DIY Felt Ornaments
Christmas crafts should always include some lovely little Christmas Ornaments!! And there is nothing quite like giving sewing a go with some super simple projects! Felt ornaments are a great way to get beginners sewing. Felt is pretty, it is versatile, and above all it is easy to work with. Students only really need to know how to do a running stitch. Though you can also practice blanket stitches and over stitches for more felt ornaments!
Felt Christmas ornaments are easy to make but also make great gifts during the holiday season. Grandparents and family members especially love a handmade ornament, but they can also used on the front of greeting cards, or attached to gifts as gift tags to keep and cherish!
In this collection we have felt sewing projects for kids of all ages. Mine where very small when we first, carefully and slowly, sewing some felt heart ornaments (see below!).
Basic Hand stitches for beginners
We have a great set of video tutorials showing you the common basic handstitches for beginners. As mentioned, I think a running stitch is great for the beginner sewers. When intermediates may want to try and overstitch or blanket stitch too! Here is a the blanket stitch video for your reference!
Supplies needed for most DIY Felt Decorations
- Felt in a variety of colours – scraps are often great for details*
- Some ribbon for hanging
- Embroidery floss or cotton thread, depending on what look you are going for (in our tutorials below, we have used both, so you can see what the finished look is like)
- A little stuffing
- A hot glue gun or fabric glue CAN be helpful for smaller details
- A pair of good scissors
- Needle (use proper ones, don’t use flat ones for kids, as these are frustrating to use)
Optional: pencil and paper to create your own simple templates and outlines
Optional: depending on what ornaments your are making, buttons or mini beads can make a great addition too! Especially when making cookie cutter ornaments. They can both be used as embellishments or even eyes on your creations. Small Pom-poms can also be fun!
*When choosing your felt, do go for some good quality felt! Some craft felt can be quite plasticy and stiff and hard to work with. Very natural wool felt, can be a bit too soft and can almost pull apart. Go for a felt in between!
Ideas for your Felt Ornaments
So.. though our preference is to use our felt ornaments in as Christmas tree decorations, tehre are a number of ways you can use them!
- Christmas Tree Decorations (of course)
- On the front of a Holiday Greeting Card – making it a gift and card in one
- Combined into a “chain” to make a lovely felt ornament garland
- Combined with ANY type of Christmas Wreath – it can be all felt, or it can be a natural one with a couple of felt ornaments attached
So.. felt ornaments have lots of wonderful uses!
DIY Felt Ornaments to inspire you!
Now on to our felt Christmas Tree ornament tutorials. These felt projects can be used as Christmas tree decorations, or you can make a set and add them to a Felt Christmas Garland for your mantel!
Circle Reindeer Ornament Pattern
It is amazing what you can make using basic shapes. This Reindeer Ornament focusses on circles and I show you how to use a tin can to make your own pattern! I particularly like the colour combination for this, the white felt and pastel pink look lovely together!
Fox and Owl Ornaments
I made this fox and owl ornament for a Sky TV Kids productions a few years ago. As you can see, if you reverse the colours on of the reindeer above, the pattern easily can be changed into a lovely fox ornament (see our Fox Orange Slices to see what I mean!) or owl ornaments. In essence the three woodland creatures use the same basic shape!! Isn’t that clever?!
Circle Felt Penguin Ornaments
Similarl, we have this uper Easy Felt Penguin Ornaments – again, the shapes are basic – circles, triangles nad hearts. This one also has printable worksheet instructions should you find that handy!
DIY Fely Gnome Ornaments with Free Pattern
How cute are these Christmas Gnome Ornaments? Really quick and easy to sew! They make lovely gifts too!
Nordic Pixie Ornaments
Felt Pixie Ornaments – my daughter had lots of fun making a variety of mini felt pixies. You can explore lots of little designs for their outfits. Heres included felt hearts, felt holy and little snowflake sequins. So sweet!
Free Felt Reindeer Pattern (ornament or brooch)
Or how about this Free Felt Reindeer Pattern? You can make it as a little reindeer head ornament, brooch or full body reindeer. Too cute. Pdf attern is free to download!
Felt Animal Ornaments
Similarly, my daughter was inspired to make some Felt animal ornaments after we made the reindeer! She did these all herself and I thought they made great little gifts for the family. Especially as she could customise each animal for a family member’s favourite pet!
Christmas Pudding Ornaments
Fun Christmas Pudding Ornaments – use a glass to get your basic shape. Start of with some circles and go on from there. A traditional Christmas Pudding is a great felt ornament to make! Practice your blanket stitch too. And if you want you can have a go at some french knots too.
Felt Bird Ornaments
Cute little felt bird ornaments – make these lovely little robin ornaments and practice your blanket stitch!
Cookie Cutter Star Ornaments
Cookie Cutter Felt Star Ornaments – another great way to make Felt ornaments is to get your cookie cutters out. Something we have done a few times over the years. The colour choices can be a bit special when working with younger children… but I still ADORE them. Especially when you practice sewing on a button or two too!
Felt Heart Ornaments with Cookie Cutter Templates
Cute felt heart ornaments filled with lavendar and teaching the running stitch. My kids where quite small when we first made these, so they are really precious!
Felt Gruffalo Pattern
A super simple handdrawn free felt pattern for the Gruffalo. My friend made this one as a special keepsake for her daughter many moons ago.
Felt Snowman Ornament
Visit Ellen Hutson if you are ready to up your game and make these STUNNING Felt Ornaments. The Felt Snowman Ornament is just too cute! She does use a die cutting machine for these, but I think the snowman should “just” be do able by hand too!
Nording Felt Decorations (with Cookie Cutters)
If you are ready to do a little embroidery too. Then why not take the next step and make these gorgeous Nordic Felt Decorations – you can use cookie cutters as your base template.. Wallflower Kitchen shows us how!
That is it for now… but DO WATCH this space, as I have some adorable gnome ornaments (with pattern), gingerbread man ornament and some cute felt snowman ornaments to make too! I think they would make adorable Christmas decor too! I can’t wait to get our holiday tree out and get decorating!
Check out more of our FAVOURITE handmade ornaments here:
