Crafty Christmas: Darling Felt Bird Ornament

Christmas Countdown: Christmas is 22 weeks away!

I found the pattern and idea for this ornament on Pinterest here. I loved this idea so much, I knew I just had to make a few of my own...

Here's what you'll need to make this ornament:

• Pins
• Scissors
• Paper
• Felt
• A button
• Embroidery thread
• Needle
• Knitting needle or other such object in which to stuff the bird
• Fiberfill stuffing
• Ribbon
• Templates

The pattern indicates to enlarge the pattern 200%. I have to tell you that I did not believe 200% would be big enough (once I printed it out and saw what 200% looked like). After a bit of testing on my own, I decided on an enlargement of 350% and after making one of the ornaments, I felt this was the perfect size for what I envisioned.

You can find the original template for the bird and his wing here. I would recommend using 350% enlargement, as noted above; otherwise, this template is perfect.


Directions:

• Cut the template pieces out.

• Cut out a piece of felt and fold it in half. Pin the template pieces to the felt, keeping the felt folded in half.

• Cut out the felt, using the pattern as a guide as to where you should cut (don't forget to cut out the wing too! you'll need just one wing).
• After all the pieces are cut out, pin the wing to the bird however you desire (I did it multiple ways - it looked good each time!). Thread your needle with the color of thread of your choice (I enjoy the look of contrast trim so I used a color different than the color of felt).

• Sew the wing to the bird's body.
• After the wing is sewn, sew the button onto the bird's body for the bird's eye.

• After the button is sewn, sew the ribbon onto the other piece of the bird's body, so the bird will hang as an ornament. You can do this a variety of ways. The easiest way for me to do it is to loop the ribbon, then sew it on like that. I use pins to hold the ribbon in place while I sew.

• After the ribbon is sewed on, pin the two pieces of the bird's body together. Sew the pieces together, leaving an inch or so of an opening.

• Stuff the fiberbill through the opening. I prefer to use a knitting needle to get the fiberfill evenly spread out and in places like the bird's tail and head.
• Sew the opening closed.

I found this craft to be super easy and so much fun! One bird took me about an hour, but I am a super slow sewer, so if you are anything above a novice, I'm sure this will go faster for you.

Happy crafting!