DIY Sheep (Sewn)

If you love sheep these adorable guys are a must to make and add to your home décor! I’ve recently seen a primitive sheep in a store that I wanted to recreate but needless to say I went in a whole other direction creating a more realistic sheep. I just love how they turned out and the larger sheep is just my favorite. If you are not a sewer that is ok I have another blog on how you can make them using hot glue!

Materials I Used

• Sheep Pattern
• Sherpa Faux Fur Fabric or any fabric you would like to use. For the large sheep you will need a piece of fabric approximately 19” x 12” and for the small sheep you will need a piece of fabric approximately 13” x 10.
• Charcoal or Black Felt ( I used a charcoal color felt)
• Polyester Fiberfill
• Two 5/16 x 12” dowels for the small sheep’s legs
• Two 5/8 x 12” dowels for the large sheep’s legs
• Black craft paint and paintbrush or a black Alcohol marker which I used to paint my legs
• 12” piece of rusty wire and one 20mm rusty bell for small sheep (optional)
• 15” piece of rusty wire and one 30mm rusty bell for the large sheep (optional)
• Sewing machine with cream thread
• Cream thread and needle
• Sewing pins
• Hot glue gun and glue sticks
• Colored chalk for tracing pattern
• Pencil
• Scissors
• Ruler
• Wire cutters and needle nose pliers if you are adding the rusty wire around the sheep’s neck
• Table saw or hand saw

Tracing and Cutting Out the Pattern

The first thing you will need to do is print and cut out the sheep patterns, there are two pages for the small sheep and 5 pages for the large sheep. For the large sheep’s body there are four pattern pieces that you will need to tape together where indicated on the pattern pieces. All the following directions are the same for the small and large sheep the only difference is the size. Lay your sheep body pattern on a double layer of fabric with the right sides facing in then using a piece of colored chalk trace your body pattern. Pin the two pieces of fabric together then cut out the body about a ½” away from the sew line. Keep your scrap pieces you will be using them later.

Lay your face and ear pattern pieces onto a double layer of felt then trace with a piece of chalk.  Cut out the pattern pieces on the line.

Sewing and Stuffing the Sheep

The first step is to attach the face to the body.  Take one piece of your felt face and line it up to the body and pin in place next using your sewing machine sew the face to the body then remove pins.

Next flip the sheep over then take the second felt face piece and line it up on the body and with the felt face that you just sewed on. Pin in place making sure you do not pin both face pieces together. Sew on the second felt piece then remove pins.

Now that you have the face pieces attached it is time to sew the body.  You are going to want to leave at least a 2” opening at the bottom middle of the sheep for stuffing.  Using the trace line as your sew line sew up your sheep.  Remove the pins and using scissors make small snips around the sheep this will help with any puckering when you turn right side out.

Turn right side out and stuff firmly with polyester fiberfill.  After you sheep is all stuffed sew the opening closed using matching colored thread and needle.

Attaching the Ears and Tail

Hold your to ears onto the sheep’s head to see where you think they look right.  Using a needle and thread sew one ear into place then bring your needle over to the other side of the head and sew on the second ear, knot off and trim off excess thread.

Next from your scrap pieces of fabric cut a piece of your fabric 2” long x 1 ½” wide for the small sheep and 2 3/4″ long x 2″ high for the large sheep. Using a hot glue gun add a line of hot glue down the middle (long ways) of the fabric and fold in both sides gluing them down.  Place the fabric piece between the ears and using a needle and thread sew around attaching it to the head.

From your scrap pieces of fabric cut another piece of fabric 2 ¾” long x 2” high for the small sheep and a 3″ x 3″ for the large sheep.  this is going to be the tail.  About a ¼” down from the top add a line of hot glue then fold in the sides.  Using a needle and thread do a running stitch across the end without the glue then pin in place at the back of the sheep. Sew into place.

Preparing and Attaching the Legs

For the small sheep you are going to use the two 5/16 x 12” dowels and for the large sheep your are going to use the two 5/8 x 12” dowels.  Using a pencil mark each dowel 6” in the center.  Using a saw cut the two dowels now you will have four pieces for the legs.  Using black craft paint or a black marker paint your legs.  You do not need to paint the whole leg you could leave about 2” unpainted this will be going up into the sheep.  When painting the legs make sure the bottom of the legs are the uncut parts.

To attach the legs you are going to measure about 1 ½” to 2” from the bottom of the sheep and 1 ½” in from the side for the small sheep and for the large sheep you are going to measure about 2 1/2″ from the bottom of the sheep and about 2 1/2″ in from the side of the sheep, then using the point of a small pair of scissors poke a hole into the fabric.  Next insert one of the legs at a slant leaving about 3 ½” to 4” out of the sheep.  Repeat these steps for the other three legs.  Stand your sheep up and check to make sure he is standing properly and make any adjustments as needed.  Next using a piece of chalk mark each leg where it is coming out of the sheep body this is so you will know the proper placement when gluing them in.

Remove one leg then add hot glue into the hole and replace the leg back into the sheep. Remember you have the chalk mark to tell you how far to push the leg back in.  Stand up the sheep again to make sure he is still standing properly. Repeat these steps to the other three legs.

Adding The Collar

For the small sheep you will need a 12” piece of rusty wire and one 20mm rusty bell.  For the large sheep you will need a 15” piece of rusty wire and a 30mm rusty bell.  Slide the rusty bell onto the wire then place the wire around the sheep’s neck with the bell hanging under his neck.  Twist the ends of the rusty wire together you can use the wire cutters to cut of any excess at the end of the twist.  Using a pair of needle nose pliers crimp down the ends of the wire then slide down to the bell.

You are done making your sheep!  I hope you enjoyed making him.  If you are like me I had to make a whole family lol.  These adorable sheep will be so cute displayed in your home and I am sure once your family and friends see them they will be asking you to make them some lol.