A Chilly Snowman

     I am going to be posting a series of my favorite handmade Christmas ornaments to my two blogs, White Wolf Summit Farmgirl & My Simple Country Living.  Today, I am sharing one of my favorites, my Chilly Snowman.  I have made dozens of this little guy over the years, he's always a great gift for a teacher or for a friend's Christmas Tree.  I sew using 1/4 inch seam allowances.

BODY- Make his body by drawing a triangle with a 3 1/2" base and a height of 4 1/2" from an 80/20 quilt batting. You can either sew the entire triangle closed and cut the top off to turn and open, OR- cut the top off before sewing and just sewing the two sides and base, leaving the top open for the head to go through.  Either way, you will need to have an opening at the top that's wide enough for the head to fit into.
   
HEAD- Make his head by drawing a rectangle about 1 1/2 " wide by 2 1/2" long.  Round the corners to shape him a bit.  Sew. Turn. Stuff firmly with Polyfil.  I pin and machine sew bases. I insert head into body and add a few beads of hot glue or whipstitch head to body to secure.  If I am making WIRE ARMS, I attach the head AFTER I have inserted and secured the wire arms.

STOCKINGS- I draw stockings about 2 1/2" long with a high contrast fabric and sew.  I leave top open and stuff.  Leave top edge raw, do not turn under.  Attach to body with a few hand stitches.  Loo at my examples below and you'll see I have attached a few to the front of the bodies with cute buttons for fun and I sometimes attach them to the back with no adornment.

ARMS- I have tried many things for arms. I have used tea-stained muslin and black floral wire (I like it because it ages and rusts a bit over the years). Both look great.  To make muslin arms just draw 2 1/4" long arms and cut and sew them from the muslin, turn and stuff.  I keep the top edges raw again and sew to body. To make the wire arms, I just try to shape them like branches and then run the wire through the side into body and twist a small circle inside to hold it tight.

SCARF- I use homespun plaids for the scarf.  I cut them 1" wide by 5 1/2" long and I fray an 1/8" edges by pulling out a few long threads.  I wrap the scarf over the raw edged arms, dabbing as bead of hot glue over each arm to be sure the scarf does not slide away from covering raw edges.

HEAD COVER- For earmuffs- Hot glue a thin ribbon and small pom poms to either side of your snowman's head for these cute earmuffs.  For hat- cut small wool or acrylic circle and sew it to his head. Attach button or foliage for embellishment.

FACE- Micron Pigment ink pen, a dot of white acrylic paint inside eyes, and blush on a Q-tip for cheeks.

NOSE- I paint a toothpick bright pumpkin orange, cut the tip off, and hot glue nose to face.

Other EMBELLISHMENTS- I sometimes tea-stain the cotton batting and muslin.  I stain them by soaking for a few hours in hot tea steeped on my stove, and hand drying and pressing the fabric. I don't press the batting, just try to flatten it before it dries.  I also sometimes add a few small square "patches" to the snowman's body using a cure plaid and a heat n' bond or wonder under.

     I look forward to seeing what YOU can do to spruce him up!