How To Make a Personalised Felt Christmas Bauble

Well, people said nice things about my first attempt at a tutorial, so here is another...

It's my own design, inspired by and adapted from others I've seen here and there, so may I present to you... the Felt Surprise Christmas Bauble! (If anyone can think of a catchier name, do let me know.)

Cute, right?

To make one, you will need:

~Two squares of felt - one red, one green, plus scraps of brown, preferably in 2 different shades.  (You can of course use whatever colours you like, but for the sake of the tutorial, I'll refer to the colours I've used here.)

~Ribbons/Buttons/Sequins & whatever other embellishment you fancy.

~A small piece of contrasting ribbon to make a loop for hanging.

~Sharp needle.

~Embroidery floss in coordinating colours.

~Card/paper.

~Pencil.

~Scissors.

Got everything?  Okay, let's go!

First up, make yourself a circle template as big as you want your finished ornament to be (for mine, I drew around a roll of sellotape - it's about 7cm diameter).

Use your template to cut three felt circles - 2 red and 1 green.

Cut a small portion off the top of the green one as shown above.

Next, cut another couple of card or paper circles the same size as the first.  Use these to draw your bauble design on - I use two so that I can gauge how the pieces will overlap.  I've done a reindeer & a D for Dylan, but again - you can put whatever you like on yours, just make sure you leave at least half a centimetre gap all the way around for sewing the pieces up.

Cut them all out & use them as templates to cut the same shapes out of your felt pieces like so...

Next, take one of your red circles & arrange your pieces however you like, and pin them down:

Now, you're ready to stitch them all down - I use very basic tiny little running stitches, and I do it by hand because I'm hopeless at machine sewing - if you're a whizz, by all means fire up your machine and do it that way!  When you're done, it'll look a bit like this:

(I decided not to sew the antlers down because a. it's way fiddly, and b. I like the 3D effect it gives.)

Once you've stitched everything down, add any other embellishments you like - I gave rudolph a red nose & tiny button eyes, plus a little sparkle.  Voila:

Next, it's time to start putting the bauble together.  Take your embellished red circle, place it on top of the plain one, and add the green one to the back of the pile.  Make sure all the edges line up nice & neatly & pin the three pieces together as shown below:

Now, start sewing around the edges - making sure to go through all three layers when you get to the green part.  Again, use any stitch you like, but I think blanket stitch works well & gives a nice edge.

I'd reccommend starting just left of the top middle point, because then you can do a few stitches and then sandwich in your ribbon loop for hanging as central as possible as shown below:

Keep stitching all the way around, but stop about an inch or two from where you started so you can add some stuffing (you can use felt scraps, proper toy stuffing, or like me, good old cotton wool.  You can lightly pad it, or pack it tight for a firmer bauble (?!) - your choice.  Once it's stuffed, keep stitching till you're back to where you started.  Put the needle back through your first stitch, then all the way through the bauble, snip off the end & let the excess get hidden inside.

And you're done!!

The green piece at the back has cleverly become a little pocket/pouch deelie that Santa can leave an extra little treat in for a special boy or girl to find hanging on the tree on Christmas morning - how great is that?

(In the picture, you can see a gift tag too - I'm hoping that Santa might also leave Dylan a little note to say thanks for his mince pie ;)

So What do you think?

If you make one of your own, I'd love to see it!

(And if it all looks like too much effort - I am taking custom orders for these, they'll be £7 each including p&p in the UK, email hello@kookyboutique.com to discuss your needs - but do it asap - these will be made to order, so you'll need to allow up to 10 days for delivery - and feel free to tell your friends too - thanks! :D)