Be My Bluebird ~ Wool Felt Valentine Tutorial
Melissa from Checkout Girl wowed us with her beautiful Little Pink House Tutorial in our Hand Sewing Month. Melissa is back with today’s wool felt valentine tutorial! Learn more about Melissa in her introduction, and start your valentine today…
From Melissa: If you want to return to the days of hand-crafted valentines meant to be kept as mementos for years to come, here’s the tutorial for you! It’s simpler than it looks (which is always a good thing), and its wool-feltiness and hangability mean it’ll never end up in the recycling bin.
Materials:
- 1 piece of stiffened craft felt (12X18”)
- 1 piece of red wool felt
- 1 piece of blue/turquoise wool felt
- scraps of wool felt in pink and pale green
(You can substitute the colors of your choice, of course, and you can use craft felt if that’s what you have on hand.)
- 1 foot of ribbon (for hanging—optional)
- a few pins
- needle
- brown embroidery floss
- black embroidery floss
- pink embroidery floss
- blue/turquoise thread or floss
- green thread or floss
- red or white thread or floss
- a sharp pencil
- sharp scissors
- hole punch or screw punch (optional)
- spray adhesive (optional)
- templates
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1. Trace (or pin and cut around) your templates onto the appropriate colors of felt and cut out all your pieces. |
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If you’re using a screw punch (or very small hole punch) to create a doily effect at the edge of the white felt, use a sharp pencil to mark three dots, like the points of a triangle, in each of the scallops, and punch a hole at each pencil mark. |
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If you’re using a standard hole punch (which works, with a little muscle!), punch one hole in the center of each scallop. |
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2. Position the body of the bluebird on the red heart (as shown in photos), and pin. |
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Use a small, neat running stitch to attach. |
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3. Use a sharp pencil to draw a line that runs from approximately ½ inch from the left edge of the red heart to the top of the bluebird’s tale and from the bluebird’s breast toward the right edge of the red heart, about an inch. |
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4. Using all six strands of the brown floss, create the branch by tracing the pencil line with two rows of backstitch, snuggled side by side. |
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5. Position the two leaves so their left points touch the right edge of the branch you’ve just embroidered, and attach each leaf with a single row of backstitching (in the same brown floss) that extends approximately 2/3 of the leaf’s length. |
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6. Position the bluebird’s wing so it slightly overlaps the edge of his back and the curved wing top sits just below his beak (as shown in photos). Use a small, neat running stitch to attach the top half of the wing, leaving the bottom loose to create a dimensional effect. |
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8. Position the pink banner to the left of the bluebird’s beak (as shown in photos), and attach with a running stitch.
With one or two strands of pink embroidery floss, using a backstitch, create the banner’s string, running from the right point of the banner, through the bluebird’s beak and over his body. The length of this string is up to you, and you can draw it in advance with a sharp pencil if you like. |
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9. Position the red wool felt heart on the white craft-felt heart. At this point, you can attach the red felt heart to the white using your machine or by hand; if you elect to attach the hearts by hand, you can use red or white thread. White will show up on the red; red will show on the back of the white heart. In either case, use your neatest running stitch.
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10. If you want to prepare your valentine for hanging, simply cut a length of thinnish ribbon (I’ve use a thin, pink satin), thread it through two of your top punch holes, and tie a knot at each end to stop the ribbon from pulling through. |
Voila!
Comment in any post this week for your chance to win one of these great prizes: Recycled Eco-Felt Bundle from Felt-o-rama; $15 gift certificate to Noah and Lilah; $15 gift certificate to The Pleated Poppy; $15 gift certificate to Sew,Mama,Sew! Take a look at the February “True Love” prize master list to see other great prizes we’ll be giving away this month.
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Ooooohhhhh…I just finished a little wool felt embroidery project. And Melissa, is right, it is simpler than it looks — and it looks great!
Straightforward tute. Very charming Valentine!
Oh, this is so sweet! The perfect and quick little valentine for my fabulous daughter
Thank you for the tutorial!
How adorable! I love anything with birds!
Oh my gosh, that is beautiful. I think that I will have to make some for my kids.
Beautiful! I’ll be giving this a try!
That is so beautiful! I love the felt doily effect. And I *need* some turquoise felt now. I don’t think I have any, and that is a very lacking on my part.
This reminds me of my grandma! So sweet.
Lovely! I’m a big fan of Melissa’s felt masterpieces and enjoy her occasional comments on home-schooling.
Very cute! I need a hand sewing project – this may be it.
Great tutorial! It is darling!!
So Sweet!
This is FANTASTIC! Is the stiffened felt something you purchase already stiff or something you can do yourself? Thanks for sharing another lovely project
simply lovely!!! i cannot wait to get home tonight and start on this adorable valentine project. thanks for the tutorial!
Now, this, I love! Thanks for the tutorial!
I have been SO disappointed in the Valentines Day cards I’ve been seeing this year, and this will make a perfect Valentine for my mom! Thank you!!
oh, how pretty this is! thanks for the clear instructions!
I love Melissa’s creations and her tutorials are great. Thanks for sharing!
Lovely!
So sweet!
What a wonderful Valentine craft! I love the doily edge, and how simple it is to make such a lovely gift for someone special!
MGM
LOVE birds and i LOVE valentine’s day! can’t wait to make this when i get home from work
So very nice – I’m always a sucker for a bluebird!
Melissa… this is beautiful.
This is lovely!
That is so darling! I think I will try a simpler variation for my little to stitch for her grandma this year.
OMG this is so beautiful and perfect! I wish I had the time to make some before Valentine’s Dy, but I will definitely be holding on to this for next year!
This is amazing! I want to make these for the girls in my cooking club!
I am really starting to get into all the hand-stitched felt items. This would be perfect for my mom or m-i-l.
adorable! wonder if I have time….
That is beautiful!
This is such a wonderful treat! I love the simplicity of it, especially when it has so much detail! Great tutorial… thanks for sharing it! and an early Happy Valentine’s to you!
I would love to hang some of those on my Christmas tree or other places around my house. They are so cute.
I want to make this so much for my kid, with a “te amo” (I love you in Spanish) written.
That is gorgeous – wow! I love the scalloped edging detail!
I have TONS of felt…I will definitely be making these!!
What a great project. I am also imaging it with an owl…”Whoo loves you”!
Felt has been calling to me recently, this is a good way to start.
lovely….just lovely…thanks for sharing….
THANKS FOR THE LOVELY INSPIRATION!!!!!
I love this!! I am going to make one for my child’s teacher, thanks so much for the tutorial.
I really like this. I’m thinking about making something along these lines for my kids. Need six variations for my six kids…hmmm…
i love this!!! i’m going to make a few for my home and maybe as gifts if i can bear to part with them!
Lovely tutorial. Any idea how to make my running stitch better?
This is so cute and a nice tutorial.
stunning! my fave medium is wool felt. i always appreciate other ideas for how to use it. thanks!
I’ve been waiting for this tutorial. I love everything Melissa does!
I love that bird, that’s a great design.
That is so cute!
Great idea to keep daughter’s hands from being idle.
Love how you created the doily look!
This is really adorable and gives me an idea for something to do for a friend of mine.
Wow, this makes me want to pull out the embroidery materials right away!
I love the white scalloped and punched back piece! It sets off the handmade valentine perfectly.
Absolutely gorgeous!
This is really versatile! Switching up the colors will take it through Spring and back into Fall. This really could be used year ’round! Thanks for the great tutorial. (Wondering if a small gage nail would work to make the lace….)
Have been wanting to learn how to use felt w/ small objects like this; tutorial is great!
this valentine has completely stolen my heart! i need to get some wool felt now.
This is so pretty. I love it!
Checkout Girl is one of my new favorite Must-Read blogs. She does amazing work!
I absolutely love this valentine heart!
4 of my favorite things: birds, felt, hearts, and sewing!!!
This is an adorable wool felt project that I need to try.
I’m at such a loss when it comes to wool felt. I’ve seen lots of tutorials that call for wool felt, but when I try to buy it I get so confused. Do I want 100% wool felt? Or is a blend better? Maybe I’ll ask in the forum.
This is absolutely beautiful! And so versatile…oh the possibilities. Thanks ever so much for sharing your wonderful talent and ideas!
This is just too cute!
Oh this is too precius and perfect for my little girl’s special valentine from Momma!
This is sooo cute. And what a coincidence, just a few days ago, I received a package of felt scraps and I have been wondering what to use them for until now.
I wonder if my boyfriend will hang it on his wall in his office…
Thank you and happy Valentine to all of you!
Greetings from Vienna, Austria
I love this. It looks so vintage.
OMG this is totally cute. Great tutorial along with fab photos..Thanks for sharing..
ooh, very pretty. these simple handmades are my fave.
oh her work is lovely! It makes me want to learn more embroidery (along with the knitting and quilting and quilling and…..that I already dabble in – never can be too many crafts???)
That is a great tutorial and so adorable!
Oh, pretty, on the list it goes.
Gorgeous, looks like a quite and easy project with outstanding results, one that I will definitely be trying
Thanks Judy
This is just too adorable! I love this! THanks so much for the tutorial!
Love it!
Great tutorial. Love the doily effect on the edges.
These are so pretty.
This valentine is absolutely beautiful!!! I’ll have to give this one a try. I love its simplicity – it is modern and old-fashioned at the same time. Great design!
Wonderful! I love the blue bird and red heart; they are such a great combination! This valentine is absolutely the sweetest thing. My mom passed away last month, I’m going to try replicate this to give to for my dad, who is the best.
Cioa, Shawn Marie
Beautifully crafted. Where do you find punches like that?
Very, very nice!
Oh that is precious….
This is just beautiful! I make valentines for my children every year, and all of the ideas you’ve been sharing are great! I might do these this year. I love them!
Thank you for this lovely tutorial. This is a perfect project for these rainy afternoons!
This is totally adorable!
Definitely a do-able project!
This is lovely — I esp love the doily effect.
I love this heart. I need to get me some felt to play with. So many cool felt projects out there. Thanks for an adorable one.
I think my favorite part is the banner that the bird is holding in his mouth. I love it!
So nice! I’m really not a fan of paper valentines, but I might need to do this…
Beautiful! I really like this.
This is lovely!
Sweet, I love anything with birds. A cute way to say good morning valentine!
Ignoring the looming tower of dirty dishes to so this instead! A few someones are going to get very spoiled this Feb. 14th!
We don’t “celebrate” Valentine’s Day. (That’s every day for us! I know, you want to gag now.) But this heart is just too precious not to make it!
The bird is lovely. I realize I want more cool craft tools such as the screw punch.
This is adorable. I have to try it! Thanks
Great Tutorial!! Thanks!
this is so pretty *_* thanks for sharing the tutorial
Very charming….I enjoyed learning how to punch the doily holes. Thanks.
Oh my goodness! I’m making these for my little girls this weekend!
This is very pretty! I love it.
Oh that’s so sweet!
So lovely ! i adore it.
I can see this hanging toward the outside of a front window. How charming in the middle of a cold winter.
Wonderful piece to make and easy enough to do.
Debbie
So sweet! I love the little bird.
wow! I like it… I love the bird. it turns its head…different from the usual bird pattern.
So pretty and soft, but just modern enough. Love it!
Thanks that is lovely.
This is great… thanks for the template! I think my daughter will like to make this for her grandparents.
I LOVE this! So awesome.
Thanks!
Jenny
lovely!!
Delightful!
Wow. That’s so simple, but still packs a wallop of cute!
Last year was the first time I worked with felt, and I got a little carried away, I made felt stocking for all 12 grand kids to hang up. I working with felt, I even made a stocking with birds for my MIL
I just love woring with felt
opps, my comment just didn’t go through so one more time.
I love working with felt, last year was the first time I tried it.
This is simply lovely and I am going to make one this weekend. Many thanks for sharing.
Brilliant with the hole punched
doily effect!
So sweet.
What a great tutorial!
Thanks a lot.
I love bird motif of anything. So when I saw the bird, I was immediately in love!!!
This is wonderful and so pretty. I think I will be making one for each of my childrens’ teachers. Thanks for this lovely idea and tutorial.
Really pretty. I wish I could get my cuts as clean as these…the edge of my heart would never look that perfect!
this is so pretty! love it.
This is adorable, and the tutorial for embroidering text is really helpful!
Very sweet!
This is so great! I was thinking about something that I could make for my mom, and now I think that I just found it.
so sweet – i really need to learn to embroider!
Love this project!! LindaSonia
Lovely!!!!
This is adorable! I love love love the doily look, so clever!
I ADORE this! The colors, the execution! Beautiful!
It’s beautiful! The tutorial is simple enough that I think I might even be able to do it!
What a lovely valentine…
So very adorable. It looks so easy too!
Thank you. This is really cute and looks like it could be done in a day.
Very pretty and looks pretty straight forward from your good tutorial. Do you buy your felt from Felt-o-rama?
Very sweet! I will make one for my 5 year old daughter. Different text though.
OMG I do this and was totally easy!
This looks really good and easy! I might try it!
Thanks!
Thanks for sharing all this Valentine’s inspiration!
That is just too cute! I must make one!
LOVE this! I’ve already pulled out my felt to play valentines crafting with and this is the perfect project to get me started.
This is very cute–love the “doily edges”!! Thanks again.
very cute…i like the very specific instructions in the tutorial…very helpful
Popping in to answer a couple of your questions–the screw punch is a Martha Stewart product; I got it at A.C. Moore. Somebody asked how to improve her running stitch, and I’d say practice, practice, practice! If you could see some of the first things I hand-sewed, you’d laugh till you cried.
Finally, I buy 100% wool felt from Magic Cabin and A Child’s Dream Come True (both online), and yes–I do get wool-blend felt from Feltorama. It’s the silkiest, softest blend out there.
Thanks so much for your kind comments, my dears! I hope you love making your valentines!
So cute! Thanks for sharing!
What a sweet keepsake.
I think I’m gonna make this for my beloved…we have a ‘secret love message’ that includes birds – which makes us happy because they are popular right now. Valentines is easy this year! THANKS!
These are so cute!!!
This takes me back to the days of crinoline and patent leather shoes…and the sweetness of my mother’s hand in mine as she walked me to school with all of my valentines neatly addressed…
darling! I love little felt hand-sewn projects…
Love this!
I could so see this as a pillow… so cute!
This is absolutely lovely.
I like the colors and the combination of felt with embroidery– the branch and leaf add a nice texture.
My mother LOVES bluebirds; I’ll have to send her this link!
LOVE LOVE LOVE it! Have all my pieces cut out and just need to stitch them together! They’re for my children and I just know they will think they’re sew very special! Thanks so much for the inspiration!
The cute goes on and on but February is the shortest month….How will I fit it in?
getting out the supplies right now…soo cute!!
There’s nothing like a handmade valentine and yours is great.
This is beautiful! I’m going to make a few of these next year! Thanks!
Beautiful! I can’t wait to make this.
shalyn