It Felt Good

So a few weeks ago I promised to post pictures of my little felt gifts that I’m making for people. (If you’re getting one from me, don’t look 😉 ). Today, I bring you those items.

I love working with felt. I discovered it earlier this year and figured out that you can just make so much cute stuff with it. It’s pliable and easy to work with. It holds embroidery well. You can just DO so much with it. So I started working embroidery together with felt to make little stocking-stuffer ornaments.

I largely tackled these the same. Cut out your background, your pieces, place them, sew, stuff, and finish. That’s it. Finito. They take less than an hour a piece.

Here are some examples of what I’ve done:

I love the vintage feel of this one:

You can also add buttons or other things to add a little texture and visual interest:

All in all I think they’re turning out pretty cute. I’m sure you can make little patterns, but I just free-handed these. Layering fabric also gives a pretty effect.

The other project I’ve been working on is similar, but I’ve used small embroidery hoops as my background. Again, adding felt, fabric, and embroidery gives me a simple project that takes about 30 minutes to complete. Tie a ribbon on the top and you’re done.

I love the effect of the metallic threads:

Finally, here’s a walk-through of a cute and quick project. Napkin rings!

First I cut out two lengths of blue fabric and glued them together. This gives the ring more durability. I use a tacky glue that is good on fabric. You could also sew them together if you want.

I then cut a slightly narrower strip of white and sewed on a large button.

I then embroidered some quick snowflake shapes and glued the white strip to the blue.

Bring the ends around and sew this puppy up and BOOM. Cute gift. Total time: <2 hours. Total investment: $2.00 for buttons, about $0.08 for felt and thread, and a little bit of time.

If you’re feeling extra ambitious, you can probably sew a few quick napkins to go with your rings.