How to Make a Felt Reindeer Ornament
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This adorable felt reindeer ornament makes the perfect holiday gift! It can be used as holiday decoration, hung as an ornament on a tree, or even attached as a gift tag so you can give two gifts in one!
This free, simple holiday sewing pattern is suitable for kids and adults alike and can be personalized by adding accessories or even a name!
This Felt Reindeer ornament is the perfect Holiday craft
This charming reindeer ornament is as versatile as it is festive!
Hang it on your Christmas tree or around your home to instantly add a touch of holiday cheer to any space.
The felt reindeer also doubles as a delightful gift topper, bringing a playful and elegant flair to your presents.
Perfect as a small yet thoughtful gift for teachers, friends, or neighbors, this ornament is sure to spread joy wherever it goes.
Make it your way
Just a few ideas on how you can customize the felt reindeer ornament and make it your own:
- Switch Up the Colors: Who says reindeer have to be brown? Use pastel felt for a whimsical vibe or bold shades for a modern twist.
- Make It Rudolph: Add a red bead for the nose, and voila—your reindeer becomes a festive Rudolph! Add extra sparkle with red glitter felt.
- Personalize It: Sew or embroider a name on the back or add a monogram to the chest fur.
- Glitter and Shine: Substitute the regular felt with glitter felt to make your reindeer sparkle.
- Go Minimalist: Skip the antlers or collar for a sleeker, Scandinavian-inspired ornament.
- Accessory Fun: Add accessories like a mini scarf, a Santa hat, or even some tiny snowflakes for an extra festive look.
- Turn It into a Plush Toy: Enlarge the pattern to create a larger version, and stuff it as a decorative holiday plush. It makes for a festive addition to any room or a cozy gift for children.
Sewing and Crafting Tips
To make your felt reindeer ornament look professional (or as close as possible), here are a few pro tips to keep in mind:
- Use Sharp Scissors – For clean, precise edges, especially on the smaller pieces like antlers and ears, sharp scissors are indispensable.
- Choose High-Quality Felt – Wool or wool-blend felt will give your project a professional look and feel. It’s more durable and easier to work with than synthetic felt.
- Test Your Stitches – Practice blanket stitch or whip stitch on a scrap piece of felt if you’re new to hand sewing. This will ensure your stitches are even and neat.
- Stuff Gently – When adding stuffing, use small tufts to avoid lumps. A chopstick or the end of a pencil can help push the fiberfill into tight corners cleanly.
- Plan Out Your Face Placement – Before sewing or attaching details like the eyes and nose, lay them out on the felt to ensure proper placement. This helps avoid wonky eyes or noses that are off-center.
- Secure Accessories – For items like bells and collars, reinforce stitching to ensure they stay in place—even if someone gives your ornament a tug.
NOTE: a 5-inch x 4-inch piece of light brown felt (body), a 1-inch square piece of dark brown felt (antlers), a 1-inch square piece of cream felt (chest fur), and a 2 1⁄2-inch x ½-inch piece of red glitter felt (collar) would be sufficient to complete one reindeer ornament.
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Materials needed for the felt reindeer ornament
- Printed pattern
- Felt: light brown (body), dark brown (antlers), cream (chest fur), and red glitter (for optional collar (soft craft felt) (glitter felt) (merino wool felt)
- Two 6-millimeter black craft safety eyes.
- One 6-millimeter red bead (for nose).
- Embroidery floss: light brown (body color) and red (nose and collar).
- Polyester fiberfill stuffing.
- Six inches of ⅛-inch wide cream ribbon (for optional hang tag).
- Three 6-millimeter bells (for collar).
- Scissors
- Sewing/embroidery needles
- Sewing pins
Grab the Free Printable Pattern
Excited to get started? Download the free printable felt reindeer ornament pattern to guide your crafting process. The pattern includes all the shapes and measurements needed to create your adorable reindeer.
Click here to grab your copy of the free PDF pattern
Step-by-Step Instructions
Step 1: Prep and Cut
Start by cutting out your pattern pieces from the printable template. Pin the paper pieces to your felt and cut:
- 2 body shapes (light brown felt)
- 1 chest fur piece (cream felt)
- 2 antlers (dark brown felt)
- 1 collar strip (red glitter felt)
Now your reindeer begins to take shape!
Step 2: Add the Face Details
- Use sharp scissors to cut small holes in the front body piece where you’d like the eyes.
- Insert the safety eyes and secure their backs. Next, stitch the red bead for the nose using matching embroidery floss.
Step 3: Attach the Chest Fur
Position the cream-felt chest piece onto the front body piece. Use a running stitch to secure it along the top edge. Don’t worry if the stitching is visible; it’ll be hidden under the collar later.
Step 4: Add the ears and antlers to the felt reindeer ornament
Now, switch to working with the back body piece. Take each ear, fold it along the line shown in the pattern, and tack it into position. Next, tack the antlers into position as shown on the pattern.
To create the ribbon hang tag, cut a 6-inch piece of ribbon, knot it into a loop, and tack it into position as shown on the pattern. To prevent the hang tag from pulling out of the ornament, tack it so that the ribbon knot is inside of the ornament.
Step 5: Combine the Body Pieces
Pin together the front and back sides of the reindeer (wrong sides together) and sew them together using blanket stitch and three strands of embroidery floss. Begin stitching just below the ear on one side of the reindeer and continue stitching around the body until you reach the other ear. The reindeer ornament’s two sides can be sewn together using another stitch, such as a whip stitch or running stitch.
Step 6: Stuff the Reindeer
Gently fill the ornament with a small amount of polyester stuffing to give it a cozy, plush look without overfilling. Finish stitching to close the opening.
Step 7: Add the Collar
To make the optional collar:
- Cut a strip of felt 3/16 inches wide by 2 ¾ inches long.
- Sew three small bells evenly spaced along the strip.
- Wrap the felt collar around the reindeer’s neck and stitch it closed at the back.
Step 8: Show off Your Work
Your adorable felt reindeer ornament is complete! Hang it on your tree, pack it with a heartfelt gift, or add it to your holiday decor.
Did You Make A Reindeer Ornament?
Please leave a star ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ rating and/or a review in the comments section below. If you share an image on Instagram, be sure to tag me and use #scatteredmompatterns! You can also share an image to my private Facebook sewing group!
FAQs
What kind of felt should I use to make these ornaments?
To complete this project, you can use any type of felt suitable for crafting – wool, wool-blend, or synthetic felts will all work well for this project.
What if I lack all the supplies to complete this project? Can you suggest any alternatives?
If you don’t have all the supplies needed to complete this project, you can try substituting any other craft supplies you have at hand. However, some substitutions might require an adhesive, such as hot glue, for attachment. These are some common substitutions:
- Felt: the reindeer ornament can be customized using any colors of felt you have available or would like to use. If you don’t have felt, it might be possible to use other fabrics such as fleece. However, these have not been tested and will likely produce different results.
- Safety eyes: plastic half-pearls or adhesive half-pearls, buttons, pom poms, hand-stitching with embroidery thread, or a marker such as a Sharpie can add eyes to the reindeer.
- Red bead nose: different colored beads, plastic half-pearls or adhesive half-pearls, buttons, pom poms, hand-stitching with embroidery floss, or a marker such as a Sharpie can add a nose to the reindeer.
- ⅛ inch ribbon: alternatives for the hang tag include materials such as twine, embroidery floss, string, and yarn.
- Embroidery floss: regular sewing thread can be used to complete this project, especially for tacking and attaching parts such as the nose, ears, antlers, and ribbon, but three strands of embroidery floss are recommended for blanket stitching around the ornament.
- Polyester fiberfill stuffing: any natural or synthetic stuffing material may be used to lightly fill the reindeer ornament, for example, cotton wool, scraps of yarn or fabric, filling from old pillows, etc.
Can I make this felt reindeer ornament a no-sew project?
You could make this project no-sew by using a hot-glue gun instead of stitching to attach each piece to the reindeer and ‘sew’ the two sides of the reindeer together. While this pattern has not been tested as a no-sew project, the finished ornament would likely be similar but not identical in appearance to the sewn version, depending on how precisely the ornament was glued together.
Do I need to know how to do specific stitches to complete this project?
You do not need to know how to do specific stitches to complete this project. The reindeer ornament was completed as shown using both blanket stitch and running stitch, but feel free to use whichever stitches you are most comfortable with. You can also use a straight stitch on your sewing machine to assemble the reindeer and hand stitch after adding the stuffing.
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Materials
- Printed pattern
- Felt: light brown (body), dark brown (antlers), cream (chest fur), and red glitter (for optional collar).
- Two 6-millimeter black craft safety eyes.
- One 6-millimeter red bead (for nose).
- Embroidery floss: light brown (body color) and red (nose and collar).
- Polyester fiberfill stuffing.
- Six inches of ⅛-inch wide cream ribbon (for optional hang tag).
- Three 6-millimeter bells (for collar).
- Scissors
- Sewing/embroidery needles
- Sewing pins
Instructions
Step 1: Prep and Cut
- Start by cutting out your pattern pieces from the printable template. Pin the paper pieces to your felt and cut:
- 2 body shapes (light brown felt)
- 1 chest fur piece (cream felt)
- 2 antlers (dark brown felt)
- 1 collar strip (red glitter felt)
Step 2: Add the Face Details
- Use sharp scissors to cut small holes in the front body piece where you’d like the eyes.
- Insert the safety eyes and secure their backs. Next, stitch the red bead for the nose using matching embroidery floss.
Step 3: Attach the Chest Fur
- Position the cream-felt chest piece onto the front body piece. Use a running stitch to secure it along the top edge. Don’t worry if the stitching is visible; it’ll be hidden under the collar later.
Step 4: Assemble the Back Features
- Now switch to working with the back body piece. Take each ear, fold it along the line shown in the pattern, and tack it into position. Next, tack the antlers into position as shown on the pattern.
- To create the ribbon hang tag, cut a 6-inch piece of ribbon, knot it into a loop, and tack it into position as shown on the pattern. To prevent the hang tag from pulling out of the ornament, tack it so that the ribbon knot is inside of the ornament.
Step 5: Combine the Body Pieces
- Pin together the front and back sides of the reindeer (wrong sides together) and sew them together using blanket stitch and three strands of embroidery floss. Begin stitching just below the ear on one side of the reindeer and continue stitching around the body until you reach the other ear. The two sides of the reindeer ornament can alternatively be sewn together using another stitch, such as a whip stitch or running stitch.
Step 6: Stuff the Reindeer
- Gently fill the ornament with a small amount of polyester stuffing to give it a cozy, plush look without overfilling. Finish stitching to close the opening.
Step 7: Add the Collar
- To make the optional collar:
- Cut a strip of felt 3/16 inches wide by 2 ¾ inches long.
- Sew three small bells evenly spaced along the strip.
- Wrap the felt collar around the reindeer’s neck and stitch it closed at the back.
