Children's Felt Nativity

My oldest child is now 3 and I'm so excited about this Christmas because he can finally start to understand the nativity scene. I wanted him to have something that he could touch and explore with as he learned who all the different characters were and why they were special. I made my first nativity using the pattern on Stay At Home Educator but it wasn't quite complete or accurate so I've remade the patterns. You'll find them at the end of this post. And for those of you who don't want to make it, you're in luck! I've made one extra! Buy it here!

There are really only 5 things you need to make it: felt, embroidery floss, felt glue, scissors, and a needle. If you don't shop the sales or use coupons, it'll cost about $20. I paid about $8 for all of my supplies. Here's your list of stuff to buy at the craft store:

Felt (buy 1 of each except for brown): grey, green, black, cream, light blue, gold, royal blue, tan, maroon, white, and buy 2 browns.
Embroidery floss (contrasting colors): white, cream, black, light green, dark green, light brown, tan, and yellow
Large white felt background
Felt glue

*Note: I wanted the embroidery floss to stand out on my characters and trees so I chose lighter and brighter colors than the felt

Let me give you a few tips before you start sewing and cutting away. I double backed everything. Meaning that there are 2 layers of felt on every piece so that it would be more durable. Because felt stretches and moves a little bit as you sew, I recommend cutting out the top layer, stitching it onto the bottom layer, and THEN cutting it out. Take my sheep for example:

Notice the little tiny white trim around the legs? I cut out the top layer, laid it on top of a second layer of cream, placed the legs and head where I wanted them, stitched around it, glued the legs and head into place, and THEN I cut it out. This is the process that I recommend.

I recommend getting the wisemen completely sewn and glued together before you cut the body figures out. You'll notice on my pattern that the wisemen have heads attached to their bodies and that they don't have a top. That was intentional. Just cut around their heads and crowns after they are all glued together. (Eyes are just knots)

On the characters with head robes, recommend cutting out all the pieces and then sewing them together because the head robes serve as a double backing and you want them to be stitched on. I hope that makes sense.

I made a little slit so that I could tuck the top of the head in. If I made them hair, I just glued it on as an after thought. (I stitched the manger on and glued the hay on)

The background was by far the most time consuming. If you're sick of hand stitching, maybe it'd be better just to glue it on.

Lastly, cut the second layer of the star a little bit bigger, it just looks better!

Here's the Pattern! Happy sewing!