7 Adorable Tutorials to Show You How to Sew Felt Animals From Scratch
Have you ever wanted to make a handmade gift for a kiddo, but you’re unsure what they might like? Or maybe you know you want to make some sort of plushie, but all the patterns you seem to find are a bit too complex. I have the answer: cute felt animals.
In this entry to my Felt Crafts for Kids series, we will go over the basics of how to sew felt animals and look at some beautiful and surprisingly simple felt animal patterns your kids are sure to love.
What Can You Do With Felt Animals?
Felt is such a fabulous material to work with, and anything made with felt automatically has a “handmade” look. Kids love to craft and play with felt because of the texture and versatility of the material, but what kind of things can make with felt animals?
Here are a few fun ideas for your felt creatures:
- Make a mobile. We’ll be looking at one of these later, and oh my goodness…it is SO cute!
- Create Noah’s Ark. Kids would have a blast helping create their favorite animals two by two.
- Large felt plush toys. Supersize small animal patterns to develop giant felt plushies.
- Make Christmas tree ornaments. Another fun project to do with the kids. Help them create ornaments that look like their favorite pet or animal.
- Create fun party favors. Have a felt animal craft session at birthday parties and let the kids take them home afterward.
- Fidget blanket accessories. Put together a fun jungle or farm scene on a blanket or quilt, add velcro squares to the blanket and back of the animals, and watch your little one blast playing with their animals.
- Create a felt animal garland. Use yarn to thread through each animal to create a custom-made garland with your kiddo’s favorite animals.
What Thread Do You Use For Felt Animals?
Unlike most fabrics, felt is not woven together. Instead, it is matted and pressed together to create dense, flat sheets. Using regular thread isn’t recommended for sewing felt together, so what should you use for DIY felt animals?
Embroidery floss is the best type of thread to use when sewing felt. Embroidery floss comprises six strands of thin cotton thread spun together. If you need a thick stitch, use all six strands. However, if you need a delicate stitch for embellishing felt, you can pull the strands apart and use one or two strands.
Embroidery floss also comes in literally hundreds of colors and is extremely cheap. If you plan on doing a lot of embroidery work, keep an eye open for sales at your local craft store. Stores like Joanns have deals on embroidery floss, and you’ll be able to stock up on it at bargain prices.
How To Sew Felt Animals
Felt animals are probably the most popular felt crafts for kids and adults because they are relatively simple to construct and just so stinkin’ cute! Before we look at the adorable examples I’ve gathered, let’s go over the steps to creating these cuddly creatures.
Step 1: Choose a Pattern
There are all sorts of animal designs for felt crafts available. Choose something that you know you or your children will love.
Step 2: Choose the Felt
Felt comes in natural, synthetic, and combination fibers. Choose which you prefer and then choose what colors you want to use.
Step 3: Cut Out the Pattern Pieces
The pattern you choose should have cut-out instructions for each part of the animal pattern. Felt is a forgiving material to work with, so don’t stress if you don’t cut the pieces out perfectly. As long as the edges of the joining pieces match up, you should be fine.
Step 4: Sew the Pieces Together
Optional: If you want to add extra embellishment stitches, you should do so before you sew the main pieces together. This would be a great time to add any facial features like eyes, nose, and mouth to your little creatures.
Hand-stitching felt is a reasonably quick process depending on what stitch you choose to use. Most patterns will give stitch suggestions, but if they don’t, try sticking to a blanket stitch, whipstitch, or backstitch for piecing the felt pieces together.
Remember to leave a small opening (about 2”) to add the stuffing.
Step 5: Add the Stuffing
There is a wide variety of things you could use to stuff your little felt plush toys. You could use:
- Cotton balls
- Polyester stuffing
- Fabric scraps
- Batting scraps (if you’re a quilter)
When stuffing plushies, you want to make sure you stuff it enough but not too much that you can’t stitch it shut. If you want the plush to be cuddly, use less stuffing. If you want it to stand up, or be a bit stiffer, use more filling.
Step 6: Finish the Felt Animal
After having the felt animal stuffed perfectly, finish the edge stitching to complete the craft. Pretty simple, right?
7 Cuddly and Lovable Felt Animal Ideas For You and Your Kiddos
Now that we’ve gone over what kinds of crafts you can use felt animals for, the type of thread you should use to make them, and how to put them together, let’s look at some beautiful examples of these felty creatures.
Aren’t these little bunnies adorable? This is a free pattern + tutorial to help you create these sweet little bunny felt plushies for you and your littles. The designer includes great photos showing each step in detail.
Okay, this isn’t technically a tutorial, but look at this gorgeous nursery mobile I found on Etsy. I wanted to give you an idea of what is possible with a few felt animals, some thread, and a couple of wooden hoops. This would be a fantastic gift for an expecting mother or your nursery and wouldn’t take too long to create.
Here we have a free pattern and tutorial for this beautiful llama ornament. You could use it as a wall decoration or Christmas tree ornament, or a backpack accessory like the designer. The attention to detail is terrific, from the decorative stitches to the beadwork. This would be a fun craft for ages.
If you are searching for quality wool felt animal patterns, Etsy is a great place to start your search. These woodland animals, for example, are from the Etsy shop, littledear, and are so cute. The patterns come with well-written instructions and printable patterns to be able to make these nine beautiful plushies.
This cuddly little koala pattern is available for purchase on Etsy from a shop called “Bauldemalinka.” This shop has all kinds of felt crafts for you to choose from, and each pattern comes with easy-to-follow instructions and printable patterns. The finished size of this koala felt toy is 4 ½” tall. The perfect pocket toy for kids!
I mean, does it get any cuter than these little sea critters? This pattern bundle from MimiBoom on Etsy includes nine felt ocean creatures for you to be able to make. The patterns have a supplies list, printable pattern pieces, instructions, and a stitch guide. Could you imagine these used in a mobile or “Under the Sea” themed garland? I know I can.
Can you believe this is a free pattern + tutorial? Carol from Crafter’s Boutique Handmade created this beyond-adorable pattern for us to enjoy for free. She also wrote an easy-to-follow tutorial with fantastic photos illustrating each step for us visual learners. She also shows an option to use ladybug colors instead of bumblebee colors, and let me just say; it’s SO cute.
I hope you had as much fun as I did checking out all these adorable felt animal patterns. I would really like to encourage you to try out one of these free patterns. Even if you’ve never sewn something by hand before, just give it a try. I know you can do it!
Happy Stitching!
