If you are looking for a quick and easy hand-sewing project then this easy felt llama softie is for you! This is a great sewing project for kids learning to sew as it is very simple and the custom saddle lets creativity shine. Beginner sewers can opt to draw on the llama’s face with a pen, stick felt on with glue (or sew), or for the slightly more experienced sew on a face with a few simple stitches. No matter what path you take you will finish with an adorable llama to be proud of.

Miss 8 and 6 are kid ambassadors for Sew A Softie this July. They have been busy coming up with different softie ideas that they can teach their friends and Dad. Because they all have little sewing experience I wanted to come up with a softie pattern that would be fairly simple, fun yet cute, AND easy enough for Miss 8 to teach. This llama achieves all that so we should have some happy girls (and dad) by the end of their special sewing party!

Easy Felt Llama Softie

Sew A Softie in July is all about spreading the joy of sewing. As a kid ambassador children teach other children or family members how to sew. This has come at an excellent time for us as Miss 8 has recently discovered a love for felt sewing!

We love to sew with felt as it is just so easy! It works perfectly for making all sorts of mini animals which our girls adore. Today we are sharing with you how to make an easy felt llama softie.

Not many resources are needed to get started with this project. Mainly felt, a needle and thread. Some stuffing/ fiberfill is also importaint but using felt offcuts can also be used and is a great way to reduce waste. The other items that are helpful to have is glue and a permant marker.

You Will Need

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• Felt.
• Scissors.
• The free pattern below or draw your own llama.
• Thread.
• Needle.
• Glue- fabric glue, glue stick, tacky glue. It is ideal to test your glue before beginning your project. Glue stick is an easy option for young kids however it may not be as strong as other glues.
• Sharpie Pen or similar if drawing on the face and drawing around the pattern.
• Pins can be helpful but this can be made without.
• Fiberfill/ stuffing or use felt offcuts.

Free Easy Flet Llama Softie Printable

Click the link below to print out or download this free llama softie printable. You can adjust the size of the pieces by changing the scale in your printer settings. For young children just starting out with sewing, I would enlarge this pattern slightly.

Let’s Get Sewing

Cut out the pieces

First, print the llama printable sewing pattern and cut out each piece. From the pattern, you will need to cut out x2 body, x2 ears, x2 saddle, and x1 face piece from felt.

The heart is a suggestion of what you could put on your saddle. You can see I have made a larger heart for my llama while Miss 8 has made up her own fun pattern. Add other fun details, at the girls Sew A Softie party most of the kids decided to add on a horn and turn their llama into a llamacorn! Check out the photo below to see one of our fun llamacorns.

How you cut out your pattern pieces is up to you, over time you will find a technique that works best for you. I like to cut out the items that require two pieces at the same time by layering the felt to ensure that the pieces are matching. Having matching pieces is very important for the body as it is really hard to sew two pieces together that do not match! I will often pin the pattern piece I want to cut onto the felt and carefully cut around that. For children, I get them to draw around the piece with pen and then get them to cut around that. Once you have cut out all of the pieces check that the body front and back match up and trim if needed.

The Stitches

To make this llama we use a blanket stitch (Miss 8 decided to use a whip stitch), a running stitch and a backstitch if sewing on the face. A whipstitch is easier and faster than doing a blanket stitch.

Miss 8 and 6 actually learned how to do a blanket stitch before a whip stitch as this was the stitch that was on the first box sewing project they tried so although it is a little more difficult it still is a stitch that children can easily learn. If your child is very young and new to sewing then it is entirely possible to make this llama using just a running stitch. In saying that a whip stitch really isn’t any more complicated than the running stitch and it can add to the fun to do more than just one stitch!

A running stitch is a very basic stitch where you simply go up and down in one direction through the pieces of felt that you are wanting to sew together.

To do a backstitch it is similar to the running stitch but you sew back to the holes to fill in all of the gaps. This is fantastic for doing detailed work like on the face.

A whipstitch is sewn by looping the thread over the edge of the felt and pulling through. Blanket stitch is a variation of whipstitch where you put the needle back through the loop before pulling through this gives a neater and more decorative look.

To find out more about these stitches Sew A Softie has great tutorials on the running stitch, backstitch, and whip stitch. Professor Pincushion has a great video tutorial showing how to do the whip stitch and blanket stitch.

Start with the details

Start with all of the detail pieces. Sew on the ears using a running stitch.

Draw on the face details onto the face part or stitch using backstitch. Alternatively cut and glue or stitch on felt. You can see that Miss 8 drew on her face while the other llama has a felt nose and a stitched on face. Sew the face part onto the front of the llama body using a running stitch.

Now it is time to decorate the saddle. Decorate with offcuts of felt by sewing them or gluing them on or with pens. When completed sew seperatly onto the front and back llama pieces with running stitch. You can either sew around the entire saddle piece or just along the top.

Join the llama body pieces

Next place the llama body pieces and start to sew around the edge. Either blanket stitch or whip stitch is best for this stage. When sewing around the ears do a couple of running sititches and then continue with the stitch of your choice. It is ideal to stuff half-way through as it can be tricky to get the stuffing into the legs. Before sewing all the way up make sure that you are happy with how much stuffing you have inside of your llama, if not add more before closing and tieing a knot in your llama.

Finishing

How is your llama looking? I bet pretty great! If you like you can add on any extra details at this stage. I glued on some ear inserts and added a scarf. To make a scarf cut a long thin length of felt. At each end cut tiny little snips to give the scarf some texture. Now tie it around the neck of your llama.

Other Fun Projects

We hope you enjoyed making this easy felt llama softie today! Check out our diyThought Instagram page to see highlights of the girls Sew A Softie party. You may also enjoy these fun projects,

• Sew A Felt Unicorn Donut
• 10 Awesome Llama Crafts
• Sew A Felt Narwhal
• How To Draw Llamas & Sloths

Thanks for stopping by!