Christmas Ornament Tutorial: Sew a Felt Snowman Bauble

PLEASE NOTE: this project will be removed from my blog at the end of November, after which it will be available as part of a printable pattern from my shops. Please make a copy of the instructions and templates if you'd like to save a free copy before then! :)

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%.