Sewing: Felt Christmas Ornament Tutorial

These hand sewn ornaments are easy to make and make great gifts. I cut the shapes out free-hand for mine, but there are plenty of free templates on the internet if you prefer.

Materials:

Black felt

Red felt

Beige felt

White felt

White, red and black thread

Needle

Scissors

A black pen (Biros work well)

1. First you need to cut out your felt.

From the red felt, cut out:

• Two identical egg shapes for the body;
• Two identical leg shapes;
• Two identical arm shapes. (These should be slightly shorter and thinner than the legs.)
• Two identical triangle shapes for the hat. (You might want to cut the head shapes out first to check the hat will fit.)

From the beige felt, cut out:

• Two identical oval shapes for the head. (Please consider the shape and size of the body while cutting.)
• A small oval or circle shape for the nose. (You could use red for this step if you prefer, and, once again, please consider the head size and shape while cutting the nose.)

From the white felt, cut out:

• Two circles for the whites of the eyes (again, head size should be considered)
• A beard (you can use the picture below for reference and again, it needs to be the right size)

From the black felt, cut out:

• Two tiny circles for the pupils
• Three slightly larger circles for buttons

2. Using a white thread, stitch the beard and eye whites and nose onto one of the oval shapes, switch to black thread to stitch the pupils on top of the whites. Using the black pen, draw a mouth in the gap in the beard.

3. Stitch the three buttons to the front body piece using black thread. Now, using red thread, stitch the arm and leg pieces to the red body piece that doesn’t have the buttons on it.

4. Then place the other body piece on top, sandwiching the rough edges inside, and stitch the body pieces together, leaving a small gap at the top of the body, stuff the stomach with soft toy filling or scraps of old fabrics. Seal the gap.

5. Stitch the two red triangles together down both of their long sides so that you’re left with a mini hat.

6. Stitch the back head piece to the one with the facial features on it, but before you close up the very last bit, add a tiny bit of filling to the head and then slip it onto the top of the body, then stitch the head to the body to seal it all up.

7. Fit the hat on the top of the head. Once you’re happy with its position, stitch it to the head.

8. Finally, stitch a piece of ribbon to the back of your ornament in a loop, so you can hang your Santa somewhere in the house!

I also made a Rudolf ornament using the same principle. The antlers were a bit fiddly to cut but apart from that it was very easy to make. Maybe you could make an angel or Christmas tree as well!