
& Christmas Tree Ornaments

To make the Christmas cards...

1) Cut out all the templates you want to use, turn them over and trace the shapes onto the appropriate colours of paper or card with a pencil. Cut out the coloured shapes and turn them over - any pencil marks will now be hidden at the back. I used plain paper/card for most of the pieces but used some shiny gold wrapping paper for the stars on the Christmas trees.

2) Arrange the pieces and take a note of which pieces are underneath or overlapped by the others and will need to be glued on first. Use a glue stick to glue each piece in position on a blank card, leaving space at the bottom of the card for a message if you want one.

3) Use a black pen to draw eyes and buttons on your snowmen and to write your choice of message along the bottom of the card (it's a good idea to write this in pencil first, or you may end up with an off-centre message like I did! Oops).

4) You could leave the cards as they are if you want (I think the snowman and candy cane cards look rather nice left un-decorated) but it's good to have some sparkle at Christmas, right? So now's the time to add it. You can decorate the shapes with glitter glue, or brush on PVA glue and sprinkle it with glitter in the colour you want...

You could cover the whole tree shape with green glitter, or add glitter to dots or lines of PVA glue / draw on lines or dots with glitter glue, or use PVA glue to stick on some sparkly sequins.

If you're using two colours of glitter (e.g. for the candy cane) make sure one section is totally dry before glueing-and-glittering the next.

Glitter is a bit tricky to photograph (especially the white stuff!) but trust me, the finished cards are SUPER sparkly :)

For extra Christmas loveliness, why not make a felt ornament to match the card and slip it inside when you send it?

To make the advent garland... follow steps 1 & 2 as above but stick your shapes onto mini envelopes.

Then use a black pen to draw on the eyes and buttons for the snowmen, and to number each envelope. You will need 24 envelopes to make up your advent garland but you don't have to make all the envelopes as detailed as these - you could add some with simple stars and hearts as well.

Then fill the envelopes with happy messages / wrapped sweets / etc and use mini pegs and a length of ribbon or twine to hang up the garland.

This tutorial is for non commercial use only: you can use it for as many cards / garlands as you like to give to friends and family but please don't make any for sale. Please feel free to borrow a couple of photos if you want to blog about this project, but remember to credit me and link back to the original source, and do not reproduce my entire tutorial on your site. Thanks!

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How To: Felt Snowman Ornament

As I mentioned earlier this month, I've been working on a whole bunch of Christmas craft tutorials and it's time for the first one - felt snowmen ornaments!

These ornaments are quick and easy to sew, they make a great beginner sewing project and more experienced sitchers will be able to whip up a whole batch in no time. The snowmen would also make cute brooches, just add a brooch clasp to the back instead of adding the ribbon in step 5.

To make the snowmen you will need:

- the template sheet at the bottom of this post
- scissors to cut out the templates
- sharp sewing scissors or embroidery scissors
- white felt
- black felt
- orange felt
- white, black and orange sewing thread
- round black sequins (approx 1/4 inch / 5mm in diameter)
- a needle and pins
- narrow white ribbon

1) Use the templates provided to cut out 2 white snowman shapes, 2 black hats and 1 orange carrot (you can use the template provided for the carrot or just cut a small triangle freehand). 

2) Sew one hat onto each snowman shapes, so that when you put the two snowman pieces together the hats will match up. Use a line of running stitch in black thread to sew each hat in place.

3) Use orange thread to sew the carrot in position to be the snowman's nose.
 

4) Then use black thread to sew 5 sequins to form the eyes and "buttons". Use two or three stitches to hold each sequin in place.

5) Cut a 5inch (12.5cm) length of ribbon, fold it over to form a loop and sew the ends in place at the back of one of the snowman pieces. Use whip stitch and sew into the felt instead of through it, so your stitches don't come through to what will be the outside of the ornament. If you're worried about your stitches showing, use black thread and sew the ribbon loop to the back snowman piece so if any stitches come through they'll be lost against the black of the hat.

6) Place the two snowman pieces together, so all the workings are hidden. Hold them together and use black thread to whip stitch the outside edges of the hat together. (It's a bit hard to show this in a photo as black stitching on black felt doesn't show up too well, sorry!)

7) Use white thread to sew the rest of the snowman together - sew around the edge with running stitch, and finish your sewing neatly at the back.

Hey presto, one cute snowman ornament ready for hanging on the tree!
 

To print the templates - right click on the image and select to view it in another window or tab, then click again (if necessary) to view full size and print at 100%. I've added a scale so you can check if your templates have printed out correctly, but you can make them larger or smaller than mine if you prefer (remember that you'll need larger or smaller sequins!)

This tutorial is for non commercial use only: you can use it for as many ornaments as you like for yourself or as gifts for friends but please don't make any for sale. Please feel free to borrow photos if you want to blog about this project, but remember to credit me and link back to the original source, and do not reproduce my tutorial on your site. Thanks!

Enjoyed this free tutorial? Buy me a "coffee" and help support my blog!


Subscribe to my newsletter for a monthly free pattern and visit my crafty tutorial archive for lots more free projects.