Monday, October 25, 2010

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 Here is a tutorial on how to make an adorable tree doll for your little tree hugger. This took me about 1-hour to make, so this is a quick little project that is just too cute!

 

I found this fabulous fabric at Ikea. It has trees, about 12-inches tall, in two color combinations. I cut around two of the trees with a 1/2-inch extra left around the edges. I chose to use both color combinations to add interest. You could just draw out a simple template out of paper and cut out two out of any fabric of your choice. You could also make this out of two different fabrics, a solid for the front, and a pattered fabric for the back. Or you could even make the trunk out of one fabric and the top out of another. It's totally up to you.

Next, I made the eyes. I cut two circles from white felt, about 1.5-inches in diameter, and two circles from black felt, about 1/2-inches in diameter. I used fabric glue to temporarily attach the eyes to one side of the tree. Then I took black embroidery floss and used a blanket stitch around the black circles and the white circles.

The mouth is a simple V shape made with red embroidery floss. I first sewed several V's to create the basic shape and width, and then sewed perpendicularly around the long part to make it fuller. It also keeps little fingers from getting caught if your V is especially large.

I sewed the doll together by matching the good sides and pinning them together. I sewed, following the pattern of the tree that I could see through the back of the fabric, and securing the beginning and the end and leaving about 2-inches open on one side of the round part of the tree to allow for stuffing.

I turned the tree right side out and stuffed the tree with a mixture of poly filber fill, crinkly celephane, and one jingle bell.

To finish it off, I turned the seams to the inside of the doll and sewed very close the the edge with the machine, securing the beginning and the end. In order to make that match on the other side, I sewed at a similar location.

Viola! You have an adorable tree doll for your little tree hugger!

Sunday, October 3, 2010

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Here are a few of my favorite Etsy finds for October 2010. Enjoy!