Woolie Frenz Ornaments
by Barbara Strembicki & Jessica Rich  August 2010

Our August Hot Deal was a kit (which are now sold out, sorry!) to make this set of sweet holiday ornaments or the 11" pillow that also is included in the Reets Rags to Stitches Woolie Frenz pattern.  Jess and I decided to make the 3 ornaments, though at some point I may tackle the pillow too.

The ornaments depict a cat, Santa head, and an Annie (like Raggedy Ann) head. The first step is to wash the wool felt.  I do this by hand, though if I have larger amounts and pieces you can always wash in the machine.  Place it all in the sink, run hot water over it all,  wring each of the pieces out, then toss in the dryer on high heat.  The colors do run a bit, but I've never had an issue with one being stained because of dye that leaches out in the sink.  If you're concerned, wet them all separately.

The next step was to trace the pattern pieces.  I decided to do that on paper, though as the pattern indicates, you can use template plastic.  I like to use paper since I can pin it right to the fabric.  Template plastic is great if everything you're using is light - then you can trace the pieces with a water or air soluble marker.  Since a number of the colors are dark enough that the marker wasn't an option, using paper for the pieces made more sense.  I held the pattern pages on a window, placed plain paper over the top and traced.  Yep, it really IS that simple!  Once they're all traced just cut them out and you're on to the next step, which is...

Pinning them all to the fabric.  The photo included in the pattern as well as the instructions will guide you as to what colors each piece should be cut from.  Or you can improvise and use your own color scheme! 

While I'm thinking of it, I highly recommend that you read ALL of the instructions - from start to finish - BEFORE you get started.  There is a specific order of placement of the pieces that you need to follow since some are stacked on top of others.  It's always a good idea to know what you're going to be doing 2 steps from now to help avoid mistakes.

Everything is pinned, or in the case of the white, traced with an air soluble marker.  I did use one there.

And... here they pieces are, cut from the felt. 

The only pieces left were the black circles that are the base for each woolie.  You need 6 in total to make the 3 woolies - one each for the front and back.  I doubled the black fabric, pinned the pattern piece on, then cut them two at a time.

I made the Yule Cat first.  Since the bottom of his coat is sewn into the seam allowance when stitching the front and back together, it was important to place that piece on along with the head to make sure that both were aligned correctly.  Once I was satisfied with the placement I removed the red jacket piece and got some of the floss ready.

All of the blanket stitching we did to secure the pieces to the base was done using 2 strands of the floss.  The easiest way to separate a strand from the other 5 is to cut a length that's comfortable to work with, and hold it in your left hand - assuming that you're right handed.  Then grab 1 strand with your right forefinger and thumb  and gently pull it away from the bunch.  The remaining 5 strands will bunch up a little between your left thumb and forefinger.  That's fine and to be expected.  Use just enough pressure to allow the single strand to pull away from the others and keep pulling till you've pulled the entire length away from the original bunch.  Repeat this for each strand you want to use.  Don't even bother to try and separate more than 1 at a time... it's a recipe for a tangled mess!

The first piece stitched on the cat is his head.  Next was...

His jacket.  I decided to use contrasting thread for everything on this one.

Next was his hat, then the white trim on the jacket.

Some moss green for the pom pom on his hat and the buttons on his jacket.  Rather than try to blanket stitch those little buttons on, I used single cross stitches in the center of each with off white floss.  I tried using an air soluble marker to write the "yule cat" words, but the purple color of the marker was too close to the red and it wasn't legible, so I winged it and just stitched the letters, one at a time, by eye.  I think he's pretty darn cute!

Jess: Because the pieces are so close to the seam allowance, I was concerned about getting the arc correct for the pieces, so I laid them out on the pattern page first.

 

A perfect fit.

Wool felt has a habit of sticking to itself, so I was able to carefully lift it off the pattern page and transfer it onto the black felt without much of it shifting.
Once transferred, I nudged and tugged until it was right.

A couple of straight pins later and I was in business.  I don't like to sew - by hand or by machine - and I didn't know how to make a blanket stitch prior to this project.
Let's just say that my expectations were not high.

But so far, so good.  The hat is stitched down and when I added the beard back in, it still fit!  A small miracle.

Adding in Santa's mustache and it all fits!

Despite not knowing how to make a blanket stitch prior to the project (I assumed my look would be "rustic"), the stitches all came out neat and fairly even, a testament to the ease of this project.  Because truly, if I can do it, anybody can do it. 

Barb again: Once Jess finished sewing all of Santa's various bits to the background, I took over again.  As Jess noted, she doesn't like to sew, despite my best effort to convert her.  Though I'm pretty sure that I heard a grudging admission that she enjoyed stitching Santa.  Anywho...  now that he was complete it was time to assemble him into a finished woolie!

I followed the directions in the pattern and sewed the front and back together, turned it right side out, then stuffed very lightly -really just enough to plump the ornament out.  This isn't like stuffing a bear or doll!  When you sew the front and back together you have to leave an opening to turn it right side out.  Once you've done that and stuffed you have to close that opening.  Ordinarily I would use a ladder stitch or something similar that is mostly invisible, but given that each of the woolies has a trim piece placed over the seam, being excruciatingly neat sewing the opening shut wasn't necessary - so I just whip stitched the seam with black thread.  When you're matching the front and back to close the opening bear in mind that you need to maintain the shape of the circle.  Again, because of the trim piece, perfection isn't necessary.  And is highly over-rated, but I digress...

The opening has been sewn shut, so now it's time to apply the trim.

The pattern describes how to cut the strip of wool felt and how to apply it.  On this first one I followed the instructions and cut the strip 1" wide, but found that a bit bulky.  When I finsihed the other two I cut the strip 7/8" wide using my trusty rotary cutter and ruler.  Both of which make tasks like this very easy.  Assuming that you make the woolies according to the pattern size, you'll need about 15" of trim to cover the seam around the circumference of the woolie.  You can use one length or stitch/glue several together to make up that length.  As you can see above, I folded the piece in half and began to whip stitch it on the woolie.

Going all the way around...

Till I got back to the beginning where I cut the piece to match the starting end.  The picture above shows me testing to see how the fit is and how the next stitch will overlap the join.  To make that join net I used a little of The Ultimate glue right at the seam, then butted the two ends together.

Add 6 bells using a couple of strands of red floss and there you go, a finished woolie!

I decided to make the Annie woolie too, because... well, because we'd cut the pieces out so it seemed a shame not to use them.  Like the Yule Cat, Annie's shirt is seamed when the front and back are sewn together.  Correctly placing the jacket and collar were necessary to get the head where it belonged.

Here is the head and jacket sewed in placed with a blanket stitch.

Add the collar and use a satin stitch for the three buttons...

Red floss (2 strands) in a long straight stitch anchored with a French knot at the end for her hair (and don't you wish yours was that simple?!).  Once the hair was finished I stitched the hilly leaf in place.  Given the size and those tiny curves, I decided to use a straight stitch on the holly.  Discretion being the better part of valor and all that!  Why make things difficult when there's an easy alternative is my motto.  I drew her eyes with a marker and stitched them and the other brown areas on her face, using a single strand of floss.  I also drew her nose and mouth, both of which needed red floss.

And here she is with her facial features stitched, though not quite complete.  I also added white stars to the collar.  The pattern shows 5 pointed stars like the ones you see on a flag.  I decided to make cross stitched stars instead.  They're really simple, but I think they're quite effective.  Make a vertical straight stitch, the stitch an X over it and you're done!  Now, about those blank looking eyes which are going to assume an even more blank look before we're done...

I used some white acrylic paint, applying it jus inside of the lines I stitched for her eyes.  And yes, her stare is quite weird now, though it will be improved with the addition of...
 

French knots!
 

Annie and the Yule Cat are were finished the exact same way as Santa, with the noted exception that the strips that are stitched around the edge were cut 7/8" wide instead of a full inch.  A small difference, but I like the look better as it's a tiny bit less bulky.  It's not noticeable in the photos, but is when they're right in front of you.

Here are the three finished woolies.

 

And a close up shot of each.  All that needs to be done now is to add some sort of hanging cord and they're good to go.  Perhaps something I create with the Diva Cordmaker?!

If you would like to make your own holiday woolies the best way is with our Hot Deal which you can see here.  As I noted earlier, the Hot Deal pattern and kit combo contains enough wool felt to make either the 3 woolies or the pillow and 1 woolie.  If you want to make everything you'll need 2 additional 12" x 18" sheets of black wool felt.  See all of the National NonWovens wool felt here.  The kit contains way more than enough of the other colors and floss.  You will also need to buy more fiberfill which you can see here.  Want to make your own hanging cord?  Check out the Diva Cordmaker here.

If you love this pattern and would like to see more of Reets's designs, click here.