I'm squeezing in one more free Christmas craft tutorial before the main event: cute little felt gingerbread men decorations!
Or should that be Gingerbread People??? :)
Whatever you want to call them, these fun felt ornaments are super quick and easy to sew. They'd be perfect for beginners, for sewing with kids, or for those times when you just want a nice, relaxing project to work on.
A set of these would make a lovely Christmas gift, and one ornament would be fab tied to anothe present or slipped into a Christmas card. I think they'd also make cute brooches! Just add a brooch clasp instead of a ribbon loop.
These gingerbread men ornaments are an updated version of a design I stitched for my shops many years ago. Here's the new style...
... and here are the old ones!
As you can see, originally I used black sequins for the eyes and gave my gingerbread fellas big laughing mouths. This time round I've opted for beads for the eyes and a single curved line for the smile but you could copy the old version if you prefer them!
You will need:
- Ginger coloured craft felt (this may be a bit tricky to find in your local craft store if they just stock a small range but there are loads of online craft shops that stock a huge range of felt colours)
- Round sequins in assorted colours
- White sewing thread
- Black sewing thread
- Black seed beads (or small round black sequins)
- Narrow ribbon
- Sewing scissors
- The templates provided at the bottom of this post
To Make a Felt Gingerbread Man Ornament:
1. Use the template provided to cut out two shapes from ginger coloured felt. Set aside one of the pieces for the moment.
2. Give your gingerbread man two eyes. You could use black seed beads for this, or small black sequins or just sew a couple of large French knots from black embroidery thread (floss).
If you're using seed beads (as shown above), sew each bead flat like an O with three or four stitches of black sewing thread. If you're adding small sequins, sew each sequin in place with two or three stitches of black sewing thread.
3. Now give the gingerbread man a smile! Use backstitch and a double thickness of black sewing thread so sew a small curved line for the smile.
For extra-happy gingerbread men, also sew a straight line across the top of the smile - creating a sideways D shape, and making it look like the gingerbread man is laughing or has a big grin.
4. Add sequins, mini buttons or little felt circles for the gingerbread man's buttons.
I used three different coloured sequins for each of my gingerbread men, sewing them in a row with white sewing thread. I used two stitches to secure each sequin, so all the stitches formed a neat(ish) vertical line. If you're using sequins which are all the same colour, you may prefer to use sewing thread to match them.
5. Cut a piece of narrow ribbon (approx 7 inches / 17.5 cm long) and fold it into a loop. Secure the cut ends to the top of the second gingerbread shape, with whip stitch and any colour sewing thread. Sew into the felt not through it, so your stitches won't be visible on the outside of the ornament.
Tip: the gingerbread template isn't completely symmetrical, so before you add the ribbon make sure you're attaching it to the correct side of the gingerbread shape! You'll want both shapes to line up neatly when you place them together, with the cut ends of the ribbon sandwiched between them.
6. Place the front and back of the gingerbread man together, and sew around the edge with running stitch and white sewing thread. Use small even stitches so the layers are sewn together but you also end up with a nice decorative edging to the ornament.
For a different look (with less visible stitching) you could use matching ginger sewing thread to sew the ornament together.
This tutorial is for non commercial use only: you can use it to make as many gingebread men 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 tutorial / share my templates on your
site. Thanks!
Click here to open the template sheet in a new window, make sure you're viewing it full size then print it at 100%.
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