Playful Winter Display -- from stuff on hand!

Today I whipped together a bunch of winter outfits for some of my Fisher Price Little People to make a cute little Christmas-y display. You could certainly adapt this technique to dress up any kind of figures or even stuffed animals you have on hand to make your own unique display. Heck, you could easily turn these guys into ornaments for your tree!
Note: These winter dress-ups are completely removeable -- no permanent altering of your precious vintage toys!


WHAT YOU NEED:

~ a collection of figures to dress up
~ a few sheets of felt
~ tiny pom-poms and ribbon scraps (optional)
~ needle and thread

STEP ONE: Attach a narrow strip of white felt to the edge of a sheet of red felt. (I stitched by hand on one version and my machine on another, but absolutely preferred the one stitched by hand!)


STEP TWO: Wrap it around your figure's head to determine where to cut. Leave a small overlap. Cut a rectangle with generous height.

STEP THREE: By hand, stitch the brim only, using a fairly long doubled thread. Tie a knot, but do not cut your thread. Try it on your figure to make sure it fits.

STEP FOUR: Fold the upper part of the hat, playing around with it until you have a shape you like.

STEP FIVE: Continue stitching to the end of the hat. (Before stitching, I cut one side of the hat to the angle I wanted, then folded the other side over and stitched. I trimmed the second side after stitching.) Tie a knot, but do not cut your thread.

STEP SIX: If you have a tiny white pom-pom, use it here! If not, cut a small circle of white felt and stitch with a running stitch around the edge, using your same needle and thread. You will then pull the stitches tight to create a little ball. Tie a knot!

Ta-Da! Super tall Santa hat!

STEP SEVEN: Bend the hat down how you like, and stitch it in place with a couple stitches. You're done!

Here are a few more ideas:

* Make a scarf by cutting a narrow strip of felt and tying it around your figure's neck. I cut a teeny little fringe on the ends, too!

* Make a beanie-type snow hat by starting the same way, then gather the top with a running stitch, wrap your thread around a couple times, and tie a knot. I turned up the brim on this one after sewing the whole thing together.


* Make earmuffs by sewing pom-poms on either end of a scrap of ribbon. I attached them to her head with some sticky adhesive dots -- found on the craft aisle at the dollar store! The adhesive dots pull off the plastic quite easily, although I don't know what they might do to the plastic over an extended period of time.

* Make a silly antler headband! I just used a strip of felt for the headband and attached the antlers with a couple stitches.

This was a fun, quick, PRACTICALLY FREE project -- a great way to add a little playful decor to your home for the holidays! Now I'm on the hunt for other figures to dress up... I am thinking about those Littlest Pet Shop puppies that are standing on my fridge -- or maybe all those plastic dinosaur figures that are taking over the toy room floor!

Who are YOU going to dress up?