This year my Facebook newsfeed is full of these adorable angel ornaments for sale. I think they are adorable but cannot imagine buying them. I looked at them and said I can make those. I bought some white fleece to begin with to figure out a pattern. I played with paper to come up with patterns. I started with a semicircle but found I cut the circle quite a bit. I also experimented with hair and more.
I am much better at the braided hair so my tutorial will be for that. I started by taking twine and cutting a piece that is about a foot long. This will be for the legs and body. Then I cut nine pieces of equal lengths of twine usually around six-inches. I find the center of the nine pieces as well as the center of the longer piece. I tie (with two knots) the longer piece around the nine pieces.
Then I stick the two ends of the longer piece through the head bead (if you are using one with a face already on it make sure the eyes are up).
I tie a knot as close to the bottom of the bead as I can.
Next I braid both sides of the nine pieces. I found nine pieces create good sized braids. I use a piece of other twine to tie off my ends. I also tied jingle bells to the ends of the longer piece for the shoes. You can also use wooden beads.
I put glue on the knots for the shoes as well as the braids to make sure they won't come out and so I can later trim them close to the knot. Now you have the body put together.
Next I made a loop of around 6-8 inches of twine and tie a knot. This will be the arms. Before tying the knot, if your decoration for the hands is a bead, button, etc. string it on the twine. Otherwise you will be gluing it to the twine. Depending on the shape you will want to use the knot to give more surface area (like for the tree above) for the decoration. For others or if it is beaded on put the knot in the back. You can do this step now or after the dress is on. If you do it after, make a few stitches looping the arms in the back to secure it.
The next part is making the dress. I usually sewed the back of the dress but first wrapped it around the "body". The goal is to get the dress tight around the neck.
If you are making an angel no one will see the stitches. I did use glue when I used the craft fur. I do not recommend using craft fur. It was very messy and a pain to work with!
I also sewed the hats. Note if I added a decoration to the hat I did it before I glued the hat on!
I also sewed the hats. Note if I added a decoration to the hat I did it before I glued the hat on!
Once the hats are sewn they are glued on to the heads.
Next if you are making an angel is to add the wings. I used craft foam for my wings. I found glitter covered craft foam and bought some. I am providing two different patterns for the wings. I used the first option for most of them. Once I cut out the wings I glued it to the back of the doll. This covers most of your stitches! By the way, the purple angel and the blue angel are made with that super soft luxe fleece. The secret to working with these is to cut them and then wash and dry it. Once you do that they won't continue to unravel.
The final step is to add a string to hang it. I did this by threading my decorative twine through a tapestry needle and sticking it through the hat.
I cut the piece and tied a knot at the top. And your angel is done! You can also make an elf by not adding the wings.
For my red elf I was running out of twine so I used embroidery floss for her hair. I also glued the ribbon onto the bottom of the dress before I sewed it. If I was making these with kids who cannot sew, I would use felt or fleece and glue.
These also are great crafts for tweens and teenagers!! They sell them for $16 ($11 on sale) and you can make them from scraps with just the beads and decorations.
