Christmas Reindeer Sew Along Part 1

Welcome to part 1 of the Christmas reindeer Sew Along! The Antler Addendum is now ready for you to download. Just click here to go to the page on my website and click on the download link.

From now on all purchases of the patchwork pony pattern will come with the antler addendum as standard.

I have also published a page on the blog specially for the pony/reindeer SAL which lists all the relevant posts. You can view this here or by clicking on the Reindeer SAL badge on the right.

This first post is all about making the panels for our reindeers (or ponies, or unicorns!) and so far I have made 3 different versions.

The first one is a log cabin quilt-as-you-go reindeer made with christmas fabric scraps (shown above before his antlers were added).

I started off with the pieces of wadding as shown on the left. I cut these roughly by dividing the pony pattern into these sections and adding a bit extra (as you can see they overlap).

For the second panel (which is a mirror image – IMP!) I actually managed to make this in less sections, so each side of the body had a leg attached and the nose was attached to the head, but for this first panel I was still experimenting.

Starting with the centre square in the middle of the wadding square simply stitch strips around RST, trimming to length as you go.

This is called strip piecing and works really well with the QAYG method. Once I had these 2 body pieces (right) I pinned the wadding out of the way and sewed them together before trimming the wadding so it laid flat.

The legs were created with stripes and added to the bottom of the body with the head and then nose (more stripes) added next.

Here you can see the panels after being cut with the pattern.

The next reindeer I made was very easy as I just used some Shannon Fabric Luxe Cuddle in shade Cappuccino Fawn. It is the perfect plush for a reindeer! I bought it from Rooftop Fabrics in the UK.

I haven’t sewn much with plushy fabric but it was easier than I thought as all that fur means you can’t see the seams clearly so it is very forgiving.

My next reindeer is still a WIP and I will be finishing it in time for next weeks post. I have returned to the sustainable ethos of the original Pony SAL and cut the pattern pieces from an old corduroy mini skirt (there was just enough!). I then zig-zagged around the edge as the fabric frayed easily.

The idea for this one is for a Scandi Folk Art vibe using wool felt.

I drew up this quite simple pattern and then realised I couldn’t see through the thick fabric to trace it. So instead I placed the paper pattern on top of the corduroy and went over it with a blunt pencil. This indented the fabric enough that I could then go over it with a Friction pen.

I used Aurifil 80wt thread in matching colours to stitch the felt pieces using a tiny whip stitch. The chain stitch was stitched with a double thread of white Aurifil 12wt wool. I don’t have enough skirt fabric left for the gusset strip so I need to find something else for this. Find out next week what I used!

We will also be dealing with the reindeer ears next week, however if you want to get ahead everything you need to get on and make your reindeer is in the antler addendum, you don’t need to wait for the next blog post.

Hopefully these ideas have been useful to you but do please go to the pony SAL part 1 post here and check out all the other ideas for panels. In fact I made a different pony pretty much every week of the last SAL so check out all the posts by clicking on the reindeer badge at the top of the page.

Meanwhile if you haven’t bought your pony pattern yet remember you have until Sunday midnight GMT to take advantage of the 25% off sale price. Click here to buy and don’t forget to check your junk/spam folder if the email doesn’t arrive!

As always do let me know if you have any questions by commenting below or emailing me.