how to make a christmas elf

I saw the cutest elf on social media and thought ..... what a great idea for Christmas for the little ones in our family.

I'll make one for each kid (happy excited face). Then I counted .... the total - 27. Still with my excited voice in my head, but less enthusiastic .... let's only make 1 per family. That brought my count down to 10.

I've attached the pattern and embroidery file (for Brother) below.

I thought a lot about the gender part of the elf. Do I put dresses on the girls and pants on the boys? Can I make just one elf in a gender neutral way? I made a couple different faces and showed them to my 3 year old grandson. When I asked him to pick the one he liked the best, he pointed to the one I purposely made more feminine. 

My mom came to visit for a week during Thanksgiving and she helped cut all the fabric. Thank goodness for mom cause cutting is the WORST!

While she was cutting, I embroidered the faces, shirts, and boots.

I sewed, then lightly stuffed the ears, attaching them to the neck and head back.

Then came the neck piece.

Legs were next. Sew together the legs, white shoe trim, and big elf shoes.

Fold in half and sew. For each arm and leg, leave a small spot between the notches for stuffing.

Turn them right side out.

Sew the little pleats in the arms.

Add the hands.

Sew together and turn right side out. Again, leave little openings between the notches for stuffing.

Next the body front. Sew the body top to the bottom, matching up notches.

Sew the legs to the body bottom.

Make sure the feet go the way you want.

Sew down the arms.

Here's the back bottom and top. There is one photo with 3 different phases of the construction. 

Sew the back and bottom to the front, matching up the notches.

Shove everything inside the body.

Turn the head right side out and shove inside the body too, matching up the notches. Sew. This is the toughest part of the whole thing. Double stitch to make sure everything stays together.

Pull everything right side out and stuff. I stuffed the head and body VERY firm.  The arms and legs were stuffed lightly to make them more bendable.

Hand sew up all the little openings that you used for stuffing and add the hat. I sewed the hats to the head. Then I used a little fabric glue over the back and where the bell was connected to the hat.

I could not be happier to put these guys into their boxes and send them on their way to their kid house. While I realize that not all the kids will be crazy about their elf, I do hope they know that each one was made with love and with them in mind.

The files are here in my Google drive for you to create your very own elf.