This is my third year designing a freebie felt ornament pattern and I’m glad I tried something a little different this time around! Usually my designs are all related to animals, food or flowers. Honestly, a felt ballet slipper ornament has been on my to-try list for so long that I can’t even remember what inspired me to put it there in the first place! Haha, at least I can finally cross it off my list!
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If you’ve spent much time on my blog, you’ll know that I have 2 boys. Two interesting, curious, rambunctious, adventurous, big-hearted boys who have zero interest in things like ballet. Or anything pink. *sigh*. But I gotta craft the pretty & frilly things for someone, so they land here, for you! 😀
(Actually my boys are super good sports, and my youngest even modelled this butterfly pattern for me as a hairclip! lol)
These felt ballet slippers are such a great keepsake ornament for the little (or tall!) dancers in your life! If you had a mind to, you could even embroider a date on the back of the ornament to commemorate the year.
This is a beginner-friendly design. It only uses 2 different stitches and the time to complete it is probably about the length of a Hallmark Christmas movie! So grab a hot beverage, a cozy blanket and turn on a show, it’s time to get Christmas crafting!
Materials
Here’s what you’ll need to make one felt ballet slipper ornament:
Printed Pattern – Find it at the bottom of the post
Pink Felt – 6″x 5″
Skin Coloured Felt – 3.5″ x 2.5″
Cream or White Felt – 4.5″ x 6″
Matching Embroidery Thread
Small Embroidery Scissors (Like these ones)
Hot Glue Gun (This Surebonder glue gun with a detail tip is what I use for all my felt crafting.)
String or Twine – 8″
Sewing Needle & Straight Pins
Scotch Tape
Always use a good quality wool blend or 100% wool felt. Trust me on this. Acrylic craft felt will not yield the desired results.
My favourite shops to buy felt are Benzie Design, The Felt Pod and Gingermelon.
There is a beautiful stitch guide included with the free pattern to help you with all the stitches this design requires!
The Best Way to Cut Out Felt Shapes
Once you’ve cut out the paper templates, use straight pins to secure the larger templates to your felt. Simply cut around the template using small, sharp scissors.
If the template is too small for pins, use scotch tape to secure the paper to the felt. Cut around the template and through the tape. Gently peel the template off the felt afterwards. It will not damage the felt.
How to Make a Felt Ballet Slipper Ornament
The most important part to making these slippers is keeping all the felt ribbon pieces organized.
That’s why the pdf pattern page includes a reference drawing with the pieces numbered.
My tip would be to cut them out and sew them in place one at a time, in order, so you don’t end up with stray pieces. 🙂
Note: All of the slipper, feet and ribbon pieces are attached using a single strand of matching embroidery floss and a small backstitch.
1. First, sew the left slipper to the white base. Position the slipper about 1/8″ away from the edge of the base.
2. Add the left foot, snugging it right up against the slipper. You may need to trim the foot piece to make it fit perfectly.
3. Next, stitch ribbon pieces #1-3 onto the left foot, positioning them as pictured here and on the reference drawing on the pdf file.
4. Now add the right slipper. The top part of the slipper will overlap onto the left foot.
5. Sew the right foot in place, again making sure it is perfectly snug against the slipper piece. Add ribbon piece #4 as pictured.
6. Next, overlap ribbon piece #5 and stitch it in place. Follow that with pieces #6 and then #7.
To make the bow, fold the ends of the long piece to the meet in the center and secure them in place with a dot of hot glue.
Glue the bow piece to the tail piece with a short line of glue as pictured. Then wrap the strip up and around the center of the bow, securing it to the back of the bow with a dot of glue.
Finally, join the slippers to the second white backing piece using 2 strands of cream thread and a small blanket stitch. Tuck the end of a loop of string between the layers as you stitch around to create an ornament.
Use a generous dot of hot glue to attach the bow to the top of the feet.
Your felt ballet slipper ornament is all done! And it’s so beautiful!
I mean, seriously, how darling are these!?
If you’re looking for even more felt ornament designs, I have a few in the freebies section (like a donut, ice cream and Christmas lightbulb) and a few more in the pattern shop (like a gnome, mushroom and selection of birds.)
Don’t forget to check out the Christmas tab for more holiday crafting content. And here’s the sign up box for this freebie:
I hope you enjoy this free felt ballet slipper pattern!
Happy Holiday Crafting!
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