Felt animal lanterns - Free sewing patterns

Hung in a tree or placed on a table, these little lanterns give a glow of dappled light. The delicate woodland motifs make these sophisticated enough for a grown-up and relaxed dinner party, but kids are sure to love them, too. However, do make sure that you only use battery-operated tealights.

Essentials

Eyelet setter (if you don’t have one, you could cut out irregular shapes instead)

Large deer lantern

Cut one dark green felt rectangle 15cm x 12cm and one light green felt rectangle 14cm x 12cm. Hand stitch them together on the 12cm sides by overlapping slightly and using a running stitch with orange thread.
Cut out the deer and tree trunk in orange felt and the rabbit in pale pink felt using the templates provided. Punch or cut out a few holes along the deer’s back.
On the pale green felt, hand stitch the rabbit to the left-hand side using dark pink thread and the tree trunk to the right-hand side using brown thread in running stitch.
Cut out 14 small oval leaf shapes (approximately 1.5cm long by 0.8cm wide) from dark green felt and place them at random around the top of the tree trunk, secure them with a single hand stitch in orange thread. In the gaps, cut out eight leaf-shaped holes (approximately 1cm long by 0.5cm wide).
Hand stitch the orange felt deer onto the left-hand side of the dark green felt using brown thread. Cut out eight leaves (approximately 1.5cm long by 0.8cm wide) from light green felt, arrange them around the deer and towards the right and hand stitch them with a single stitch using dark green thread. For the flowers, cut out seven rough circles in dark pink felt, two smaller circles in pale pink and five in red. Lay a small circle onto a larger circle, mixing the colours and stitch them around the lantern with a large single cross stitch in a contrasting thread.
On the dark green felt, cut out a few leaf-shaped holes, (approximately 1cm long by 0.5cm wide) and punch right through the dark green felt under the deer holes you made earlier.
To make a bottom for your lantern, place it on a piece of paper, draw around the base to make a template then cut it out of felt and secure with pva glue.

Badger/fox lantern

Cut a piece of red felt 20cm x 10cm. Using the templates cut out all the pieces for the fox and two badgers.
Set aside the black badger stripes and the fox beard. Place the orange fox head in the middle of the red felt and stitch it down with orange thread. Stitch a cream felt badger head at either side of the fox with cream thread approximately 1cm apart.
Now stitch on the fox beard and badger stripes. Stitch a large black button on each badger’s nose and two tiny buttons for the fox eyes. Punch a zig-zag pattern of holes across the top and across the bottom as shown.
With the front of your lantern facing you, stitch a piece of 20cm green ribbon folded in half at the right-hand side just under the edge in the middle. Stitch up the lantern by bringing both ends together to form a cylinder, overlapping the ends slightly and hand stitching to secure. Tie the false bow.
Glue a felt base to the bottom of the lantern as before.

Butterfly lantern

Cut a rectangle 20cm x 8cm from the light green felt. Cut a piece of ric-rac and green ribbon 20cm long. Stitch the ric-rac and the ribbon onto the light green felt using the dark pink thread, approx 1.5cm up from the bottom. Punch or cut out holes along the top of the ribbon and near the top of the lantern. Set aside.
Using the templates, cut out one large butterfly in orange felt and two small butterflies in dark and light pink felt. Hand stitch around the edges, or if machining, place each one separately onto paper, stitch the wing details then tear away the paper.
Place the dark pink butterfly onto the large orange one and place it at an angle on the green felt above the ribbon and stitch in place around its middle using brown thread. Stitch the pale pink butterfly to the left in the same way. Stitch brown antennae.
Stitch two black buttons as shown. Stitch up the lantern by bringing both ends together to form a cylinder, overlapping the ends slightly and hand stitching to secure.
Glue a felt base to the bottom of the lantern as before.