A Portrait of Queen Elizabeth II, Felt Ornament Tutorial

Sew a felt portrait of the Queen, to commemorate her long life and reign!

 

This step by step project includes templates, instructions, and several text options for the embroidery - including "Thank you, Ma'am, for everything" for the Paddington fans among you. 

Don't want to make an ornament? Sew the finished portrait onto a larger piece of felt or fabric and frame it instead. 

CLICK HERE to find the printable PDF pattern over on my Patreon.

In case you missed it - here's the embroidery pattern I shared earlier. 

I'm sharing these patterns for free, but if you'd like to support my work you can sign up to become a Patron, buy me a coffee, or visit my shop. 

If you'd prefer to make a donation to a charity in memory of the Queen that would also be lovely!

Felt Teapot & Teacup Brooches PDF Pattern

UPDATE: my felt teapot and teacup brooch tutorial is now available from my shop, or in my Patreon pattern library.

Subscribe for a small monthly fee and you'll get access to a growing library of PDF patterns and tutorials, with an email whenever I add a new project. You can cancel any time. 

Click here to check out my Patreon page and sign up!

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Fancy a step by step guide for sewing felt teapot and teacup brooches?

These cute little felt brooches are super easy to sew and make lovely gifts for tea fans (either on their own, or along with a box of their favourite tea!).

 

Polkadot felt makes these brooches extra cute - I love these mini dots but I've made these brooches before with bigger spots and they looked just as nice. If you just have plain felt you could add dots with some simple embroidery, or maybe embroider a little flower instead.

 

You could also use the templates to make a teapot or teacup ornament (just add a loop of ribbon!) or applique the shapes onto a larger project. 

The PDF file includes three easy-to-print sizes of the templates, or you can resize the templates as you prefer.

Felt Peony Brooches PDF Pattern

I've added another printable PDF pattern to my shops this week: a tutorial for sewing pretty felt peony brooches.

Is it a sensible business strategy to be adding summer flower patterns to my shops in the middle of winter? Probably not, but never mind!

I wanted some simple sit-on-the-sofa-with-my-feet-up tasks to do after packing and posting the last of my pre-Christmas orders... aaaaand so I've ended up launching a bunch of entirely un-seasonal PDFs :)

 

The peonies are easy to sew but they do involve cutting lots of layers of petals. Don't worry if you think your cutting skills need a bit of improvement though, peony petals are a bit wobbly in real life after all, and cutting all these layers will give you lots of practice.

I always recommend investing in a pair of embroidery scissors to help you with cutting small or fiddly felt shapes - the small, narrow blades make it so much easier than using standard sewing scissors.

Click here to buy my Peonies PDF 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!

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


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

Visit my shops to buy colourful craft supplies, plus my printable PDF sewing patterns:

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

Felt Weather Mobile Tutorial: Sew a Felt Cloud or Raincloud!

UPDATE: this project is now available as part of my Patreon pattern library.

Click here to find the Felt Weather Mobile Tutorial and to sign up to my Patreon. 

Subscribers get full access to a growing library of PDF patterns and tutorials, and emails whenever new projects are added. You can unsubscribe at any time. 

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My baby mobile tutorial continues this week with a how to for making a fluffy felt cloud, with or without raindrops.

 

 

 

The weather mobile would make a special gift for a baby's nursery. You can also use the individual tutorials to make cute ornaments (just add a ribbon loop!) or things like brooches or patches.

Remember: as with all mobiles, this is a decoration not a toy so make sure you hang the finished project well out of reach of little fingers. 

 
P.S. Visit my crafty tutorial archive for lots of free projects.

Visit my shop to buy my printable PDF sewing patterns:

Felt Weather Mobile Tutorial: Sew a Cute Felt Sun!

UPDATE: this project is now available as part of my Patreon pattern library.

Click here to find the Felt Weather Mobile Tutorial and to sign up to my Patreon. 

Subscribers get full access to a growing library of PDF patterns and tutorials, and emails whenever new projects are added. You can unsubscribe at any time. 

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This fortnight I've got a very fun project to share with you: how to make a cute and colourful felt baby mobile inspired by the weather. You'll learn to sew fluffy clouds and rainclouds, a smiling sun and a bright rainbow then combine them all to make a mobile!

Today: how to sew a little felt sun. 

 

 

This mobile would make a sweet addition to any nursery or a special gift for new parents. You could also use the tutorials to make individual ornaments or fun brooches - just add a ribbon loop or a brooch clasp.  

IMPORTANT: As with all mobiles, this is a decoration not a toy so make sure you hang the finished project well out of reach of little fingers.

P.S. Visit my crafty tutorial archive for lots of free projects.

Visit my shop to buy my printable PDF sewing patterns:

Felt Teacup & Teapot Brooches Tutorial: Available Now!

UPDATE:  I shared this project with my newsletter subscribers last year, it's now available from my shop or in my Patreon pattern library.

For a small monthly fee you can get access to my growing library of PDF patterns and tutorials, with an email whenever I add a new project. You can cancel any time. Click here to check out my Patreon page and sign up!

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This tutorial is a step-by-step guide to sewing cute felt teacup and teapot brooches:

These are so fun and easy to sew and make sweet gifts for tea lovers. You could even make a whole batch of them, have a tea party (once the lockdown is over, of course!!) and give a brooch to each of your guests as a memento.

 

Polkadot felt makes these brooches extra cute. I found mine on Etsy, but lots of craft stores sell it. I love these mini dots but I've made these brooches before with bigger spots and they looked just as nice. If you just have plain felt you could add dots with some simple embroidery, or maybe embroider a little flower instead.

 

Felt Chicken & Egg Easter Ornaments Tutorial

Make some cute felt chicken and egg ornaments this spring with this easy sewing tutorial, now available on my Patreon as part of a growing library of crafty PDF patterns and tutorials.

 

Felt ornaments aren’t just for Christmas!

Decorate a Spring or Easter display with these cute felt chicken and egg decorations – they’d look fab hung from doorknobs, or from a cluster of budding twigs in a vase. I think they'd also make lovely gifts.

I used three pastel colours to make my ornaments (pastels for spring is such a classic look!) but you could go bolder or choose more realistic chicken and egg shades. A whole garland of chickens in different colours (maybe a rainbow??) would look awesome.

You could also use the templates to sew felt chicken brooches (in my opinion you really can’t have too many fun felt chickens).

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

Visit my shop to buy my printable PDF sewing patterns:

 

 

How To: Appliqued Heart Bag for Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day in the world of crafting basically means LET'S STICK HEARTS ON ALL THE THINGS... and there's nothing wrong with that, right?

Sooo today I'll be showing you how to embellish a small bag with a felt heart patch and some simple embroidery.

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

You will need:

* The template sheet from my Valentine’s wreath tutorial.
* A blank cosmetic bag or other small purse.
* Felt in the following colours: pink, bright pink, lilac, and dark purple.
* Matching embroidery threads (floss).
* Light pink sewing thread (i.e. to match the colour of the largest heart).
* Sewing needles and pins.
* Optional: an air-erasable fabric marker pen.

To decorate the bag:

1. Use templates A, B, C and D from the Valentine’s wreath tutorial to cut out four heart pieces. A = bright pink. B = lilac. C = dark purple. D = pink.

2. Follow steps 5 and 6 of the Valentine’s Wreath tutorial to sew the layers together, using contrasting embroidery thread (I used pink thread, then bright pink, then lilac then dark purple) to decorate the hearts and stitch them together. Use half the embroidery thread strands only – so for six-stranded thread just use three strands.

3. Iron the cosmetic bag if required then position the felt heart in the centre. Hold or pin it in position then sew it in place with whip stitch and matching pink sewing thread. Take care to only sew through one layer of the bag!

4. To complete the decoration, fill in the space around the heart with embroidery. I stitched backstitch lines radiating from the heart, alternating between bright pink and dark purple and using half strands as before. Use an air-erasable fabric marker pen to draw guide lines from your stitching or just stitch freehand.

Make sure not to sew through the fabric edge of the zip (hold this away from the bag fabric when you’re stitching near the opening). Knot your thread at the end of each section of stitching and start afresh when sewing the next section, don’t carry threads across the inside of the bag (you don’t want whatever you put in the bag to “catch” on trailing threads!).

If you're giving this bag as a gift, why not fill it with Valentine's candy before wrapping it for a sweet (PUN ENTIRELY INTENDED) extra gift.

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


P.S. 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: