Looking for a fun and easy sewing project to do with your kids during the Christmas season? Why not try making felt Christmas cookie ornaments! This tutorial will show you how to felt Christmas cookies quickly and easily. These cookies make the perfect pretend play props, or they can be hung on your Christmas tree as festive ornaments or given as gifts. So let’s get started and have some fun crafting these adorable little Santa cookies!
How do I sew this felt Christmas ornament?
I used double strand thread throughout. Stitch choice is personal preference but generally a straight, running or back stitch is used on the top pieces and blanket stitch is used around the edges to join the front and back panel.
Feel free to hand sew, use a sewing machine, or just use glue. If you don’t have any felt, you could even turn this into a paper craft and use colored construction paper instead. The possibilities are endless!
Printing Instructions and Pattern Notes
This pattern template and instructions have been formatted for standard US Letter sized 8.5” x 11” paper. Just open your program’s print window and hit print. In general, you will want to print at 100% (you can check the 1 inch square to be sure), but if you find your printer is cutting off some of pattern pieces on the edges, just choose “fit to page”.
Most crafters will print the pattern pieces on a thicker card stock paper. This makes it easier to trace and save for later use. I used freezer paper, which saves a ton of time and allows for precise cuts and less frustration. You can read more about using freezer paper for patterns here.
In short, print the pattern page onto the dull/paper side of your freezer paper. Then use a hot, dry iron to adhere it, shiny side DOWN onto your felt. This makes the pattern stick to the felt and now you can cut away with ease.
Simply peel off when finished AND you can reuse these again and again! Just re-apply onto new fabric with the iron again. How cool is that?
How to trace and cut pattern pieces from felt
If you don’t like the freezer paper cutting technique, there are still lots of methods to cut your felt pattern pieces. I go through all the details in my How to Cut Felt Shapes Easily post, but the simplest and most common way is to just print, cut, trace and cut. Easy peasy.
Do you have a video tutorial?
Yes! You can find a video tutorial for this project on my YouTube channel here.
Be sure to subscribe to my channel while you’re there so you don’t miss any future tutorials.
What kind of felt should I use?
I generally use wool felt for my projects because it cuts cleanly, doesn’t fray and holds up well to repeated use. It is a bit more expensive than the craft store felt, but in my opinion, it is worth the investment since you can use it over and over.
My two favorite brands for wool blend felt are Over the River Felt and Benzie Design. Their pricing is the same, so I tend to switch back and forth between color availability.
If you are using this as a Christmas tree ornament or something that won’t get played with much, then the cheaper craft felt will work just fine. This Flic Flac brand craft felt is actually really nice for the price.
What kind of needle should I use?
For felt projects like this one, I prefer to use a shorter needle so that I don’t have to thread it as often. I use these hand sewing tapestry needles which are easy to thread and work great.
Felt Santa Cookie Ornament Pattern Tutorial
This felt cookie is a quick and easy sewing craft that can be made in so many ways! They can be used as a pretend play item to leave cookies for Santa on Christmas eve or turn it into an ornament to hang on your tree or give as a gift (instructions are at the end).
Get creative and have fun with it! I can’t wait to see how you make this craft your own. Please include a picture in your Etsy review or tag us on Instagram @CraftsandPrintables.
Supplies Needed
✔ My Felt Santa Cookie Pattern template
✔ Printer and card stock paper
✔ Pellon Flex-Foam (sew-in foam stabilizer)
✔ Tapestry needle and embroidery thread
✿ Optional: 7” Christmas Ribbon for ornament hanger (I used this one)
✿ Optional: Freezer paper instead of card stock
✿ Optional: Polyfil instead of foam stabilizer
Step 1
Print the pattern and cut out felt pieces as indicated.
If you are using foam like I am (instead of stuffing with polyfil), cut out your foam piece as well.
Step 2
Take one cookie piece and place the hat, beard and fluffy ball on top so that they are where you want them. Use a heat erasable fabric pen to mark this alignment.
Step 3
Start by attaching the hat by stitching from star to star as noted on the pattern piece.
Do not stitch along the bottom edge of the hat as it will be under the next piece.
Step 4
Attach the beard, using the marks you made in Step 2 to help you center it on the cookie. I recommend starting with the inside edge (marked on the pattern with a circle). This will help keep the beard in the right place.
Stitch all the way around the inside and then go around the outside.
TIP: If you start on the outside close to where the hat’s ball will be, you will end up here and can avoid having to cut and restart your thread 🙂
Use a warm iron remove the pen markings with heat.
Step 5
Glue the eyes and nose to the face.
*If you want to make an ornament, skip to Step 6b.
Step 6a – Pretend play cookie option
Sandwich the foam in between the front and back of your cookie. Sew around the edge completely and then finish off.
If you are hand sewing this project, I suggest using a blanket stitch. (I show you how to do this in my video)
If you want to use your sewing machine like I did, you may get lucky and find the blanket stitch in your stitch library. This is what the symbol looks like.
If you don’t have this stitch on your machine, just a regular straight stitch will work fine too! I think a stitch length of 3.4-3.6 looks nice on this project.
Step 6b – Christmas ornament option
Sandwich the foam in between the front and back of your cookie.
Start where marked with the red hash line and blanket stitch around the edge and finish off at the other red hash mark, leaving a gap to insert your hanging ribbon.
Place one end of your ribbon on top of the other and then push it into the hole. I used something pointy to help push it in and then flatten it out once it was in place.
Now sew through all 3 layers (front cookie, ribbon and back cookie) to close.
All done!
I hope you enjoyed this tutorial and are inspired to try making these felt Christmas cookie ornaments with your kids (or on your own!). If you do, please tag me @CraftsandPrintables on Instagram or use the hashtag #CraftsandPrintables so I can see what you make! I love seeing your creations! Until next time…happy crafting!
