Decorate your home this Christmas with our beautifully stitched reindeer

What you need...

• Fabric, Tilda: Pernille Lin Grey, Pernille Mist Green, Emma Grey Brown, each 20cm x 50cm
  
• Felt, cream
  
• Thread: cream, pink, brown, black
  
• Plastic pellets, small bag
  
• Cushion pad, 25cm x 30cm
  
• Fibre filling
  
• Buttons, pink
  
• Beads, black

instructions

1. Download the template and print onto thin card, then cut out. Draw around the templates onto the reverse of your fabric. Cut out the fabric pieces 5mm from the drawn line, this is your seam allowance. Pair up the body pieces right sides together and stitch along the drawn line, leaving a 4cm gap at the back of the neck for turning. Clip all curves, turn out and press.

2. Pair up one brown leg piece with each green piece, right sides together. Stitch up both sides of the legs, leaving a 4cm gap near to the top curve. Do not stitch along the bottom of the legs, instead pin around a felt foot piece and hand sew into place. Turn out each leg through the gap. Fill the bottom of each leg with plastic pellets (if using) to a depth of 2cm to help weight the feet. Continue softly stuffing the legs with fibre fill. Fold in the raw edges of each gap and oversew to close.

3. Stuff the body of the reindeer with fibre fill and close up the gap as before. Pin the tops of the legs to each side of the body, light on dark and vice versa, with the green fabric facing in. Sew right through each pair of legs with the body between, sewing on buttons as you do so. Fix another button in place and keep sewing through the deer from button to button to create jointed limbs that are firmly held in place. Secure the thread underneath one leg where the knots will be hidden.

4. Trim the felt antler pieces to the drawn line and place in pairs. Use two strands of cream embroidery thread to sew around the shapes with running stitch, 1mm from the edge. Position the antlers either side of the head and sew in place along the bottom edge. Pair up each brown ear with a green one, right sides together, and stitch around the curved area. Clip the curves and turn out through the base of the ear. Fold in 5mm along the baseline and gather the folded edges with small running stitch. Pin the ears in front of the antlers and sew into place. Create a satin stitch nose at the tip of the muzzle. Use glass headed pins to mark the position of the deer's eyes and sew the features with two strands of black embroidery thread.