Wednesday, March 21, 2012




I've had some people interested in a pattern for my button leg sheep. I tried to find the blog where I first found it but I just cant find it anywhere. I stumbled upon it when looking at blogs one day.

What you will need to make your own button leg sheep-

1. A stitched piece for the front of your sheep, although you could just use felt or fabric I would  
    think.
2. Felt for the back, head, ears and tail.  You could use fabric but I like the felt and its very forgiving
     if you are off just a little bit.
3. Lots of buttons, all sizes, colors, anything works
4. Anything you want to embellish the sheep. I've used ribbon roses, ribbon bows, buttons, raffia etc. 
    Again, anything you would like would work.
5. 2 round rings.  I used little white ones I found in the sewing section at Joann Fabric. These are used to hang the sheep.

So here is my drawn pattern.  If you click on the pattern it will enlarge, then just right click and save it to your desktop etc. to be able to print it. The body is approx. 5 3/4 inches across at the widest. Now I have made this smaller and larger depending on the size of my stitched piece. I dont add seam allowances, I just place my stiched piece on the pattern and see if I like the size.




1. First you sew the stitched piece to the back fabric, turn it and stuff it. Then sew the front and back of the head together and stuff them.

The ears and tail are just folded in half and sewn in place. You can make the ears and tail shorter if you want just by trimming the ends.

I suppose the right way to sew the ears and tail would be to pin them inside the head  and body and do the sewing all at once when  you stitch the head but I would have ears that were lopsided and I'm afraid to think where the tail would be located if I tried. So I just sew the ears and tail in place with matching thread after I have sewn the head and body and stuffed them.  You cant see the threads and I always use embellishments on the ears and tail anyway.

2. The eyes are just round beads that are whatever size works for you. I use white ones on the dark color sheep and I paint them dark for the lighter colored sheep. I just sew them in place, where ever it looks right to you.  You can knot them on the back or run your thread back and forth through the fabric and stuffing to secure it if you don't want knots.

3. Next I hot glue the head to the body. Sometimes I put it on straight sometimes I tilt it a little, I kind of like them tilted but again, that is up to you and what you like.

So now you should have the basic sheep together, head, body, ears and tail.

4. Next are the button legs. I found the easiest way to do them is to use 2 needles. You take a piece of string, perle cotton or floss at least 2 times the length you will want the legs to be and  you thread a needle onto each end. So you will have a very long piece of string, floss, cotton with a needle on each end. Then  you start stringing buttons. They have to be flat buttons without a shank. You string one needle through one hole in the button and the other needle through the other hole in the button.  You keep adding buttons until the legs are how long you want them. I just look at them and stop when I like the length. 

When the legs are the length I want I tie the ends of the floss fairly close to the last button. Do not cut the excess thread. Then I look at my sheep body and decide where I want the legs to be. Thats up to you. Then I just tack the legs on with 3 or 4 stitches and tie them off with at least a couple knots on the front of the sheep, remember you will cover the knots with some embellishment.

5. Next are the embellishments. I put something at each ear, each leg and at the tail. That hides any stitches that could be seen and it really dresses them up. I've used buttons with bows, ribbon roses, bows etc. It doesnt matter, use whatever you like.

6. To hang the sheep I took a small white ring I had and sewed it to the sheeps back. Take a piece of ribbon twice the length you want it to be and put the ribbon through the ring. Slip the second  ring on the ribbon and then sew the ribbon ends together to join them.  Then pull the second ring up to the top of the joined ribbon and stitch just under it to hold it in place. You could just use hot glue. I then make a bow out of more ribbon and glue it just under the botton of the second ring. That way the ring sticks up just a little so you can hang your sheep. 

Now your sheep should be finished unless you want to do a little more decorating. I hope this is does'nt sound too complicated. It is super easy. I think with the pattern and just looking at my sheep I posted earlier you can easliy make your own. Have fun!!!!










4 comments:

  1. Thank you for the pattern and for the very cute idea. I am going to try it.

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  2. Well isn't this just the cutest thing ever! Thanks for sharing this.

    Just popped over from Rachel's blog. You have some lovely things here. I'll definitely be back!

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  3. Thanks for the directions in how to make this cute little guy.

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  4. Grazie per lo schema! La tua renna è molto deliziosa!!!!
    Buon fine settimana =)

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