2021 Santa’s Workshop: Simplicity 8035 Ornaments

Can’t believe December is already here. Santa’s Workshop is open! Time for holiday sewing! 

Combing through my pattern hoard I came across Simplicity 8035:  various ornaments with options for stuffed animals- star, gingerbread man and yeti. They all look so smiley and cute; I couldn’t resist sewing them.

They are made of felt, embroidery thread and stuffing. That’s it! Pretty budget friendly. This pattern had me scratching my head a few times though.

I started with the Star. The pattern is 2 pieces- front and back. But the front looks just like the back! Why did they print the same thing? Also I noticed the deer leg pattern is the same thing over and over. They could have just drawn one leg and wrote “x8” I don’t get it.

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The instructions included really helpful diagrams of how to blanket stitch and outline stitch the smile- this was really helpful! The instructions want you to blanket stitch wrong sides together then turn inside out and stuff. The first one I made I followed the directions exactly. For the rest I ignored these directions and kept the blanket stitch on the outside. Why hide all that beautiful blanket stitching?! I think it gives it more of a crafty homemade feel.

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My experience cutting the yeti was comical. I had always thought my first time sewing fur would be for a glamourous fur jacket. NOPE! It’s for this yeti ornament, lol. The fur got everywhere! *Tip- I used a lint roller to pick up all that mess.

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Look at the tissue pattern for the teeth. So small! I winged this and cut shapes for the teeth. Oddly enough, this ornament was the only one that used machine sewing. The arms and legs aren’t very pronounced on this pattern so he ended up looking like a blob.

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Now let’s talk about the deer. Eight small and narrow leg pieces-front and back. It was really hard to stuff all those. I used the end of a pencil to get all the stuffing in…which by the way is a miniscule amount! The instructions want you to glue the head to the body and legs to the body. The glue was unstable so I ended up blanket stitching everything together. They totally could have made the legs + body one pattern instead of 10.

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I purchased this green/red striped velvet ribbon and put it around his neck. I got a real kick out of the final product. It looks like Gucci, lol. And this deer was just begging to be Rudolph so I added some red beads to his nose. He took forever to make but boy is he cute! I also added a red ribbon and my label for the holder.

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I felt pretty wiped out after making that 10,000 piece Rudolph ornament (exaggeration obvi, lol) and saw that the snowman, gingerbread man and penguin all used the same techniques. I had every intention of making all the ornaments on the envelope but the idea of using all those small pieces again seemed exhausting. I scrapped the plan.

I like the idea of felt ornaments but this pattern isn’t for me. It was just so different than I expected. A lot of hand sewing and lots of instructions to glue, Glue, GLUE!

I rated it as 2/5 on Pattern review. Simplicity Stuffed Animals and Ornaments 8035 pattern review by RosieSews2

Not all is lost though, the ornaments make me smile and I feel like a blanket stitch master! I was feeling crafty so I made this one for kicks using a ramakin from my kitchen drawer. Utilized my new stitching skills too. 😉

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I’m thinking I could use some simple cookie cutter shapes for more ornaments or just find another pattern. I already found an option and will try that next!