Santa ornies

Here's the first of my Santa ornaments. Usually......I mean always, the first of something ends up as part of our family decorations. That's because most of the time there's something wrong with it. When I finished this guy, I decided maybe he needed a little trim of his bangs. And it was late and I was tired, and I kind of cut through his hat. It's impossible to see in this picture, since I positioned him just right. But it's definitely not up to craft fair standards. He has 2 green felt holly leaves on his hat, with a few small red beads sewn on for berries. I will get a better picture when he's hanging from our tree in brighter light. I do think he looks more handsome with a little hair around his hat. I haven't decided what to use for a hanger, but maybe fishing line. I have some on hand and it's pretty much invisible.

So here is a look at how I made Santa. I started with muslin, which I ended up lightly tea-dying. I traced around a cardboard pattern for his head, and then stitched on the line. As I mentioned earlier, I left the top open for stuffing. This worked well, as the hand stitches I used to close it with are hidden under the hat. What a great idea! Sometimes I surprise myself....

Then I moved on to making the hats. It seems Blogger doesn't want me to post this nice, red colorful picture. I used the same process with a cardboard template that I traced around and then stitched on the line. I wasn't able to get the hat to hang down on its own, so I helped it a little with a few hand stitches. I could have used glue, but I've been doing more and more handstitching when possible. If I'm selling something, I like to feel confident that things won't come apart. I've heard stories......

Maddie asked me a while back how I attach the beards. I use small hand stitches with white sewing thread. The wool locks tend to hang together, so just a few stitches holds it in place pretty well. I don't have to be too careful sewing the hair on his head because, again, the hat covers all the sins of the seamstress.....

The back of Santa's head remains hairless, so I've printed with red pen "Christmas 2006." I always enjoy knowing when I bought a new ornament for my tree, and I like to think others do too. And I also have no shame. Doesn't it make sense to lead the buyer of a nice handmade ornament to consider the possibility that there might be another equally nice one for Christmas 2007? I'm just saying is all......