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HOW TO MAKE EASY DIY FELT GINGERBREAD MAN CHRISTMAS TREE DECORATIONS - Using Needle Felting
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Jul 22, 2024
In this video you will learn how to make your own Gingerbread Man Christmas Tree Decorations using Needle Felting. You can make them 2 different ways and both are included in this video. They are really quick and easy to make and you will not need to buy loads of equipment. Some of these items you will have at home. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. You will need: Foam block (or needle felting block) https://amzn.to/2ZTGQFc Needle felting needle https://amzn.to/3mIeLcr Wool https://amzn.to/3mIeUfZ Gingerbread Man cookie cutter https://amzn.to/3k7vV1s Brown Felt (one option only) https://amzn.to/3COHsKa Glue (one option only) If you enjoy crafting my blog is full of great ideas and tutorials. Plus if you subscribe you gain access to my free resource library, which includes a home crafts e-book, planners and much more, and get to hear about my latest projects first. Take a look at https://christines-crafts.com/ Enjoy watching and creating your own Gingerbread Men. Please leave me a 'thumbs up' if you enjoyed this video and subscribe so that you get to see all my videos as they are posted. You can also find me across social media. To see all my information and ideas find me at https://linktr.ee/Christines_Crafts. If you are thinking of opening an Etsy store then use this link and get off to a great start with 40 free listings https://etsy.me/32xoPdg
View Video Transcript
0:00
In this video I'm going to show you how to make your own gingerbread man hanging Christmas tree decoration
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We're going to use the technique called needle felting and I'm going to show you two ways of doing it
0:10
So one is to do it all be needle felting and one method is to use some ordinary felt and needle felt onto it
0:17
So great, really good if you've never done it before, it's a great way to learn
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I'm Christine of Christine's Crafts and this channel is dedicated to crafting on a budget
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So what will you need? What are you going to need something to needle felt? onto. You can buy special tools and blocks but I just use a piece of foam which you're much
0:35
more likely to have at home. Just make sure it's nice and soft for your needle to go into
0:40
You're going to need your gingerbread man shape. I recommend a cookie cutter. I think that's
0:45
the best way of doing these. If not look for a shape on the internet you could use. And you're
0:51
going to need a needle felting needle. They're special needles with barbs on them. I've got one
0:56
here with a little wooden handle and that was very reasonably priced on the internet. but you can buy them just the needle and you can use it just like that you don't have to have a handle
1:05
but just be careful they are incredibly sharp very dangerous for you you're also going to need something to hang your gingerbread man up with i recommend embroidery thread and you're going to need your wool for your needle felting
1:19
you can get it easily at craft shops or online you're going to want a nice brown for your gingerbread man some white for the detail and that's all you need to need
1:29
I've chosen to add some bright colours and then that's up to you let your creativity run wild
1:35
But all you actually need is the gingerbread colour and some very light wool
1:41
So take your foam and place your cookie cutter onto it. And then we're going to think about the hanging thread because we can needle felt it in so that it's nice and secure
1:53
So think how long you want your loop and cut something at least twice that length
1:58
You can always trim it off later. And you're going to place it onto your phone block
2:03
so that it comes through your cookie cutter. And you can see it's going to hang at the top
2:09
But don't pull it tight onto your cookie cutter because we need to make sure that we needle felt
2:15
either side of it so that we catch that loop in and it's secure
2:20
So you now need your brown wool and to take a little section
2:25
and roll it up, fold it up and push it into your cookie cutter
2:32
And then it's time to get your needle and start pushing it in and out
2:38
And it's a straight up and down movement. Don't bend your needle, you will snap it
2:42
They are very fine and it's just straight in, straight out. And the barbs what they doing is connecting all those fibres together and forming your felting It doesn happen instantly it takes a little while Once you got started take another bit and hook it around your hanging thread
3:04
This is going to make your hanging thread really secure. And if you can wrap it round twice, even better
3:12
It means as you needle felt through, you're definitely securing that hanging thread because
3:18
you don't want it ripping through your gingerbread man. And you just carry on
3:24
Straight up and down with that needle. And be very, very careful not to stab it into the hand that's holding things in place
3:33
Try and keep your other fingers out of the way. If you find that you need them close, you're trying to do a bit of detail and you have to hold it in close
3:43
Then try and use the needle against your nail rather than. than the fleshy part of your finger
3:50
So you should always be trying to work onto the back of your nail
3:54
You'll notice I don't always manage that, but I do try especially when I'm doing detail
4:00
And this is it now. You've just got to keep pushing in and out
4:03
in and out, in and out. It takes quite a while to get it all to felt
4:09
but it will start to form the shape. And as you realise you haven't got enough
4:14
just roll yourself some more and needle felt it in. It'll all join up together and you just keep doing this until you've filled the whole shape
4:24
and that you're reasonably confident it's going to hold together if you move it
4:29
Because the next thing we're going to do is take it out of the cookie cutter
4:35
and turn it and what you're going to find is it's tried to attach itself to your phone block
4:42
So you need to peel it up really carefully. turn it over. Now you can either place it on the foam and place the cookie cutter on top or place your
4:54
cookie cutter down and then place the needle felt a gingerbread man inside. And then you're going to
5:00
carry on and you keep needle felting in this way until you're happy it's quite solid and
5:07
robust and the thickness you want. So keep doing this. You can turn it as many times as you like
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You can keep peeling it off and putting it back on. Just keep going until you're happy
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you've got your little gingerbread man. If you find the edges are not quite as tidy as you would like them
5:27
then you can simply take your needle and just push those edges in
5:32
just a little bit of poking, a little bit of detail. Now obviously you work into your fingers, be careful
5:38
but you can do that as many times as you like and as many places as you like
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until you are happy with your gingerbread man shape and then it all about the detail So you need to take your white wool and you need a tiny bit
5:55
Now you'll be amazed how little you need. I've actually made quite big eyes on mine
6:01
If you want little ones, you really do only need a tiny bit and roll it within your fingers to form a little ball
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It'll always try to spring open but if you keep rolling it you'll get quite a nice
6:13
nice little ball which allows you to start forming that eye. So place it on where you want the eye
6:20
and start needle felt in it in place. Now you can see how close to your finger you have to work
6:27
So try and work into the nail and then if you do catch yourself you'll just scrape down the back of your nail
6:35
Now you might not like that but it's not like sticking it into your finger end which believe me having done it is not nice
6:40
So keep going until you're happy with the eye. You want to make sure it's secure
6:46
If you want it really flat, you're going to have to do a lot of needle felt in
6:50
If you want it quite bulbous like mine, it's sticking up, then you won't have to do quite so much needle felting, but do make sure they're secure
6:59
You'll notice I keep turning my work round to try and get the needle in where I want it
7:04
Just move it around until you're happy. And then it's time for that smile
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that smile. Again you only need a little bit but this time instead of rolling it you're going
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to pull it out and twist it. Now I've realised I've got quite a lot so I've just ripped some off
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Twist it. You're forming that nice long line for his mouth and if you decide it's too long you can
7:28
always fold it in half but just keep going and going until you're happy with the amount of
7:34
well you've got and you'll see I've got very little there. You really don't
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need very much. And then you've got to needle felt it on as a nice happy smile. So just
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hold it in the middle and start at one end. Needle felt it through. Again it's all
7:58
about getting it secure. So just keep working your way along until you are happy with
8:04
that smile. Once you've got the expression you want you're looking at decorating
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in the body. Now I've decided to put three buttons down the middle, all different colours
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If you want to put buttons, you do it in exactly the same way as the eyes. So you roll it up
8:20
into a little ball and then needle felt that ball to his tummy. So obviously you don't have to do
8:29
this. This is just what I chose. And then it comes time to make his little hands and feet
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you going to do them in exactly the same way as you did the smile So form those little straight lines by twisting and needle felt each one in place And you can see your little gingerbread man is really starting to appear now
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All is detail. Just remember you need very little wool to form these little straight lines
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And there you go, one gingerbread man all ready to hang on your tree
9:02
Now if you prefer to use some felt, simply draw round your cover
9:06
draw round your cookie cutter on your felt and cut out your
9:10
cookie cut your gingerbread man shape. You'll see that I've used a bigger cookie cutter for this
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Don't ask me why I've got tiny ones and giant ones. I've obviously bought them at different times
9:24
And you then needle felt in exactly the same way. You're just needle felt in directly onto the felt underneath
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And it works in the same way in that it attaches the wool to the felt
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to the felt. So I've gone for exactly the same design on my gingerbread man
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Just so I've got two and you can see that, you know, you get a slightly different effect
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if you do it on felt compared to needle felt in the whole man
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So just keep working. Get all your detail on and then you've got to decide if he's rigid enough
10:00
Now if you think he's a bit too floppy to hang on the tree, simply cut another identical one out and then we're going to glue them together
10:09
So if you've made a large one, that's likely to be the case. So just make sure your glue is all around the edges and a little bit in the middle
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And then place your gingerbread man on top and firm it in place
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Now unless you're perfect at cutting out, you're likely to have some little bits around the edges
10:30
where they don't match perfectly, I certainly have. And if that's the case, just go around and trim off any bits you're unhappy with
10:41
It's your gingerbread man, so you decide what you're happy with. You see, I've just cut a few little bits off
10:48
And then all that's left to do is add his hanger. So this time I've put my embroidery thread on a needle
10:53
and simply poke your needle through the top of his head. make sure there's enough there that it's not going to rip through the felt
11:03
and then once you've got it through you're going to tie the two ends together at whatever length you want your loop to be
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and that's all there is to it so you can make your gingerbread men
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either on some felt or needle felt the whole lot so please let me know in the comments below how you get on and which method you prefer
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and please give me a thumbs up and subscribe to see the rest of my videos as they come out
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and I hope you enjoy hanging your gingerbread man on your Christmas tree
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Thank you for watching
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