Twelve Days of Christmas Felt Ornaments

Two weeks ago on a very bright and sunny Thursday afternoon I had a couple of very special visitors arrive at the Studio. It wasn't a surprise as I had been expecting them, and oh it was so good to see them looking all smiley-happy and ready for some serious colour therapy and crafty time. Well, that's to say one of the visitors came carrying a bag of craft supplies - the other one came with muddy paws and a lolling tongue, but seemed happy to nose about my studio emptying out my bin and generally sniffing out every nook and cranny. Would you like to know who it was?

Some of you may very well be familiar with her, especially if you are on Instagram and know of a certain Little Box of Crochet - yes, it was none other than Amanda Bloom and her beautiful canine companion Honey. Amanda and I have been friends for a good few years and it's always a pleasure to get together and chat about all things colour and crochet. But two weeks ago, we had hatched a crafty plan and it didn't involve yarn or crochet - gasp!!!! What on earth???!!!

I'd invited Amanda to come and join me in a little bit of a felt fest, and oh boy, did she deliver on the felt front - just LOOOOOOOK at that delicious stack of gorgeous felty lovliness that came out of her bag!!!! We'd decided to have a little bit of a SAL (stitch-a-long) and Amanda had certainly come prepared. The above stack was all part of a truly scrumptious kit of supplies that she'd bought, especially designed to make and stitch these beautiful Christmas decorations.........

photo credit : Larissa Holland : mmmcrafts

...........these are the Twelve Days of Christmas Ornaments designed by Larissa Holland who writes on her blog mmmcrafts. I can tell you it was absolutely love at first sight when I saw these on Instagram a few months ago, oh I fell hard and fast. Aren't they utterly charming????

Larissa sells the patterns as downloadable PDF files via her Etsy shop - you can buy them individually, or in bundles of three, six or twelve (I think, I'll need to check that). They are quite expensive, but they are amazingly well written patterns. Each decoration comes as a twelve page document with detailed instructions and lots of pictures, including a full scale pattern page which you can print off onto a special sticky interface thingy - I'll explain more about that in a bit.

You have an option to purchase complete felt/thread kits to make all of these ornaments but this wasn't something I really needed. You see, I already have the above stack of beautiful wool blend felt which I bought a few years ago from the fabulous Paper and String.

Sarah's felt is a 40/60% wool-viscose blend and comes in sixty lush colours. It's very reasonably priced and I can highly recommend it if you fancy a bit of making and stitching.

You can also purchase a set of swatch cards from Paper and String, and if you are into colour then these in themselves are a pure hit of happiness. I love them so much, and confess I've spent rather a lot of time gazing at them. If you want to have a go a making the 12 days of Christmas ornaments with your own felt and threads, it's perfectly possible to use the many photos on mmmcrafts listing for the patterns to guide you in your colour choices.

You will probably know that I have also spent this year building up a fair collection of embroidery threads, thanks to my cross stitch obsession.

So with felt and threads to hand and the patterns printed out and prepared, I was all ready to get busy stitching with Amanda.

Now I want to tell you about the sticky printable interface stuff - it's from the US and I was able to order it on Amazon. It's got a ridiculously over complicated name - it's called "PRINTABLE Sulky Sticky Fabri-Solvy Stablizer", don't try and say that in a hurry! Basically, its a sheet of thin sticky interface that will dissolve in water - the sticky stuff is on a backing and comes as an A4 sheet, meaning (and this is the magic) that you can put it in an inkjet printer and print a design right onto the surface. No tracing! And it's sticky, meaning you can simply cut out the shape, peel off the backing paper, stick it straight onto your felt and stitch right through it. How about that? It really speeds up the whole process and you can be ready to stitch very quickly.......

....this was Amanda and me on a Friday at Coopers Cafe bar, joining in with my knitty and crochet friends who were very curious to see me stitching instead of hooking for a change.

The embroidery stitches that Larissa uses in these ornaments are very simple (back stitch, running stitch and french knots) and the charm is in the colours she uses and the beautiful folk-inspired designs. 

I am an absolute sucker for french knots, I pretty much think I could sit and stitch them all day long. Using the sticky stuff with the pattern printed on it makes the embroidery a doddle, as every stitch is marked for you so you know exactly what you are doing. The only downside is that it's quite tough pulling the needle in and out of the sticky - the needle certainly doesn't glide in and out of the felt and you have to "work" the stitches quite hard. But on the upside, the felt is kept taught and the stitches come out even and neat, so I guess the ups outweigh the downs.

Mid afternoon and essential refreshments were delivered to our table to keep us going with the *arduous* task of stitching.

 This is Amanda and me both embroidering our partridge wings, me ooooohing over the french knots (again) on the left, and Amanda stitching neat pink back stitches on the right. We had such a lovely chatty time of it - a whole day of stitching to our hearts content, interspersed with coffee, lunch, afternoon tea and cake. I can totally recommend partnering up with a crafty buddy, it's so much fun! We weren't able to finish our partridge and pear in the time that we had, but we each continued to stitch later on in the evening, sending photos to each other via text message.

It's a lovely moment when you get to soak away the sticky-solvy. It's very easy to do - just immerse the felt pieces into some tepid water for a few minutes and you'll see the solvy stuff almost immediately begin to dissolve and lift away. You can use your fingers to gently rub away any bits that stay stuck around the stitches, but honestly it's all very easy and trouble free. I so enjoyed seeing my colourful embroidery revealed against the colours of the felt - stitching onto the white solvy stuff you don't get to appreciate all the colour combo's until after it's all done.

The only thing you have to note is this :: WOOL FELT MUST BE PRE-WASHED BEFORE YOU STITCH!!! This is very important as it surprised me how much shrinkage there was. It doesn't take much to do - a quick soak in some tepid water in the basin, then roll up in a towel to absorb excess water and leave to air dry. But please do not be tempted to skip this step.

The printed pattern includes very detailed instructions for assembling the pieces and stitching it all up. I thought this bit might be tedious (lots of weeny whip stitching) but actually it was very soothing to work all those small, neat stitches.

I stitched and stuffed my pear first and was hugely pleased with how it turned out. 

The partridge was a little more complex as it required a pipe cleaner inserted into the plume. This meant I had to venture into the Cupboards of Doom to try and locate a suitable pipe cleaner, and that was all rather time consuming and stressy. But eventually all was stuffed and stitched and I could admire my handiwork...............

...........................ta dah!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm really rather ridiculously pleased with my efforts!!

I still need to find some silver thread to hang them (more exploration into the Doom-filled Cupboards), but essentially that's the First Day of Christmas all wrapped up.

On a roll, I immediately selected colours to make the second ornament in the series which is the Turtle Dove. I chose pinky purples and blues, and a handful of vibrant threads to decorate.

I relished my quiet stitching time, a rare Saturday morning when everyone else was occupied doing their own thing and I was free to sit and indulge in the gentle rhythm of needle and thread.

This is how my turtle dove looks now the sticky solvy has been washed away - I love the colours I chose and am really looking forward to seeing it come together.

During this past week I've been insanely busy with all things Sweet Pea, and so my ornaments are sitting waiting patiently for me to come back to them. After I've stitched up the Turtle Dove I've got the French Hen to make (I bought a bundle of three patterns), and I can't wait to see them all finished and hung on the Christmas tree. I knew when I started that this would be a long term project - it might take me years to complete the set, but isn't that just the nicest thing? I'll have lots of memories stitched into them, and hopefully the Little People will have memories of them too.

You see, the loveliest thing happened at the weekend. While I was sat finishing up my stitching, Little B and Little Lady began to hover around the table watching me, asking questions, taking an interest in my felt, my threads, my stitching. And that lead to them both embarking on some felt stitching themselves, oh it was soooooooooooo good!!! I loved every single nano-second of that together stitching time with the three of us sat around the table. I'll show you very soon what they made (need to encourage Little B to finish!). I will forever remember that time.

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Here are the links/info for you all in one place, should you find your fingers itching to get stitching!

⭐Mmmcrafts (ornament info and resources)

⭐Mmmcrafts ornament patterns on Etsy (lots of lovely images/colour inspiration)

⭐Mmmcrafts on Instagram (you can also search the hashtag #twelvedaysornaments for lots of inspiration)

⭐Paper and String (for wool felt supplies and LOTS of gorgeous stitchy goodies. Ribbon and buttons, just saying)

⭐Printable sticky solvy stuff on Amazon (you can make the ornaments without this, but it is bloomin' great stuff).

 

 

 

 

 

 

Comments

[Lori Duckworth]

Thank you so much, MotherOwl, for the tip of using a tiny drop of oil on the needle to stitch more easily through the sticky interfacing, which is the only thing I didn't like about using it--my Etsy shop is called Owlbaby8069, and how cute it is to have the MotherOwl help the Owlbaby :)

[Martha]

How are you getting on with these? Would love to see an update post :)

[Janet Wieczorek]

May I just add a quick comment about the cost of the Twelve Days Ornaments patterns? Yes, the entire set of patterns is $75.00. But please consider that there is a total of FIFTEEN patterns - twelve ornament patterns, and three of the ornaments have an extra 'companion' ornament. That totals 15 ornaments. $75.00 divided by 15 is $5.00. They are downloadable, so there is no charge for shipping. Hopefully, when you think of the cost in that way, you'll realize just how reasonable it is. And the patterns themselves are excellent. Extremely well-written.

[Patricia Norris]

I ordered the first 6 about one and a half years ago and for some reason I must have printed the first one. I guess I'll have to reorder although I have the first one.Patricia Norris

[Kate]

As someone said above, the sticky interface won't be delivered until after Christmas - are there any other suppliers or alternatives?

[Leslie]

$75?!?!?!?! FFS.

[Elise]

Oh my! Those are incredible!

[Angela- Southern USA]

Those are fantastic! It has me itching to stitch ornaments now. lol

[Tres the inkedhooker]

Lucy, I've just reread your blog from the beginning. Such a joy traveling through your life and creative journey. Two years ago you redid your granny stripe to be 90 stripes but never posted the additions and new border. Is this still something you plan to post still? I've just bought your original colour pack and would love to make granny stripe update.

[Sandra]

I wondered if you would like watching this video on the theme of The twelve days of Christmas? It's from In a pickle knitting and shows these ornaments as part of her vlogmas. Today, being day number one, we just see The partridge in the pear tree. There is also some chat about a lovely children's book and the possible meaning behind the partridge in the pair tree. I really enjoyed it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zthYrxGQBLs

[greengirlgardner]

Oh my goodness! Aren’t they just lovely? I have so many wips at the moment though so must stay focused! xx

[Hana]

Wow, they are absolutely fantastic! I love them so much. Maybe next Christmas (if I start making them in July?)

[Shirley]

How lovely your children joined in. Yes the felt ornaments are beautiful. Enjoy the making

[Larissa Holland]

Wow! How kind of you to post this review of my Twelve Days ornament patterns! I love seeing what you are making. I'm happy to find someone else who enjoys French knots. LOL Yes! I have discounted bundles of 3, 6, and all 12 patterns. Thankfully, Sulky has changed the name of the stabilizer to something less tongue twister (Stick N' Stitch). I love that stuff. (And unfortunately, the kit seen in HobbyCraft stores and mentioned in the comments was not designed by me and does not even have the embroidery design included. I have been in a dialog with HobbyCraft about the copycat packaging design. They agreed to pull the kit from their website but apparently not in their stores. Many kind folks have let me know. Boo. Not fun.) Thanks again for posting your review, and I think a whole day drinking coffee, eating cake, stitching, and having girl talk sounds just fantastic.

[Trixie]

I was just a little saddened to see that the price of the patterns has really jumped up now that must-have-it fever has taken hold - my fault, should have got it when I first saw the decorations on line, which was quite a while ago... that's the power of "soshal meja" for you! They do look good though. Yours look lovely.

[Rose Hester]

Loved the patterns and the finished items. I was thinking if this would work, putting your needle through some wax and see it that helps with the sticking.

[CJ]

Absolutely lovely, they really are. And I love that your two youngest joined in and made things too, that's just wonderful. I need to make some things with my youngest too, I know he would love it. Wishing you a good weekend. CJ xx

[Annette]

Holy macaroni! Simply gorgeous and I am so tempted to give this a go. Your birdies are BEAUTIFUL Lucy. Thank you for sharing this. And the thought of taking a FULL DAY to just craft away with a like minded friend sounds like a real treat. I haven't done that... like ever? It has to happen in 2019. Ok... so I want to make Christmas ornaments... Maybe a heart with a snowflake on to start with... I better start searching for patterns. Thank you again Lucy. This is really really lovely. My heart is going skip skippety skip.
Xxxxx
Annette

[Mary W]

You may need to have two sets of 12 Days so that they can both have a 'memory' one day for their own tree, and fondly recall that time together with you, too!

[Linda]

They look amazing. :) xx

[Ros]

I saw a lovely photo on Instagram where instead of some of the french knots they sewed in beads!! Very very lovely.

[Maria João Machado]

So so pretty!!! Love it, love them all.

[Gaynor]

Thank you so much for posting this, I have the pattern and I am waiting for delivery of the sulky sticky stuff before I begin. It was so lovely to see you working through the pattern and your result is just brilliant. I hope my efforts will turn out so nicely.

[MotherOwl (Charlotte)]

Oh, how lovely.
Sticky etc. making stitching difficult. I once learned a trick. Put a teeny tiny drop of oil on the needle - true magic.

[Carol Fewlass]

Lovely, however looked into purchasing some of the sticky solvy stuff via Amazon and it won't be delivered until after Xmas, is their nothing like this that we can buy from the uk, or failing that could you use a light box and trace through somehow?? They all look so gorgeous just wanted to make some before this Xmas!!! Thanks again, love your blogs Lucy. X