Felt Gingerbread Man: A Sewn Ornament, a Needle Felted One, and a House to Match

A felt gingerbread man is the one Christmas ornament that already has a pattern in most kitchen drawers. Lay a cookie cutter on brown felt, draw round it, and you have the outline; the rest is white "icing" stitched on before the front and back are joined. A sewn one takes about 30 minutes. A needle felted one, firmed inside the same cutter, takes closer to 90.

This page covers both, with measurements for a 4 in (10 cm) figure, and finishes with a gingerbread house ornament and a garland of gingerbread men.

Sewn or needle felted: which gingerbread man should you make?

Make the sewn one if you want a dozen; make the needle felted one if you want one to keep. The two come from different materials and give different results.

	Sewn from sheet felt	Needle felted
Made from	Two pieces of felt sheet, stitched and lightly stuffed	Loose wool stabbed into a firm shape about ⅜ in (1 cm) thick
Time for one	25–40 minutes	About 1½ hours
Icing	Rickrack, embroidery or fabric paint	Thin white wool or wool yarn needled into the surface
Look	Crisp edges, like a cut cookie	Soft, slightly furred, like a baked one
Children	From about 7 with a blunt needle; younger with glue	Older children only, supervised
Batch of 12	An evening, with all the cutting done first	A couple of weekends

Both versions belong in the same family as the stars, mittens and robins in felt Christmas ornaments, which has the general rules for sets, materials and storage. This page is only about the gingerbread man.

What size is a felt gingerbread man pattern?

Draw it 4 in (10 cm) tall and 3¼ in (8 cm) across the arms. That is big enough to stuff the arms and legs and to fit rickrack across them, and small enough to hang from a normal branch. The pieces, measured as one flat outline:

Part	Size	Notes
Head	1½ in (3.8 cm) circle	Pinch it in slightly where it meets the shoulders
Body	1⅜ in (3.5 cm) wide, 1¼ in (3.2 cm) tall	From the neck to where the legs divide
Arms	¾ in (2 cm) wide, round ends	Tilted a little downward; 3¼ in (8 cm) tip to tip
Legs	¾ in (2 cm) wide, 1¼ in (3.2 cm) long	Splayed, with a ½ in (1.3 cm) gap at the top
Hanging loop	7 in (18 cm) of twine or ⅛ in ribbon	Folded in half and caught between the layers

Cut the outline at the finished size, with no seam allowance. The edge stitch sits over the cut edge rather than inside a seam, so a pattern drawn larger comes out larger.

For a set of small tree ornaments, scale everything to 75 percent, which gives a 3 in (7.5 cm) figure. Go below that and the arms are too narrow to stuff and too narrow for rickrack, so keep the icing to stitched lines. For a door hanger or a figure a child will play with, double it to 8 in (20 cm) and stuff it firmly.

How many fit on a sheet of felt?

A 9 × 12 in (23 × 30 cm) craft sheet takes six 4 in pieces, which is three ornaments, front and back. Nesting them head-to-foot often squeezes in a seventh or eighth. At 3 in, a sheet gives twelve pieces, or six ornaments.

How do you cut out a gingerbread man in felt?

Trace a real cookie cutter. Its outline is already balanced, both arms match, and you can cut a whole batch to the same shape. A die cutting machine does the same job faster if you are making dozens.

1. Trace onto freezer paper, not straight onto the felt. Stand the cutter on the matte side of the paper and draw round the inside of the rim, which is the size of the cookie it makes.
2. Iron it on. Press the shiny side to the felt with a dry iron for a few seconds. On wool and wool-blend felt use the wool setting. On acrylic craft felt use the lowest setting, because acrylic melts and goes shiny under a hot iron.
3. Cut through paper and felt together. Use small, sharp scissors, and turn the felt instead of the scissors on curves. Snip into the armpits and crotch from both directions rather than turning the blades in a tight corner.
4. Peel the paper off and use it again; one sheet lasts for six or more pieces.

Cut the front and back at the same time with two layers pinned together, so they match exactly. If you don't have freezer paper, draw round the cutter on the back of the felt with a fine marker and cut just inside the line.

A gingerbread man cookie cutter set usually comes in three sizes, often 3, 4 and 5 in, which gives you three pattern sizes for nothing. Don't use one with a scalloped or "fancy" edge for sewing; the stitches cannot follow the points.

Which felt to use

Wool or wool-blend felt about 1 mm thick, in a warm mid brown. Acrylic felt is fine for a child's first one, but it fuzzes along the edges where it is handled, and ornaments are handled every December. Wool felt fabric explains the difference. If you made your own felt, it works as long as it is thin and even; anything over 2 mm is too stiff for a small figure.

How do you make the icing on a felt gingerbread man?

White rickrack across the wrists and ankles, a wavy white line round the edge, and three buttons down the front. Everything goes on the front piece while it is still flat and on its own; once the two pieces are joined you can't get a needle into the back to finish a knot.

Rickrack

Use baby rickrack, about ¼ in (6 mm) wide. Regular ½ in rickrack covers half an arm. Lay a piece across each wrist about ⅜ in (1 cm) from the tip, and across each ankle, and sew it down through the middle with a running stitch in white sewing thread. Let the ends run off the edge, trim them flush with the felt, and the edge stitch will hold them.

Embroidery

Use three strands of white floss for a line that shows from across a room, or size 8 perle cotton, which is a single twisted thread and gives a crisper, more icing-like line.

• Zigzag backstitch in place of rickrack: stitches ⅛ in (3 mm) long, changing direction at each one.
• Wavy running stitch about ⅛ in in from the edge, all the way round, to look like piped outline.
• French knots for buttons, with the thread wrapped twice. They lie flat and cannot be pulled off.
• Face: two black French knots or two short straight stitches for the eyes, and a curved backstitch smile in red or black, using two strands.

Real buttons look good, ⅜ in (10 mm) and red or green, but sew them through the front piece only, before joining, so the knots are hidden inside. Seed beads also work for eyes; sewing beads on felt shows how to anchor them. Neither belongs on an ornament for a young child, as explained below.

Fabric paint

White 3D "puffy" fabric paint is the quickest icing and the right choice for children. Squeeze it straight from the bottle in zigzags and dots, leave the piece flat overnight, and join the layers the next day. It stays slightly raised, which looks very like piped icing.

How do you sew and stuff a felt gingerbread man?

Stack the decorated front on the plain back, with the hanging loop between them at the top of the head, and stitch round the edge. Leave a 1 in (2.5 cm) gap at one side of the body for the stuffing.

1. Pin or clip the two layers. Push the folded loop ½ in (1.3 cm) down between them at the top of the head, ends inside.
2. Blanket stitch or whip stitch round the edge with two strands of floss, about ⅛ in (3 mm) in from the edge and ⅛ in apart. Brown thread disappears; white thread adds an extra iced outline. Go through the loop each time you pass it, so the seam holds the loop and not one stitch. More on edge stitches in felt applique.
3. Stuff the far ends first. Tear polyester fiberfill or wool scraps into pieces the size of a pea and push them into each hand and foot with a chopstick, then fill the head, then the body. Stop at about ⅜ in (1 cm) thick in the middle: plump, but flat enough to lie against a branch.
4. Close the gap with the same stitch and bury the thread end inside the stuffing.

If you'd rather not stuff it, skip step 3 and cut the figure from a single layer of 3 mm wool felt instead. It hangs flatter, which suits a garland.

How do you needle felt a gingerbread man?

Firm the wool inside a cookie cutter. The cutter holds the outline while you stab, so the arms and legs come out even. A 3 in (7.5 cm) cutter takes about ¼ oz (5–8 g) of wool and gives a figure about ⅜ in (1 cm) thick.

The wool

• Body: a warm light brown, often sold as camel, toffee or caramel. A pinch of orange blended into a plain brown gives the color of baked dough. Core wool can make up the inside, with brown only for the outer layer.
• Icing: fine white merino, or white wool yarn in a thin weight. Use yarn that is not labeled superwash; superwash wool is treated so it won't felt and holds poorly when needled.
• Details: pinches of black for eyes and red or green for buttons.
• Needles: a 36 or 38 gauge to shape, and a 40 or 42 for the icing. Felting needles explained covers the sizes.

Shaping in the cutter

1. Fill the cutter. Stand it on a foam pad and fill it loosely with wool to about twice its depth, pushing the wool into the hands and feet with a chopstick.
2. Stab straight down through the middle, working toward the edges. Keep the needle at least ⅛ in (3 mm) from the cutter walls: hitting metal or hard plastic snaps the tip. How to stop breaking felting needles has more.
3. Flip it every few minutes. Lift the cutter, peel the wool off the foam, turn it over and put it back. Otherwise it felts into the pad and comes off ragged.
4. Add wool where it is thin. Press a finger on each limb; if it is thinner than the body, add a small wisp and felt it in.
5. Take it out and finish the edges. Hold the figure and needle into the side edges at an angle all the way round. This firms the sides and rounds them like a baked cookie.

It is firm enough when you can hold it by the head and the arms and legs don't droop, and a pinch only dents it slightly. A soft gingerbread man stretches out of shape the first time someone hangs it. If you used core wool, cover both faces and the edges with a thin layer of brown and needle it smooth with a 40.

The icing lines

Roll a wisp of white wool between your palms into a thread about 1/16 in (1–2 mm) thick. Lay one end in place, fix it with a few stabs from a 40 or 42 gauge, then lay the line a little at a time and needle every 1/16 to ⅛ in. Needle at a shallow angle so you don't drag brown fibre up into the white. To turn a corner, hold the thread down with the needle and fold it, then fix the point.

Wool yarn gives a cleaner line than loose fibre for zigzags, because it is already twisted to one thickness. Needle it in the same way and trim the ends after the last stab.

Eyes are two small rolled black dots, buttons are three dots of red or green. For a hanging loop, pass a long needle threaded with twine through the head from side to side, about ⅜ in below the top, and knot the ends. Other ways to attach a loop are in the hanging loops section of the ornaments guide.

How do you make a felt gingerbread house ornament?

Make it flat, from two house-shaped pieces 3 in (7.5 cm) wide and 3½ in (9 cm) tall. Cut the walls 2¼ in (5.7 cm) high, with a roof point 1¼ in (3.2 cm) above them.

• Snow on the roof: a piece of white felt cut to the roof shape, with a wavy lower edge about ⅜ in (1 cm) deep, stitched on top.
• Door and windows: a ¾ × 1 in (2 × 2.5 cm) door and two ½ in (1.3 cm) square windows in red, yellow or white, sewn on with a backstitch outline.
• Candy: rickrack along the eaves, French knots for gumdrops, and a small circle of red and white felt for a peppermint.

Join the pieces exactly as for the gingerbread man, with the loop at the roof point, and stuff lightly.

For a 3D house you need seven pieces: front and back 3 in wide with 2 in (5 cm) walls and a 1 in (2.5 cm) roof point, two 2 × 2 in (5 × 5 cm) side walls, a 3 × 2 in base, and two roof panels 2½ × 2⅛ in (6.3 × 5.4 cm). The roof panels give a ¼ in overhang at each end. Decorate each wall flat, whip stitch the edges together on the outside, and stuff it before closing the base. A needle felted house is built the same way as any block: a core wool cube firmed square, a prism on top for the roof, and the windows and icing needled on afterward.

How do you make a gingerbread man garland?

Cut the men single, from 2–3 mm wool felt, so they hang flat and look the same from both sides. Then join them in one of two ways:

• Hand to hand, like a paper chain. Overlap the hands by ¼ in and stitch through both. At 3¼ in across the arms, eleven 4 in men make about 3 ft (90 cm). Felt is too thick to fold and cut as a paper-doll chain, so cut the men one at a time.
• On twine, spaced about 2 in (5 cm) apart, stitched through each head, with white or red felt balls threaded between them. Seven men with spacing cover 3 ft.

Leave garland figures unstuffed. A stuffed one rolls and turns sideways on a string. Ways to join a long run of shapes quickly, including chain-sewing them on a machine, are on felt garland.

Is a felt gingerbread man safe for small children?

Only if it is made for them. Buttons, beads, seed bead eyes and small felt balls are choking hazards for children under 3, so for a baby or toddler, embroider every detail, stitch the edge closely and leave off the hanging loop. A 6–8 in (15–20 cm) stuffed figure with an embroidered face doubles as a soft toy and sits well with the cookies and cakes in felt play food.

For children making them, the sewn version works from about 7 with a blunt tapestry needle and pre-cut pieces. Younger children can glue a white felt or paint icing onto a cut shape; the no-sew method in felted Christmas ornaments works for gingerbread shapes too. Needle felting is different, because the needles are very sharp and barbed; read is needle felting dangerous before letting a child try the cookie cutter version.

What goes with them

Gingerbread men fit any Christmas set. With a dot of hook tape on the back, a flat one sticks to a children's felt Christmas tree; a few tied on with twine dress a felted wreath; and one stitched to the cuff makes a name tag on a felt Christmas stocking. For more figures, the needle felted snowman and needle felted Santa use the same wool and needles as the felted version here, and felted Christmas balls in white and red go well between them on the tree.