Animal Felt Masks

Play dress-up with our Animal Fe lt Masks Bring everyone’s favourite creatures indoors this winter, thanks to Carolyn Letten’s colourful masks. With a deer, hedgehog and fox to choose from, the kids will be kept entertained for hours, plus they make great gifts to pop in stockings. These projects will see you master machine embroidery, too.

Essentials

Felt: assorted colours
Pelmet interfacing
Elastic, 4mm wide
Acid-free glue stick
Water erasable pen

Stitch a deer

Download the template from sewmag.co.uk and print. Use the photos as a guide as to which colours to use. Cut out one complete deer face, then trace onto felt, then snip out.
From the template, cut out the Y-shaped central band. Trace this onto felt and trim out. Cut out the following pieces from various felts: inner ear, nose, cheeks and eyelashes, six mini ovals.
Cut the eye shape out of the template and discard. Place the template on the felt face, and trace the eyes. Glue all the pieces, except the eyelashes, to the face.
Cut a piece each from pelmet interfacing and felt for a backing, slightly bigger than the face. Lay the felt at the bottom, followed by the interfacing and the face, right side up on, top. Use small dabs of glue to hold the pieces in place.
Machine-sew all the pieces down, stitching just inside the edges. Cut out the eyes through all three layers, then glue the eyelashes in place and stitch the detail. Sew around the bottom of the eye. Glue the dots in place, then stitch a V shape over each one.
Insert the raw ends of the elastic strap as marked with an X on the template. Machine-sew around the sides of the face. Topstitch the felt around the edge of the central band and the inner ears to add detail.

Make a fox

Using the templates, cut the following from various felts: face, ears, inner ear, face sides, outer ear, cheeks, nose. Follow the same method for assembly as for the deer.

Sew a hedgehog

Cut the template into three sections: the face, the head and the ruff, then cut each from coloured felts. Cut the eye shape out of the face template and discard. Place the template on the face, and trace the eyes.
Cut a piece of pelmet interfacing and felt slightly bigger than the hedgehog. Lay the felt at the bottom, followed by the interfacing, then the ruff, head and face. Secure with glue. Machine-sew around the face just inside the edge of the felt. Sew around the eye cut out and where the nose will be.
Sew around the head just inside the edge and around the edge spines to add detail to the hedgehog. Stitch around the edge of the ruff twice, remembering to insert the raw ends of the elastic. Cut the nose and inner ears from felt, then sew in place.