Felt Dove Ornaments Sewing Pattern & Peace on Earth Embroidery Pattern

Sew lots of doves this Christmas with my latest PDF pattern!

 

 

The printable PDF pattern includes a step-by-step guide to sewing the ornaments, and templates for two sizes of the birds... plus a Peace on Earth embroidery pattern!

I've included instructions for adding embroidery, sequins, and beads to your doves. You can copy my doves, or get creative and add your own embellishments.

 

These look so pretty against the dark green of a Christmas tree, and make lovely gifts. 

As with all the PDF patterns I sell, once you've bought the doves pattern you have my permission to use it to make items for sale at craft fairs or in your own online shops.

Click here to buy my Doves pattern from my Etsy shop (the file will be available to download immediately after purchase).

Sew a 2020 Christmas Ornament: Santa in a Facemask Tutorial

Sew a silly felt ornament to commemorate this deeply weird year!

I made my masked Father Christmas decorations using my Santa Bauble pattern, but you could easily adapt other festive felt ornament tutorials to make 2020 versions!

To make the masked Santa, follow steps one and two to cut out and assemble all the felt pieces.

Then cut a face mask shape from pale blue felt. You can use the template included at the bottom of the post or just measure a rectangle of felt large enough to cover where Santa's nose and mouth would be, then cut the top and bottom edges to be curved to give a 3D effect.

Position the mask and sew along the straight edges with backstitch and matching pale blue sewing thread.

Then sew along the curved edges with more backstitch.

Add two more curved lines of backstitch to represent the folds of the mask - aim for curves similar to those pictured but don't worry if you end up with uneven spacing or unbalanced curves, the mask will still look like a mask!

For the elastic straps of the mask, sew one stitch with white embroidery thread (floss) coming from each of the four corners. 

I used the whole thickness of my embroidery thread but it's easier to sew with fewer strands! I positioned my stitches so it looks like Santas has the elastic loops tucked behind his ears. 

If the character you're adding a felt mask to doesn't have ears (or, in the case of an animal, maybe has ears on the top of its head) positon your stitches so it looks like the elastic is stretching around the back of the head.

Then give your Santa some eyes! I used black seed beads for my 2020 baubles but you could use black embroidery thread instead (sew a large French knot or just sew a few very small stitches on top of each other to create the eye). 

For the background you could sew on some seed beads (see step four of the original tutorial), or add embroidery. I've been making baubles that say XMAS 2020 or 2020 2020 but you could add any short text you fancy! You'll find the templates I used at the bottom of this post.

When I'm adding a bit of embroidery to felt, I like to use a bit of tissue paper. Write the text you want to stitch onto the tissue paper, tack the paper to the felt with a few stitches of sewing thread, embroider the design with backstitch (I used half the strands of my white embroidery thread), then remove the tacking stitches and carefully tear away the paper to reveal the stitching. 

You can see photos of this technique in my pocket hugs tutorial. 

Finish your bauble by following steps five, six, and seven in the Santa bauble tutorial (I skipped the stuffing for my 2020 baubles to make them easier to post!).

Want to buy one of these ornaments instead of making one? You'll find them in my Etsy shop. 

After I'd sewn some Santas, I couldn't resist making a masked gingerbread man as well! Come back tomorrow for the templates and how to...

 

 

This tutorial is for non commercial use only: you can use it to stitch as many ornaments as you want for yourself or as gifts, but please don't make any for sale. You may borrow a couple of photos if you want to blog about this project, but remember to credit me and link back to this page on my blog, and do not reproduce my entire  post on your site. Thanks!

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Click here to open the template sheet in a new window, make sure you're viewing it full size then print it at 100%.

Sew Easy Felt Poinsettia Brooches for Christmas

Want to sew some pretty felt poinsettia brooches?

My newly updated Fabulous Flowers PDF sewing pattern is the one for you! 

The PDF includes step by step guides to sewing large felt flower brooches...

 

... plus some matching flower embroidery patterns. When I launched the pattern last year a comment on my Instagram page made me realise that this pattern would be perfect for making poinsettia brooches and I'm so pleased with how they turned out!

These are big and bold brooches which make a real statement. They'd look fabulous pinned to a winter coat, or you could glue several flowers to a homemade Christmas wreath.

  

Already bought my Fabulous Flowers pattern and want a copy of the updated version? Send me a message with your order number and I'll get in touch as soon as possible.

 

You can make these to look like real poinsettia plants, with yellow seed beads in the centre to represent the flowers...

... or use gold beads instead for a more glam festive look.

 

These brooches would make lovely Christmas gifts (I've given some as gifts myself!). I'm also happy for you to use patterns you buy from my shops to make items for sale at craft fairs or online.

Click here to buy my newly updated Flexible Flowers pattern from my Etsy shop (the file will be available to download immediately after purchase). 

If you're based in the UK you can also buy it from my shop (I'll email you the file within 24 hours)..

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Free Felt Christmas Candle Ornament & Embroidery Pattern

Another month, another free project for my pattern newsletter subscribers!

  

This month's project is a tutorial for sewing a felt winter candle ornament - lovely to hang on your Christmas tree, or to send to a friend you can't visit this holiday season.

The felt candle is adapted from a candle embroidery pattern I shared a couple of years ago, so I thought I'd include the embroidered version in this month's email too. 

Which one are you gonna stitch? 

Click here to read more about my newsletter and subscribe!

You can choose to just sign up to my monthly pattern newsletter for regular(ish) free projects in your inbox, and/or sign up for crafty updates from me and my shops.

Click here to visit my tutorial archive for lots more free Christmas patterns and project ideas. 

 You'll also find Christmas patterns in my shop!

Free Tutorial: Make a Felt Partridge in a Pear Tree Christmas Wreath!

 If you've been reading my blog for a few years you might remember that back in 2015 I designed a pretty 12 Days of Christmas-themed wreath for Mollie Makes magazine: a little felt partridge in a pear tree!

It was hugely exciting seeing it on the cover of the magazine, and seeing all the wreaths people made using my templates and instructions. 

Well, I'm delighted to be able to tell you that this project is now available online for free - hurrah! As well as making the full wreath with all its sparkly leaves, you could also use this pattern to make little felt partridge and pear ornaments to hang on your Christmas tree or give as gifts this festive season.

You'll find the step by step instructions over on Gathered, and the printable templates here (scroll down to find the PDF templates for issue 59).

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

Visit my shop to buy my printable PDF sewing patterns and more!

Easy DIY Christmas Card Ideas #3: Joyfully Simple Lettering

Time for the third part of my Christmas card craft series!

UPDATE:  follow the links to find all DIY Christmas card ideas in this series!

1. Washi Tape.
2. Simple Shapes and Crafty Scraps.
3. Today's tutorial, Simple Lettering.
4. Christmas Trees.
5. Baubles.



This tutorial originally appeared on The Village Haberdashery's blog - visit their shop for lots of crafty goodness!


On Monday I shared cards decorated with stripes of washi tape, then yesterday's cards were decorated with simple shapes and crafty scraps... and today I'm looking at how easy it is to make bold cards with simple lettering.

Festive words cut from patterned paper look great!

I opted for a large JOY but you could cut out smaller letters to spell words like XMAS or MERRY or YULE. Draw your own letter templates print out large letters from your favourite font or use alphabet stickers.

Click here to download my Christmas card template sheet, including the JOY templates.

To cut out the letters, turn some patterned paper over and place the template face down on the back. Trace the shape with a pencil then cut it out and turn the paper over to reveal the finished letter.

For this card I just added a single strip of gold tape to “support” the lettering, sticking the tape on first then sticking the word in place with a glue stick.

For this design I created a background with overlapping paper and tape, positioning the lettering in the centre of the card. See the previous tutorials in the series for tips on adding neat lines of paper and tape to your cards.

 

See? Easy peasy!

More crafty Christmas craft ideas tomorrow...

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Easy DIY Christmas Card Ideas #2: Simple Shapes & Crafty Scraps

All this week I'm sharing some fun ideas for making your own crafty holiday cards.

Yesterday I posted a bunch of ideas for making simple cards decorated with lines of washi tape. Today's cards are all about geometric shapes, layering, and using up crafty scraps from your stash.

 

UPDATE: follow the links to find all DIY Christmas card ideas in this series!

1. Washi Tape.
2. Today's tutorial, Simple Shapes and Crafty Scraps.
3. Simple Lettering.
4. Christmas Trees.
5. Baubles.

This tutorial originally appeared on The Village Haberdashery's blog - visit their shop for lots of crafty goodness!

I used a range of coordinating festive craft supplies to decorate my cards which was super fun to work with, but any colouful and/or Christmassy paper will do! Mix and match holiday motifs and plain and patterned paper, embellish with stickers and tape and stamps and glitter, the possibilities are endless.

Simple shapes look great when working with patterned paper. I've included a couple of basic shapes on a template sheet to get you started - click here to download and print the PDF.

For this small card I added a strip of paper down the centre of the card, two contrasting paper circles and a line of metallic gold tape.

To add a strip of paper stretching the whole length of the card, use a ruler to cut a rectangle slightly longer than needed. Glue the paper in place so it overhangs the card at each end and leave the card face down while the glue dries. Once the glue is dry, trim away the excess paper.

For the envelope, I used a small stamp and a white ink pad to print a festive pattern – place the envelope on a piece of scrap paper so you can stamp over the edges without making a mess! You could leave the front undecorated, decorate it after you’ve written the name or address, or stamp the whole envelope then use an address label on top.

With larger cards you have much more space to play with shapes and colours and really show off a range of patterns. You could go super simple or cover the whole card with pattern for a maximalist look.

For this card I added two layers of paper, three large circles, and stamped two rows using a fir tree stamp – as with the envelope, above, I placed the card on a piece of scrap paper when stamping so I could stamp over the edges without getting ink on my desk!

This card has the same basic design but it looks very different.

 

I cut a strip of brown paper and used a stamp to decorate it. I added two lines of gold tape to the card then stuck the paper on top so the gold tape forms a lovely edging. I then added three circles cut from contrasting paper and finished the card by drawing two rows of scallops with a black pen. I then echoed the design on the envelope.

I stuck a piece of patterned paper in the centre of this card then added a line of tape in the middle and a paper star on top. I used a ruler and a black pen to highlight the central shapes (which I have to admit wasn’t entirely successful as I forgot to test if the pen would write on the tape! Oops!). To finish the card I added overlapping strips of washi tape. A couple of overlapping lines of tape look great on the envelope, too.

As well as using paper, why not make use of some of the scraps left over from your other crafty projects? Felt, fabric, ribbon, buttons, sequins, felt… they can all look great when added to Christmas cards.

I used paper and washi tape to create the background of this card, then topped it with ricrac and felt. I cut two pieces of green felt to size (trimming the lighter green felt with pinking shears), stitched them together with some metallic silver thread, stitched a piece of pink ricrac on top and stuck the whole lot in place on the card with craft glue.

Then for these two small cards I used paper and tape for the backgrounds and cut small circles from metallic gold faux leather and red wool felt. I decorated the felt circles with simple embroidery and some gold sequins then stuck all the circles in position with craft glue.

There'll be more DIY card ideas on my blog tomorrow - see you then! :)

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