animal felt sewing tutorial

Hi, Alicia from Felt With Love Designs here again!

I am continuing my circus toy theme today with the fifth set in my series of circus finger puppets.

Set one included a couple circus tents and a ticket booth. Set two contained the first few characters (ringleader, strongman, and circus girl #1), set three made up a bunch of clowns, and set four is another group of circus characters. Be sure to check those out as well, if you missed them!

Today, I bring you the first set of circus animals and will continue the circus series soon with a few more circus animals and some circus vehicles so be sure to follow along!

And, if you are enjoying these finger puppets, don’t miss the adorable woodland creatures finger puppets we designed.

Supplies needed:

• The Pattern
• Felt (light brown, dark brown, orange, black, white, yellow-brown)
• Embroidery thread to match
• Scissors (these* are my favorite for cutting precisely)
• Freezer paper (optional – see my tutorial on using freezer paper to precisely cut your pattern)

To sew the dog:

1. Cut all of the pieces from felt
2. Sew ears to either side of the face of the front body piece
3. Sew the belly patch to the front body piece
4. Embroider the facial features
5. Match up the embellished front with the back and stitch them together, using a blanket stitch, leaving the bottom open. I also go back and stitch just the front edge of the opening with a blanket stitch to reinforce it but that is totally optional.

To sew the lion:

1. Cut all of the pieces from felt
2. Sew the belly patch to the front body piece
3. Blanket stitch the lion’s mane pieces together around the outside edge and sew to the face along the inner edge
4. Using black thread, add two lines to each paw
5. Embroider the facial features
6. Match up the embellished front with the back and stitch them together, using a blanket stitch, leaving the bottom open. I also go back and stitch just the front edge of the opening with a blanket stitch to reinforce it but that is totally optional.

Finger Circus Puppets: SET 5

To sew the tiger:

1. Cut all of the pieces from felt
2. Sew the white belly piece to the front body piece
3. Sew the black stripes to the front body piece
4. Stitch the front/back ear pieces together around the top left and right sides then stitch to the tiger’s head along the bottom edge of the ear
5. Embroider the facial features
6. Match up the embellished front with the back and stitch them together, using a blanket stitch, leaving the bottom open. I also go back and stitch just the front edge of the opening with a blanket stitch to reinforce it but that is totally optional.

I hope you enjoyed these simple finger puppets! Be sure to come back and check out the rest of the series!

If you are interested in more finger puppets, head over to Felt With Love Designs and browse our finger puppet archive or check out the Felt With Love Designs shop, where we will be frequently adding fun, new patterns! I also maintain a fun Pinterest board of finger puppets!

If you use this pattern to make your own version, I would love to see it! Come by and share on the Felt With Love Designs Facebook page or tag me (@feltwithlovedesigns) on Instagram!

~Alicia

*affilate link