A Snowy Day Craft: Felt Waldorf Snowflake Children

A Snowy Day Craft: Felt Waldorf Snowflake Children

On a cold and snowy day, we got cozy by the fireplace and crafted these sweet felt Waldorf snowflake children. These small handmade dolls fit perfectly in a child's hand and are great to add to a gnome or fairy house or even hang in your windows. A simple blanket stitch is used to sew the snowflake children together so this Waldorf craft is great for many skill levels.
Felt, beads, and other materials to craft felt waldorf snowflake children

Prepare your Materials

This project can be completed with materials most people might have lying around the house. We used felt sheets but any scrap material could work. Adjust your needle and thread as needed depending on the material you use.

  • Felt sheets or scrap material
  • Wooden beads of various sizes and colors
  • Tapestry needle
  • Embroidery floss in coordinating colors
  • Pipe cleaners
  • Wool roving or a few cotton balls
  • Scissors
  • Pencil and marker
  • Hot glue gun
  • Ruler
Pieces of felt cut to craft mini Waldorf dolls fairies

Create a Pattern

Step 1: Grab your pencil and ruler to sketch out a simple pattern. Since the front and back of the snowflake child's body need to match, you can simplify things by folding your felt sheet in half and mirroring the pattern from the crease. Trace your pattern onto a folded piece of felt and use sharp scissors to cut along the sides and bottom. Do not cut across the top fold.

Tapestry needle and embroidery floss used to stitch a snowflake on the felt.

Design your Snowflake

Step 2: Lightly trace your design on the back side of your felt body. The design can be as simple or as intricate as your skill level allows. These snowflakes were simple to replicate by following the outline.

A piece of felt with a hole cut to slide in pipe cleaner body for the waldorf doll.

Step 3: Insert your needle from the back, move to the end of the line you want to create, and push your needle through from the front. Repeat these steps until your design is complete. Tie off your string and trim. This is what the back of our piece looked like afterwards. If this step seems too daunting, or you're working with a younger crafter, you can cut out a small design from your felt scraps and glue them to your dolls.

A pipe cleaner bent into a stick figure shape to give the waldorf snowflake child shape.

Create a Body

Step 4: Now that your Waldorf Snowflake Children have clothes to wear it's time to create their bodies. A pipe cleaner is perfect because it's light weight and gives the dolls a bit of flexibility. Fold your pipe cleaner in half, then create arms by folding each side. Make sure the arms are long enough to slightly stick out of the felt.Twist the pipe cleaner together in the center and use the remaining length to create legs. Trim as needed, leaving a small piece sticking out at the bottom of each leg.

Use a blanket stitch to close one side of the felt.

Sew and Stuff

Step 5: Use a simple blanket stitch to close one side of the felt. From this point you can begin stuffing the body with the wool roving or a cotton ball that's been teased apart. Push the filling into the arms and legs with your tapestry needle as you finish joining the felt between the legs and second side with your blanket stitch.

A doll body in progress after being stuffed and stitched closed.
Step 6: Use your felt scraps to cut out a quarter of a circle. Fold the long edges together and stitch the seam to create gnome hats for your snowflake children. 
A hot glue gun used to glue on the wooden beads and hat to complete the felt waldorf snowflake children.
Step 7: Begin heating your glue gun and choose 5 beads for each doll, 1 large and 4 smaller ones, to create the head, hands and feet. Glue them onto the pipe cleaner ends and add the hats to complete your felt Waldorf Snowflake Children.
A wooden bowl containing wooden beads and 3 completed felt Waldorf Snowflake Children crafted dolls.
WARNING: Choking Hazard - Small parts. Not for children under 3 years.

We can't wait to see your Waldorf Snowflake Children. Share your creations on social media and use the hashtag #BellaLunaToys for a chance to be featured.


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