DIY Felt Gingerbread House

With Christmas just around the corner, people are excitedly decorating their houses, baking cookies and building gingerbread houses. Wouldn't it be fun to have a gingerbread house that you could display in your home for years to come? Well, we have just the project for you – a felt gingerbread house! Follow the instructions below to make your own felt gingerbread house. You can adapt the pattern to include windows or other types of candies. You could even add a flameless candle to give it a little glow!

To begin, you will need:

• Disappearing Ink Marker or Marking Tool
• Natural or Synthetic Craft Felt
• Rotary Cutter
• Brown, red, yellow, white, and green sewing thread
• Sewing Needles
• Fibre Fill
• A Stuffing Tool, such as a chopstick
• The Gingerbread House templates
• Several pieces of thin cardboard, such as those from a cereal box
• Fabric Scissors
• A hot glue gun and hot glue sticks
• Aleene's Fabric Fusion Adhesive

Steps:

1. Start by printing out the template, as pictured below, and cutting out the various pieces (according to colour scheme). You can trace the template using your disappearing ink marker or pin the template pieces to the felt using sewing pins. You will also need 6 duplicate gingerbread pieces cut out of thin cardboard. These can be just slightly smaller than their corresponding felt pieces.

2. Once all your pieces have been cut out, I suggest using your Aleene's Fabric Fusion Adhesive to glue the details together (the candy canes, the peppermint candies, etc.). You may use hot glue, but because the pieces are so small, this could get quite messy. Set aside the details and embellishments to dry.

3. Next you will work on the wreath. I decided to add some “berries” to my wreath using some red thread and French knots. You can learn how to achieve a French knot here. Just be sure to practice on a piece of scrap felt prior to putting them on your wreath as they are quite hard to undo. Once you've added your berries, it's time to stitch your wreath pieces together. Use a blanket stitch to put them together, leaving a small space at the end to stuff your fibre fill into. Close up the hole once your wreath is stuffed to your liking. To put the bow together, simply fold each end towards the middle and secure with a dab of hot glue. Add the tiny red piece around the centre and hot glue the ribbons at the back. Using your hot glue sparingly, attach the bow to whichever part of the wreath you wish to. I chose the bottom. Set your wreath aside.

4. Rather than glue on a door, I wanted to stitch mine on and add some “wood grain” to it. To achieve the same look, you will grab the front piece of the gingerbread house. Place the door in the centre at the very bottom. Using a running stitch and some brown thread, attach the door to the front of the house. To add details, like “wood grain” or planks, use a different colour of thread and do a back stitch to create lines on the door. You can learn how to do any of the above-mentioned stitches by doing a quick Google or YouTube search. Add the door knob with some yellow thread.

5. At this point in the process, it's time to start sewing together the various pieces of your gingerbread house, including the front and back pieces, the sides and the roof. You should have two pieces of felt cut for each of the components as well as accompanying cardboard pieces. For each component, place it's corresponding cardboard piece squarely in the middle of two pieces of felt. Using a blanket stitch, enclose the cardboard piece within the felt pieces. The cardboard allows the gingerbread house to stand up once completed. Repeat this process until the front and back, sides and roof are done.

6. It's time to start building our house. Use a blanket stitch to attach the sides of the gingerbread house to the front and back pieces. The roof pieces are slightly longer than the sides to provide a slight overhang. The roof pieces should be adhered to the bottom of the gingerbread house using hot glue, but be careful not to use too much.

7. Now comes the best part – decorating! Starting at the bottom of the roof, add a strip of white scalloped “shingles” using your hot glue gun. Just above that, you will add a brown scalloped piece. Continue this pattern until you reach the top of the roof. Repeat this process with the other side of the roof. The white double-sided scalloped piece will go on the very top of the roof. Secure this piece with your hot glue gun. It's starting to look like a house!

8. Add your candy canes to either side of the front door using some hot glue. You can also glue your wreath above the door and the peppermint candies to the sides of the house. Last, but not least, glue your “snow drifts” to the bottom of the house. To make them look like one continuous snow drift, you can take a piece of white thread and blanket stitch the snow pieces together at each corner. Hide the thread by pushing your sewing needle inside the house and tying a knot.

You're done! You have an adorable gingerbread house that will be sure to bring festive joy to your home for years to come. The only downside to this gingerbread house is that it's not likely to cure a sugar craving. If you decide to give this fun project a go, be sure to snap a photo, share on social media, and tag @the_felt_store and @the.felted.fawn. Happy crafting and happy holidays!