Adorable Snowman Decorations!

Oh my goodness. I think this little snowman is super cute. I made him after I developed the Fabric Christmas Ornament Ball tutorial. This project is recycle-based, just like the ornament. From fabric to filling!

Fabric Christmas Ornament Ball
in case you missed it

I started thinking that if I had 3 sized pattern pieces, I could do a whole little snowman AND a snowman tutorial for you. First, here's the pattern pieces: Large :: Medium :: Small If those pattern links don't work, you can find the pdf's over on my design site, ReannaLily Designs under the tab The Patterns.

I made my snowman out of a linen dress I picked up at Goodwill. AND it was "red tags are $.99" so the dress, was less than a buck! You'll need the three templates cut, and 6 pieces of fabric for each template size.

When you're recycling clothes, make sure the pieces you are using (for this project) don't have seams or interfacing in them.

I'm going to cheat just a bit and refer you to the Ornament tutorial since the construction is exactly the same for each ball. So- make each ball, up to the the step pictured below:


Stop at the step (on the ornament tutorial) where they are turned inside out, and unfilled. NOW- the next thing you're going to do is attach these "snowballs" to each other. Line up the big seam intersections on the top of the big ball and the bottom of the medium size ball. Sew these two areas together from the INSIDE of the ball. Any running stitch will do. I sewed my running stitch (regular normal stitch) in a circle, around the seam intersection. ~yes it IS hard to get a picture inside a small fabric ball~

Now repeat this step for the smallest little ball, continuing to sew from the inside.

Next, you will be filling the snowballs with PLASTIC SHOPPING BAGS! You've got a ton, and you should use them up. The large ball took 5 bags, the middle took 2.5 bags and the smallest took 1.5. Make sure you fill the balls nice and tight, so the snowman looks plump and round when he's finished.

Again, the Ornament tutorial describes how to pin and sew these openings shut. Coordinating thread is your friend in hiding hand stitches.

Next up is the shaping and the personality. I ripped 1 inch strips of fabric off two different fat quarters I had in the studio. I ripped along the 18" side. (A fat quarter is a piece of fabric measuring 18 x 22.) This would be his scarf. I wrapped the scarf around and made a quick little tack stitch to hold it in place, in the shape/design I wanted. I found two 1/4" buttons in the studio stash and I used 3 strings of black embroidery floss for his mouth. I also spent a little time shaping {smashing} his body/head so he'd look more round and less plastic-baggy.


I hope you enjoyed the tutorial, based on a tutorial. If you make our little snowman friend, I'd love to see it in the flickr group. Great work recycling! ~jen~

If you make it, feel free to share it in the ReannaLily Designs Flickr pool.

Adorable Snowman Decorations!