Felt Cardinal

An easy and inexpensive Christmas ornament.

I'm fully aware that Christmas is just behind us, (...at least for a few months!) but I wanted to share a simple yet elegant idea, which of course, is ultra cheap!!! I came across it recently in an old Christmas craft book I own, so I can't take the credit for the pattern, although I did my own thing, as usual.


STEP 1: Print out the pattern below and cut the pieces from felt. I used felt squares (more like 8"x10", actually) from the craft store that were .34 cents each! (WooHoo!!) I shrunk the pattern slightly, so I got all 7 pieces from the same piece of felt! (I feel another 'woohoo' coming on....)

STEP 2: Stitch 'tummy' piece to left body piece, lining up 'tummy' piece right under birds beak, and stitching down & around towards the bottom of bird, ending just before the tail starts. (Refer to photo, below)  **Here's where I did my own thing: the original pattern says to sew on a machine, with right sides together (not a concern when working with felt), turn out...etc. I followed the original directions but it looked a bit funky.... so instead I placed the two sides together, with right sides out, and did a blanket stitch around the outside edges. I liked the end result much more, & it wasn't as difficult to turn out a nicer end product.


Attach the tummy piece, placing it as shown in the above photo.

STEP 3: Do the same with the right 'body' piece, ending up with the two body pieces, only attached by the common middle 'tummy' piece. 

STEP 4: Starting under beak, stitch up and around head, going about halfway down the back. I paused here to fill head with stuffing. Continue stitching towards tail, going around tail, stopping to add stuffing when necessary. (You can wait & stitch all the way around, leaving a small opening at the end to stuff bird, but you'll need a long, skinny object to push stuffing into small places, such as the tail. A chopstick works great.) Finish sewing up body once the final stuffing is done. 

Add beads as you stitch for a more elegant finished look.

STEP 5: Stitch a cute swirl pattern to two of the outside wings pieces, making sure they are opposite...I made up a pattern as I stitched. You can use a white colored-pencil or tailors chalk to draw a pattern, then if any of the white chalk isn't covered with your thread after you've finished, just use a damp cloth to wipe the remainder off. Beads can be sewn on at this time, while sewing on the swirl pattern. I ended up forgetting to do this!

STEP 6: Attach wings to each side of the bird. If it will be hung as an ornament, attach a thread hanger.



I shrunk the original pattern slightly, ending up with an 8" long bird.
(The left bottom piece looks like a different color, but it's not.  

PLEASE comment or send pics if you make your own! I'd love to see some variations in color or wing stitching pattern!