project: come on! let's boogey to the elf dance puppets

Today, I'm very pleased to introduce you to Susi. Her blog Lilla Luise is full (FULL!) of wonderfully creative things. I was delighted when I found Lilla Luise, and even more so when we became fast friends. (Even though we live in different countries!)

When Susi showed me this project, I instantly knew that it would be perfect to share here, and to match up with the song Come On! Let's Boogey to the Elf Dance! It's not one of your traditional songs, but it's oh so good. Now, without further ado, let's Craft a Song of Christmas with Lilla Luise!


Hello dear readers!

This is Susi! Today we want to give Mollie a little break, so I am here to spread some Christmas joy! I am blogging over at Lilla Luise and Mollie was so sweet to let me write a guest post here on Wildolive. I have been (and still am) so flattered when she asked me if I wanted to write something on her blog - yes, of course! So I hope I won't disappoint you all. Mollie and I haven't known each other for very long but she became such a lovely friend already and I feel as if I have known her for ages. We have a lot of fun talking to each other online and coming up with fun ideas. As we both are big kids at heart one of these ideas were elf hand puppets. They have been one of these ideas that just had to be realized and soon enough they developed a life of their own. They are fun to play with and make great Christmas gifts for little ones! So I'd be happy if you want to make some with me today!

Here is what you need:

Fleece in happy colors (because elfs are happy little creatures!)
Felt in a skin color for the face and hands
Felt for the hair, eyes and cheeks
Felt for the hat
Scraps of fabric for the binding
Ribbon, trim, embroidery floss, felt and fabric scraps for the embellishments

Download the Elf Puppet Pattern PDF

First print your pattern and cut out all the pieces. The seam allowances are included in all pieces!

We will need two body pieces from fleece, one face piece from skin colored felt, four hand pieces from skin colored felt, one hair piece from your chosen hair colored felt, two little felt cheeks, all the hat pieces twice from felt and two fabric strips for the binding.



Take one body piece and two hand pieces. Pin the hands to the arms, right sides together. Optionally you can pin a ribbon between the two layers. Sew together with a quarter inch seam allowance.



Press the seam allowance towards the hands and topstitch to secure. Repeat for the remaining body and hand pieces.




Sew all the strips for both hat pieces together, add ribbon or other trims if you want. If you decide to put a cookie on the hat, you need to stitch it on now.




Take the hat front piece and line it up with the top edge of the body front piece. Use some pins to secure and sew along the edge with a quarter inch seam allowance. Press the seam allowance towards the the body piece and topstitch. Repeat for the back pieces.



Stitch the eyes and cheeks onto the face and embroider nose, mouth and freckles.



Position the face onto the body front and sew around it, very close to the edge. Position the hair and sew around it, close to the edge like you just did for the face.



Now we need to prepare our two fabric strips. Fold your strip in half lengthwise, wrong sides together and press. Open your strip again. The right side of fabric down, the wrong side of fabric up, facing you. Now fold both sides towards the crease in the middle that you have just created. Press again. Fold it up on the middle crease (the crease you created in the first step) and press. Now take the little piece of binding you just created and sew it onto on of the body pieces (simply push the bottom edge of the body piece into the binding and secure with some pins). Repeat for the second strip of fabric and sew it onto the remaining body piece.



Applique the candy cane or bootie onto the body front.

Layer the two body pieces on top of each other, right sides together and secure with pins.



Sew all around the sides and along the hat with a quarter inch seam allowance. Clip the curves on the hands and the tip of the hat.



Turn right side out and admire your new little friend!

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial and had some fun stitching with me!






Thank you so much, Susi! The elves sure do look like they are ready for a Christmas party!

For more fun projects like this, go visit Lilla Luise! Oh, and Susi will be sharing these puppets in a giveaway on her blog, so be sure to follow her and keep an eye out!