Baby Jesus, Tutorial...

Gosh it's been so long since I've done any crafting for myself!  Now that my shop is slowing down I
can focus on crafting for my family and all the important things like making Christmas cookies!

I've been wanting a special baby Jesus for years. One that fits our nativity stable. Here's a simple baby I came up with.

I began by needle felting the bedding.  I used a rough wool in neutral with speckled blue & orange in it.  Then needle felted white on top of that.  They look like little oval nests.  You can use whatever colors you like of course.  I wanted neutrals and light blue. 

I used the baby pegs I often use for my shop. If you don't have these on hand you could easily use a wooden bead and a bit of stuffing for his body.  Or even needle felt his body. 

I drew eyes on him in pencil.  The blue is a square of cashmere from a re-purposed sweater.  You can use wool felt or whatever you have on hand.  I cut it with pinking shears and then folded it in half to make a triangle. I glued the baby peg in, then glued the first folded layer of cashmere down around baby.  I did this because I wanted as little glue as possible on the top layer of cashmere, so no glue can be seen.  Next I glued the corners of the blanket down.

Here he is all finished. I love the varied textures, he's so soft and snuggled looking.  I will keep him at the center of our table and on Christmas eve we'll add him to our nativity. 

If you use this tutorial please link back here,  I would love to see them. 

Until next time...