tutorial // muppets christmas carol tees

The Muppet Christmas Carol is an absolute classic so you will love making a custom tee with Gonzo and Rizzo! The characters are made with felt applique, and the come with a fun extra too. But first, let me show you the inspiration (besides the movie!).

Last year I made this felt ornament of Muppet Christmas Carol Gonzo and Rizzo with some very tiny pieces. And I used those same patterns to create characters that would fit coming out of the pocket of a long-sleeved tee.



I started with Rizzo, but I couldn't only make Rizzo the Rat, I needed to make Gonzo as Charles Dickens too! And these tees aren't just about the pocket characters, they also have a fun message running down the arms.

In the movie, Gonzo introduces himself by saying "I am here to tell the story" and Rizzo famously says "And I am here for the food."

Well, my sister goes to Disney parks for the food. And with a trip planned, I knew Rizzo's line would be perfect for her! So I made Rizzo for her with his line, and for myself, I made Gonzo. I altered his line a little bit to have it make more sense for me. Because I'm very much about the story, the history, and the full Disney experience (and also the food a bit too...ha!).

So here's what you'll need:

A long-sleeve tee
Wool or wool-blend felt
Embroidery floss
Glue
Stitchable Alphabet deep-etch die from Benzie Design (affiliate link) - optional

DOWNLOAD THE GONZO AND RIZZO PATTERNS



A lot of this process is like making the felt ornament version. But for this, you may want to pre-wash your tee and the felt to avoid uneven shrinking.

Start by cutting out all of the pieces for your character. Freezer paper makes this a lot easier. Add the embroidery to the pieces.



Use a bit of glue to hold the pieces in place on the tee. Be sure to place your Muppet into the pocket a little so you can't see the bottom when the pocket opens a little.



Stitch the pieces down with two strands of matching embroidery floss.

For Rizzo, I used tiny running stitch. And then when I went to make the Gonzo tee, I didn't have the Rizzo shirt in front of me and so I forgot about the runnings stitch and used whip stitch, like I do with my felt ornaments. Either will work!



Cut out felt letters to add a phrase to the sleeve if you want.

I cut the letters out using the Stitchable Alphabet deep-etch die from Benzie Design (affiliate link). Like with the pieces for the characters, I used a tiny bit of glue to hold the letters in place.



To stitch the letters, the die-cut letters have stitch markings that let you stitch through the holes. Use six strands of embroidery floss and holbein stitch, also called double-running stitch.

Working in the sleeve is a little tricky at times, but it helps to stitch with the sewing method.




And now you have a fun shirt celebrating a classic Christmas movie!



The Christmas season is a perfect time to wear this, but especially in a space filled with Muppets EVERYTHING, including PizzaRizzo.



The only thing I might change if doing this again is that I would check the sleeve length FIRST. The sleeves were a tad bit long, and if I knew that, I would have made the lettering higher on the sleeve and maybe a bit tighter. I kept wanting to scooch the sleeves and that wasn't so great for the felt letters.

But I was impressed with how the letters did after a full day at Disney's Hollywood Studios. We'll see how everything does after repeated launderings!

Now, 'tis the season to be jolly and joyous...in an adorable custom long-sleeve tee!

pattern // disney gingerbread cookies

At my house, everyone's favorite treat for the holidays, but also any day, is a Mickey Gingerbread Cookie. And I HAD to make an embroidery pattern of not just Mickey, but some of his pals. But as gingerbread.

The first time my mom had a gingerbread cookie at Walt Disney World, she was hooked. I also had a gingerbread piece from one of the resorts where they have gingerbread displays and it was just so yummy! So I found a copycat recipe and we started making them at home. Simply because we don't want to wait until a trip to the parks to enjoy them!

Along with loving the cookies themselves, we've become big fans of a game called Cookie Swap. It's a simple card game that requires a good memory and a bit of luck, and it's filled with favorite Disney characters all in the form of gingerbread cookies!

With all this love of Disney gingerbread, and with all the Disney Eats patterns I've made this year, I couldn't wait to bake up some new patterns.

You can download the pattern below, which is really four embroidery patterns: Mickey, Minnie, Donald, and Daisy. You can stitch them on anything you like! I made mine into felt ornaments, so I'll show you how to do that too.

DOWNLOAD THE DISNEY GINGERBREAD EMBROIDERY PATTERN PDF



For my ornaments, I used Benzie Design's cinnamon wool blend felt. (affiliate link)

I'll share most of this as a regular tutorial, but first, let me tell you about how this started. I tested out using an iron-transfer pen on felt and my test went great! So I ironed the full pattern and the transfer was uneven and hard to see. So I sort of went over it with pencil.I can't recommend this method, but it is what I did.

I'd probably suggest pre-soaking your felt and then letting it dry, ironing it, and then use Sulky Stick n' Stitch for the pattern. Or you could use tracing paper, but that's a bit harder.

Now for more traditional instructions!



Use three strands for everything. Embroider the outline with chain stitch. Stitch the eyes with scallop stitch (and straight stitches on Minnie and Daisy!). Embroider the mouths and other details with back stitch. Embroider the solid noses, rosy cheeks, and Mickey's large buttons with satin stitch.

Use French knots for small buttons. Stitch the zig zags on the arms and legs with zig zag chain stitch.



Trim around the outside of the embroidery, leaving about 1/4" of felt showing. This makes it look more like a decorated cookie!



Apply a thin layer of craft glue on the back of the embroidered cut out.



Cut a 6-inch piece of string or embroidery thread and tie the ends together with a knot. Glue the knot at the top center of the ornament.



Press the glue side down onto matching gingerbread felt and let it dry. Be sure it's drying flat!



Cut around the cookie, holding the ornament hanger out of the way.



Now Mickey is ready to hang on your tree!

You can, of course stitch the layers of felt together instead of gluing them. But what I like about the glue is that it also gives the felt some stiffness and that's nice for a cookie like this.



Now I just need to stitch up more of the characters...and then design even more cookie patterns!

pattern // felt applique thanksgiving turkey

It's the time of year when we think about turkeys much more than any other time of the year. At least here in the United States. Thanksgiving and turkeys go together, even if you don't eat them. And so I made a felt applique pattern that is definitely too cute to eat.

This pattern was originally going to be included in my It Felt Like Fall ornament set, but I decided to use another design instead. But as I had received a request for a turkey AND because I think this was a fun pattern, I kept it and am sharing it here for everyone!

As this was going to be a felt ornament, I kept the turkey in felt. And you can make this as a felt ornament like my other patterns, both free and in my Etsy shop. In fact, the pattern PDF includes the circles you would use for that. But I decided to do something different and stitch the pieces down onto fabric. It may still become an ornament in a hoop like this, or I might use it in another way. But it's stitched and cute like this for now!



If you're familiar with my other felt ornaments, you can just run with this and use the pattern as you like. One thing to note is that there's a lot of thickness at the center of this. It gives the turkey some puff, but you just need to watch where you stitch the belly down. I made the stitches on either side of the overlap with the feathers so that there was room for it to span the thickness.

For those who haven't made a felt applique ornament or other project, here's the basic process:

Cut out the pieces (I recommend using freezer paper for this), and embroider the lines on the feathers and the turkey's eye.

Embroider the legs on whatever backing you're using. Layer the pieces and stitch them down with tiny whip stiches along the edges.

I embroidered the mouth on the beak after finishing the applique.

If you're making this as an ornament, you would stitch everything onto the smaller circle, and then layer and stitch around the two circles. Add some stuffing (it isn't Thanksgiving without stuffing!) and finish it off.

DOWNLOAD THE TURKEY APPLIQUE PATTERN PDF

If you wanted to make this a lot flatter, you could make the applique with fabric instead of felt. You could even use the pieces to cut and layer paper. Wouldn't that make an adorable Thanksgiving card?

However you use this, I wish you happy Thanksgiving turkey stitching!

project // disney churro felt ornament

Who doesn't love a good churro? And it's even better when it comes from Disneyland! So I'm honoring this classic snack in a felt ornament.

Now, I started this by saying that churros at Disneyland. And I stand behind that. Normally when I talk about Disney snacks, I include Walt Disney World in the mix, but this is a time where the Disneyland (and Disney's California Adventure) churros are superior. So many options! So many flavors!

Here are two amazing ones I've had:




The first was peach cobbler and the second was almond cookie flavor. So good!

The only sad thing is that these flavors don't stay around for long so you won't find these at the parks right now. Maybe the almond cookie one will come back for the Lunar New Year's celebrations though!

Of course, the good part is that there are always new flavors to try. It makes me wish I lived closer and could try them all on rotation.



For the felt ornament version, I went for the orginal churro. They are just as tasty as the fancy ones!

The stitching is tiny, but those lines really make the shape stand out.



Like my other Disney snack felt ornaments, I don't have a full tutorial. Just a little overview of the process. They go together pretty much like my other felt ornaments.

The felt is wool blend from Benzie Design (affiliate link). I cut the all the circles with my Circles and Scallops die, also from them, but you can use the circle templates in the PDF with plain or decorative scissors if you'd like.

Cut out the pieces with freezer paper, and embroider the face and lines through the paper before carefully tearing it away.

The pieces are stitched down to the front circle with a tiny whip stitch and two strands of embroidery floss. If you want to add extra toppings for your churro, you could stitch those on too!

To assemble the ornament I used running stitch around the edges, then I filled in with a second round of running stitch so it looks the same on the front and back.

DOWNLOAD THE CHURRO ORNAMENT PATTERN

project // no-sew tiny pumpkin quilt

Have you ever wanted to make a little quilt but you don't know how to sew? Or maybe you just want to have a cute bit of fall decor finished in a hurry? Then you should consider making a no-sew tiny quilt. I also considered calling this a fabric pixel art project, because that's kinda what it is. I see it as a blend of crafts that I love: quilting and cross stitch. But this takes WAY less time.

I started making these tiny quilts this fall when my friend Kristin of Woolly Petals announced her Ghost Party Sew A Long. I love her quilts (and even collaborated with her to make embroidery patterns for one!), but I knew that making a quilt was not gonna happen before Halloween. But I still LOVED those little ghosties made of so many fabrics. And an idea materialized.



What if I made just one ghost and made it tiny? Now, Kristin has an add-on to make her pattern much smaller than usual, but that would still require sewing and I'm not fast at that. So instead of sewing, I fused the tiny squares to felt. No sewing!

By the way, when I say tiny, I mean the squares on my finished project are 5/8". Because I'm fusing them, there's no seam allowance, so you cut the squares the actual size you want them. You could make them smaller. You could make them bigger. Also because I wasn't sewing, I decided to add some curves to my tiny qhost, which wasn't part of the Ghost Party pattern. They are a little wonky, but that's part of how this how thing goes.

When I made the ghost, I captured the process on video, but really just for fun. Not a whole tutorial. But people asked me more about how I did it, and so I thought I'd make a coordinating pumpkin and show the process better.



For this one, I didn't add curves, but kept the shapes more like traditional quilting. So half-square triangles. But I think it still absolutely works. You'll also notice that the backing and way I added a hanger is different from the ghost. That's mostly for variety!

These are hanging out together at my house, and having them not look exactly the same works well. But I also think that having different ways to make, essentially, the same thing is good. But now let's dive in and make a tiny quilt!



You will need:

Fabric scraps in orange, pink (or another background color), and a tiny bit of brown
Wool or wool blend felt - at least 4-1/2" for the tiny quilt and 5-1/2 x 6" for the backing
Heavy Duty Wonder Under or paper-backed fusible web - 4-1/2" square
Embroidery floss
Wood or bamboo skewer
Perle cotton
Rotary cutter, ruler, and cutting mat
Iron
Tracing paper
Needle
Scissors
Craft glue

Note: When choosing a color for the felt you'll fuse the fabric to, be mindful that some felt may show through a bit. I used white felt, but pink would blend well with all my colors.



Cut the fabric scraps into 5/8" squares. You will need one brown square, 18 orange squares, and 30 pink squares. Cut two pink and two orange squares in half from corner to corner.



Iron the Wonder Under to the felt you're using for the tiny quilt. Once it's cool, peel off the paper.



Arrange the fabric squares on the area of the felt with the fusible web. Follow the grid pattern below:

Try to keep the pieces all straight and lined up with each other. But also know that it's almost impossible to have them be perfect. That's par of the charm of this.



When you're satisfied with the placement of the pieces, gently lay a piece of tracing paper (or the paper backing from the Wonder Under) over the pieces. This is important so you don't end up with adhesive on your iron.

Iron to fuse the fabric to the felt.



Trim the edges with a rotary cutter so there's no extra felt showing on the sides. This is also when you can make your tiny quilt more square.



If you want a face on your pumpkin (and why wouldn't you? it's super cute!), embroider the face with six strands of embroidery floss. Use French knots for the eyes and a scallop stitch for the mouth.



Next, cut the backing felt to 5-1/2 x 6" if you haven't already done so. Cut the skewer to the same width as the tiny quilt. Utility scissors are helpful for this.



Stitch the skewer piece to the top of the felt backing. Use perle cotton and whip stitch to make two sets of stitches at each end as shown.



Slide your needle under the skewer between the sets of stitches to create a hanger. Make a loop and tie the ends together.



Glue the tiny quilt to the backing with a thin layer of craft glue.



Once the glue is dry (which doesn't take long!), you can hang your tiny quilt and enjoy pumpkin spice season! This is truly a quilt project you can make in an hour or two. No sewing machine needed.



For spooky season, these two tiny quilts are ready to hang out together. And ideas for more fall or Halloween designs are in the works, along with more tiny quilts for other holidays and cute stuff.



I think these would look especially adorable on a wall full of embroidery hoops and other artwork. Right? Pull out your scrap bins and start sewing...er...ironing!

project // crystal ball felt ornament (with benzie deep-etch dies)

This post contains affiliate links. 

The future looks bright thanks to this adorable felt crystal ball! You might not have known that you needed a kawaii crystal ball ornament, but I'm telling you, you do. It's sparkly and cute, and we all need more of that in our lives.

I created this with deep-etch dies I designed for Benzie Design, but I'm using them in different ways. This uses two sets: first, my Circles and Scallops set, which I made to go along with the felt ornament pattern sets I make, and then a new Snow Globe Base, designed to go along with the first set and make snow globes.

Find all the deep-etch Benzie dies here.

As I was making some snow globes (scroll down to see them!), I noticed that they kind of looked a bit like a crystal ball too. And just like that, I could see into the future.



My fortune was that I got to make this super cute ornament that just makes me smile every time I look at it. Plus, I love adding sparkles and this was just a whole new way to do that.

So get your manual die cutter out, grab these dies from Benzie, and let's get stitching!



You will need:

Clear Vinyl
Wool Blend Felt (I used white and pink)
Embroidery floss
Circles and Scallops Deep-Etch Die
Snow Globe Base Deep-Etch Die
Manual Cutting Machine
Sequins and/or Themed Confetti
Iridescent Shred
Scissors
Needle

You will need to cut out one white plain circle and one vinyl scalloped circle. You also need to cut out two pink snow globe base pieces. For mine, I used the largest set of circles and the largest base, but you can also do this with the next size down for each set.

In fact, the smallest base also works with one of the smaller circles in the set, but you probably want to only use the plain circle for that.



Embroider a little face on one of the base pieces. You can use a pencil to mark the placement, but it's fine to just stitch this freehand. Here's my quick video tutorial on these faces!



Layer to felt and vinyl circles and stitch around them with running stitch. Use three strands of embroidery floss and follow the stitch markings on the vinyl piece.

Stop about two-thirds of the way around.



Add some sparkly filling to your crystal ball. Depending on what you're adding to yours, you may need to layer the filling or arrange it a bit before you close up the opening.



Finish stitching the circle and then go back opposite direction and fill in the gaps with running stitch.



Sandwich the circle between the two base pieces so it looks like the ball is resting on the base. Stitch around the base with running stitch, then go back in the opposite direction just as you did to sew around the circle.



To make the hanger, slide your threaded needle under two stitches at the top center of the crystal ball.



Tie the ends of the embroidery floss together with an overhand knot and trim the thread.



Now, let's look into the crystal ball and see what your future holds...I see...cute crafting ahead!



This crystal ball is a fun way to use the dies that I designed, but if you want to put them to work more in their intended way, head over to the Benzie blog where you'll find my tutorial for making Spooky Snow Globes! There's even a ghost pattern for you to work with, but you can make snow globes like this with almost all of my round felt ornament patterns.

There will be more of these snow globes popping up in my crafting for the foreseeable future...I know because it was in the crystal ball!