How to Make a Stuffed Buche de Noel (Part 2)
October 8th, 2008 in sewing, patterns & designs, embroidery, holidays
Erika Kern, contributor
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Holly berries and mushrooms decorate your felt Buche de Noel.
Photo: Erika Kern
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DIGGSo last week we made an appliquéd log pillow, which is great! I make them all the time, but what's so Christmas-y about a log pillow? Well, today we bring the Noel to this Buche de Noel! Let's decorate!
Traditional Buche de Noel cakes are decorated with all sorts of holiday wonders. I've seen Santas and elves and toys—I've even seen little houses perched atop these tasty logs! But most of them have two common decorations: meringue mushrooms and holly berries. So let's make some for our stuffed logs!
You'll need:
- Felt (spring for wool or wool blend; it has a nicer hand and is more durable than the cheaper acrylic craft felt) in the following colors: white, oatmeal (you should have some left from the making of the log), green, and red
- Embroidery floss in white, green, and red (I used DMC colors 3865 [for the white], 910 [for the green], and 498 [for the red])
- Fabric glue (a quick-drying one like Beacon Adhesives Fabri-Tac works best)
- Scissors
- Compass, paper, and paper scissors (for making and cutting out patterns)
- Stuffing
Make your mushrooms:
Use your compass to make a 3-inch-diameter circle pattern for your mushroom caps.
Cut one white 3-inch circle, one oatmeal 3-inch circle for the top, and a white 3-inch by 5-inch rectangle for the stem. Cut pieces for each mushroom you want for your log. I made five mushrooms for mine.
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Use a blanket stitch to sew up the mushroom tops. |
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Stuff the mushroom top and blanket-stitch closed. |
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Mushroom tops look like raviolis when stuffed. |
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Add a line of fabric glue to the stem felt and fold in half lengthwise. |
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Roll up the folded felt to form the mushroom stem. Glue the end onto the side of the stem. |
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Put fabric glue on the folded side of the stem. |
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Press the mushroom top to the glued stem, and hold until the glue sets. |
Trim the bottom of your mushrooms to even them out. You can also cut them at various angles so that your mushrooms seem to grow straight off your log.
Make your holly leaves and berries:
You'll need to cut four green leaves and six quarter-sized pieces of red felt for each holly berry bunch. To cut the leaves:
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Fold a 3-1/2-inch by 4-1/2-inch piece of green felt in half widthwise and cut out a holly leaf shape. |
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Starting about 1/4 inch down from the top of the front of the leaf, sew a chainstitch down the middle of the front of the leaf. |
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Sew up the front and back of the leaf using a blanket stitch. |
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Since it's hard to use stuffing to plump up the berries (because they are so small), I use the scraps from the cut leaves. Each berry is stuffed with five smaller pieces of felt. |
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Sew up the berries using a blanket stitch. |
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Sew or glue the berries together, then attach them to the holly leaves. |
Now that you have your decorations made, get to decorating! Use your fabric glue to attach mushrooms and holly berries to your log. If you want to be able to remove them from the log, you can glue a pinback to the holly and use straight pins to attach the mushrooms. You can also use premade decorations to adorn your log. The French go crazy with their decorations, so don't be afraid to go a bit wild.
Have fun and Joyeux Noel!
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Comments (2)
You'll have to post a pic if you make one, I'd love to see it! Posted: 4:43 pm on November 9th