Monday, 14 November 2016

Christmas Ornament Tutorial: Sew a Felt Santa Bauble

UPDATE: this Father Christmas ornament tutorial is now available as a PDF pattern in my shop.

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This week's addition to my series of felt Christmas tutorials is... a Santa ornament!

felt santa ornament

This Santa (or Father Christmas) bauble is part of a set of cute felt Christmas ornaments I designed for docrafts Creativity magazine last year.

I've already shared the snowman bauble, stripey stocking, reindeer bauble, sparkly star, angel bauble and button heart tutorials. The final project - the jingle bell - will be posted on my blog next week.

felt Christmas ornaments
 felt Christmas ornaments
felt Father Christmas ornament


felt Father Christmas ornament


felt Santa ornament

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Friday, 11 November 2016

Free Tutorial: Make a Felt Autumn Wreath!

UPDATE: my felt autumn wreath tutorial can now be found as a printable PDF pattern over on my Patreon. 

Subscribe to get instant access to a growing library of PDF embroidery patterns and craft tutorials, and updates when I add something new!

 
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Great news, guys! The felt autumn wreath I designed for The Village Haberdashery is now available as a free tutorial on their blog. Hurrah!

https://thevillagehaberdashery.co.uk/blog/2016/lauras-autumn-felt-wreath-tutorial

You can use the free templates and step by step tutorial to make the full wreath, complete with embroidered felt leaves, a felt mushroom and a pair of felt toadstools...

https://thevillagehaberdashery.co.uk/blog/2016/lauras-autumn-felt-wreath-tutorial

... or you could just sew some felt fungi - add a loop of ribbon and they'd make great Christmas ornaments!

https://thevillagehaberdashery.co.uk/blog/2016/lauras-autumn-felt-wreath-tutorial

Click here for the tutorial and click here to check out The Village Haberdashery's lovely range of wool blend felt, which I used to make the wreath.

https://www.thevillagehaberdashery.co.uk/sewing-patchwork/fabric?fabric_type=726

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

Wednesday, 9 November 2016

In Print: Fluffy Pompoms and My Childhood Collections

Two of my projects have ended up in very different places recently...

First, my sky pompom gift-wrapping packs made an appearance in this month's issue of Glamour magazine (December 2016).


There are my pompoms, sitting atop some gorgeous Liberty gift wrap which happens to be my very favourite Liberty print (what a lovely coincidence, huh?).


If you want to add some pompom goodness to your own parcels, I've still got a couple of packs in stock in my Etsy shop - remember to use the discount code HURRAH50 to get 50% off any/all items purchased from my shop until the end of November.

And second - for something completely different - two of my photos have been included in What Can You Collect?, a fab little book from the Superkids Reading Program.

http://www.superkidsreading.com/

Look! There's my shell collection...

http://www.superkidsreading.com/

... and there's my eraser collection!

http://www.superkidsreading.com/

I cannot tell you how delighted I am that photos of my childhood collections are featured in a book for kids about the joys of collecting stuff. My heart, it bursts with happiness.

Monday, 7 November 2016

Christmas Ornament Tutorial: Sew a Button Heart

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! :)

Time for another Christmas tutorial! Today, learn how to make a felt heart ornament covered in buttons.

felt heart ornament

This button heart ornament is part of a set of cute felt Christmas decorations I designed for docrafts Creativity magazine last year.

I'm sharing all the tutorials so you can sew a whole set of ornaments, or mix and match your faves. So far I've shared the snowman bauble, the stripey stocking, the reindeer bauble, the sparkly star and the angel bauble. The final two projects will be popping up on my blog in the next couple of weeks.

felt Christmas decorations
 felt Christmas decorations
felt heart ornament

To make the button heart, you will need:

- templates (see the bottom of this post)
- red felt
- red sewing thread
- assorted red buttons
- a mini ribbon bow and matching sewing thread (I used a fabulously sparkly glitter bow from the docrafts Create Christmas range and white thread)
- white embroidery thread (floss)
- white narrow ribbon
- toy stuffing
- sewing scissors
- sewing needles and pins

felt heart ornament

To make the button heart:

1. Use the templates provided to cut out two heart shapes from red felt.

2. Arrange buttons. Lay out on one heart then sew onto other. Leave space at edges for sewing together and adding bow. Smaller, lighter buttons = best for this. Sew buttons on securely with several stitches of double thickness red thread.

3. Add mini bow with a few stitches in centre - to attach the silver bow I used white thread.

4. 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 heart shape. Use whip stitch and red sewing thread, sewing into the felt not through it.

5. Place the front and back heart pieces together so the ends of the ribbon are sandwiched between the two layers and the loop sticks out the top above the bow.

Hold or pin the two heart pieces together and blanket stitch around the edge, using half strands of white embroidery thread. Stitch most of the way round - folding the bow forward as you sew behind it - and leave a gap for stuffing.

Tip: start your stitching at one side, so the gap for stuffing is along a straight edge. 

6. Add small pieces of stuffing to gradually fill the heart, 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. 

felt heart ornament

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%.

felt heart ornament template

button heart felt ornament tutorial