A felt bull is a beautiful and not complicated thematic craft for the upcoming 2021 new year, which can be sewn together with a child of kindergarten or primary school age. All the subtleties of working with this material, templates of different bull toys and ideas for inspiration are collected in this article. The finished cloven-hoofed animal, Borka, can be hung like a toy on a Christmas tree, used to decorate the interior, turned into a keychain, or simply donated.
Content:
- how to choose felt;
- materials and tools;
- how to sew parts and stuff a toy;
- patterns and patterns;
- photo ideas for creativity.
How to choose felt for Christmas crafts?
Felt is a non-woven material that is felted from the fluff of rabbits, hares, goats, sheep wool or synthetic fibers (polyester, acrylic). On sale, most often this material is sold in the form of A4 sheets, less often per meter.
Depending on the composition of the felt, there are:
- woolen is a completely natural material, therefore it is the most expensive, although it has its drawbacks: it shrinks and can be covered with pellets;
- half-woolen - it contains viscose, which makes it smoother, softer and more plastic, but over time it can also lose its shape and loosen;
- synthetic or eco-felt - the most affordable material for the price with acceptable quality.
Depending on the density, there are:
- soft felt - suitable for sewing bulky items, cute toys, jewelry and hair clips;
- material with a thickness of 1-1.2 mm - resembles paper and is suitable for making small design details, creating development books, covers for notebooks, diaries and books, hair accessories;
- hard felt 2-3 mm - from it you can easily make a bag, basket, cover for a laptop or tablet, make a brooch.
In addition, on sale you can find not only bright plain sheets, but also material with a print (ready-made or printed to order), with sequins (glitter) that do not crumble and give the work a festive look, as well as American wool felt with a melange texture.
Advice! To sew a bull, you may need different types of this material (in composition, density and other characteristics), so you should not throw away the scraps that remain from other work. They may come in handy in the future.
Other necessary materials and tools
In addition to felt, to make a symbol of the year with your own hands, you need to prepare the following tools and materials:
- an aqua fabric marker, tailor's or regular chalk, a bar of soap or a gel pen - any of these tools available to draw patterns on the felt;
- scissors - suitable for high-quality cutting or stationery, embroiderer's "herons", as well as curly scissors, which, if necessary, will make the edge of the pattern scalloped, in the form of a zigzag or wave;
- threads - you can sew the craft with ordinary threads for a sewing machine or hand sewing, but it is better if there are also floss for decorative seams at hand;
- needles of different diameters for felt of different thicknesses;
- filler - holofiber or synthetic fluff is ideal, it is better to refuse cotton wool and scraps of fabric, since they will not be able to fill a toy beautifully;
- lace and various types of decorative braids, pom-poms, beads, buttons, beads and other decorative elements that will revive the symbol of 2021.
An important point! If the toy is going to be made together with a child or for a child, then for the sake of safety, you should refuse from glued small parts that may fall off. All elements must be stitched securely.
How to sew parts: seams used
The seams on such toys are not just a way to fasten parts, but an additional decorative element, therefore, before sewing a bull for the New Year 2021, you should master the most popular stitches:
- seam "forward to the needle" - small details are grinded with it or decorative elements are sewn along the edge;
- seam "back to the needle" - in terms of reliability it is not inferior to machine stitching, it can be used, like the seam "forward to the needle";
- seam "over the edge" with a slope to the left or to the right - for sewing two parts, it is important to ensure that the slope around the perimeter of the entire part is in one direction;
- a looped or overcast seam and its varieties - firmly and neatly connect the details of the bull, additionally decorating it.
When sewing a toy with your own hands with any selected seam, you need to ensure that the distance between the stitches and their length are the same, otherwise the work will look untidy.
For voluminous crafts, be sure to leave a small hole through which the bull will be filled with holofiber before completely stitching two parts. It is convenient to distribute the filler inside with a pencil. Watch the video:
Felt bull: patterns
Below are the templates for various craft options so that the White Metal Bull will be satisfied in the coming year and bring the owner of such a toy good luck and luck.
You can sew a bull or cow according to any of the patterns yourself. To do this, you should:
- Print the template on paper, if necessary, enlarge or reduce the details in any graphic editor.
- Cut paper patterns from felt of the appropriate color.
- Sew the parts together, fill the toy with filler, make the eyes, mouth, nose and the bull is ready.
Ideas for inspiration
It is not necessary that the bull made of felt was like in one of the above templates. It will be much more interesting for the child if he draws his own symbol of the year, and then sews it together with his mother. In this case, parents will have to work on the technical side of the work - building a pattern and helping with sewing. Ideas for inspiration can be found in children's cartoons about bulls or in the following photos.
